After the Benson lights dim following the final Spring Sing performance on Saturday and all participants are done washing glitter from their hair by Sunday (or Monday), then we can set our sights on summer: the light at the end of the tunnel.
Around this magical time of year, hype builds as students exchange summer plans, with talk of mission trips to Haiti, family vacations to Hawaii and internships in New York. What are my plans, you ask? I am currently planning the details of my third Searcy summer, but I do not mean that to be as sarcastic as it sounds. I am here to tell you all the reasons why I enjoy the unconventional qualities Harding’s home offers during the vacant (and hot) months of June, July and August.
Coming from Seattle — a place where the sun shines only on select summer days — I think Searcy is a dream come true in the weather department. Outdoor adventures are seldom postponed for rain and getting a tan is never a problem (unless you are as eternally pale as I am).
Two summers ago, my primary transportation device in Searcy was a bike. Biking around Harding’s campus and the surrounding streets late at night is an indescribable feeling. The temperature drops significantly (but usually stays above 60), and you feel invincible while coasting through the silent, dark streets with friends. If I felt like braving the heat of the day, I would bike to Midnight Oil or the art building for my painting class.
In fact, if you find yourself “stuck” in Searcy for the summer, there are several fun classes you can take to fill time and help give purpose to your stay. In addition to the painting class, I took an intersession course that summer about the Beatles and their influence on media. I essentially got credit for talking about a subject I talk about anyway, watching Beatles films, listening to their music and eating pizza.
Outside of my strenuous academic lifestyle filled with paint and music, I spent much of my time on spontaneous road trips. In all honesty, there were times I felt restless and bored in Searcy during the summer, but getting in a car to go to Nashville at 3 a.m. with a friend helped to curb the boredom significantly.
But often, the Midnight Oil porch was the perfect destination for me, my bike, a paperback fiction novel and an iced coffee. In settings like that, you see the same faces every day and become familiar with fellow Searcy-dwellers’ schedules and life happenings. There is something relaxing about all of this, unlike the hectic nature of the fall and spring semesters.
There is often a visible and disappointed reaction to the claim, “I’m staying in Searcy this summer.” But I stand confident in the fact that spending a summer in Searcy is something I enjoy and encourage. So if your summer plans are not yet set in stone, join me in July for a book publishing class, and we can frequent Midnight Oil and exchange head nods across the room.
