April 4, 2014 Vol. 89, No. 16
@HUStudentPubs Facebook: The Link
2A
NEWS
online at thelink.harding.edu
OPINIONS
3&4A
SPORTS
1&2B
FEATURES
3B
CAMPUS LIFE
4B
Searcy, Ark., 72149
Students serve through Bisons for Christ
by Haleigh Edge asst. copy editor
The Bisons for Christ Day of Service officially began at 3 p.m. on April 2. Every year, Harding students go throughout Searcy and work on various projects in order to serve the community. According to Todd Gentry, Rock House and Bisons for Christ coordinator, approximately 2,000 students participated in over 200 projects. Gentry said people have already called in to say “thank you” to students who helped. Junior Shelby Coble, a Rock House intern, said that Bisons for Christ is the biggest thing of the year for interns, as far as outreach is concerned. “Our biggest difficulty isn’t getting projects; it’s getting projects filled with people,” Coble said. “Half of the projects get filled with social clubs. Our main outreach after that is to get people who aren’t in clubs involved and also making them aware that that is a need that they can fill. That’s our biggest thing — involvement with other people.” According to Coble, Bisons for Christ breaks down the walls of the Harding bubble and allows students to see areas outside of Harding that need help. Senior Ben Buterbaugh is on the Bisons for Christ chapel committee, and his role was to amden Henry speak -and encourage people to come out and participate.
GRANT SCHOL | THE BISON Sophomore basketball players Tarrale Watson, Jacob Gibson, Blake McNair, John Hudson, Antoine Burrell and sophomore student assistant Austin Harrell pull up a chain-link fence during a yard clean-up for Bisons for Christ on Wednesday. Follow HUStudentPubs on Storify for a collection of photos, tweets and stories from Bisons for Christ.
“Bisons for Christ is being what we are called to be, and that, consistently, is a life of service,” Buterbaugh said. “We use Bisons for Christ as one day to bring about awareness for service, but it’s really about the bigger part of what we talked about in chapel about being “out there,” being
different, being what we were called to be; to serve, to be Jesus’ hands and feet to the world.” According to Buterbaugh, who was part of a group that went to Judsonia and got together medical supplies for people in Africa, there was a variety of outdoor and indoor projects
done throughout the community, including the tearing down of buildings, raking and cleaning yards, sorting medical supplies, playing with kids at daycares, and there was even an older lady who needed someone to teach her how to use a computer. “A lot of times we think it’s
going to be something really hard, but it’s simple,” Buterbaugh said. “That’s what this day truly is about — being that kingdom community. Anyone can go one mile, anybody can do one thing, but to go the second mile is what makes us Christians, what we are supposed to be.”
by Daniel Casella student writer
of the need for the update is that the current edition makes it hard to understand a given SA role very well. Former SA President senior Will Waldron noticed this during his term and started a journal of lessons he learned to help successive SA presidents. “In regards to this whole continuity question, my hope is that Tyler Gentry is a stronger SA president than I was and the one who comes after him is a stronger SA president than he is,” Waldron said. Among the proposed changes are focusing on having more international and exchange students involved within the SA, focusing the spiritual life functions of the SA to include more students directly with chapel planning and more clearly defining roles within the SA. The SA is still in discussion with administration about these changes. A panel of candidates for SA president will be held during Monday’s chapel for the candidates to present their personal campaign purposes to the student body. Votes for all candidates will be held on Pipeline from 8 a.m. on Wednesday until 8 a.m. on Thursday. The new SA members will be announced in Thursday’s Chapel.
Thousands prepare for Spring Sing SA updates constitution, begins student elections by Jesse Hixson business manager
As Spring Sing approaches, the production team heading up Harding’s large-scale show is in crunch mode with only a few more weeks to go until the Benson curtain rises. Spring Sing Producer Cindee Stockstill said that from a technical perspective, everything is going according to plan. The program design is currently being tweaked and approved by club show directors, and the club shows are all at least 75 percent finished with choreography and staging. By April 12, clubs will be required to be 100 percent finished with their show in order to receive the full amount of points available for judging. Stockstill also said that a lighting company has recently met with the production team to discuss and plan the new addition of lasers to Spring Sing. Not only have club shows been meeting deadlines, but the jazz band and ensemble arrangements have all been completed as well, Stockstill said. The hosts and ensemble have staged all of their numbers and the club show intros are well on their way to being completed. While most of the process has stayed the same through the “new” year, Stockstill said that there were still several elements being added this year that were changing things significantly. “We have eight club shows this
HENRY GONZALEZ | THE BISON The Spring Sing ensemble strikes a pose during rehearsal on March 30. Spring Sing weekend begins on April 17.
year, which is more than we have ever had before,” Stockstill said. “The show feels bigger with more people than ever, and so we’ve added new elements with lasers and more lights than we’ve had in the past. With each of these new elements comes a significant amount of extra work to make these elements into a cohesive, multimedia production.” Despite all of the extra work, assistant director junior Sarah Harris said the production team is still running smoothly and impressively well. Even though she is a new addition to the staff, she said she feels as if she has been working with them for years. “I have really enjoyed getting to work alongside (director) Steve (Frye) and Cindee,” Harris said. “They are both phenomenal at what they do, and they often go
above and beyond what is required of them. For Spring Sing to happen each year, there has to be some divine intervention, and the production team works very hard to make all of these moving parts come together seamlessly.” Every year of Spring Sing has its own driving force, embodied by the theme chosen by Frye, Stockstill said. Even amidst all of the chaos and work, Stockstill said he always likes to go back and remember why they chose the theme “New” for this year’s show. “The word ‘new’ encompasses a whole lot of things,” Stockstill said. “It’s saying hello to a new president, a new freshman experience or becoming a new creation when you become a Christian. There are lots of different and exciting things we are planning on doing with the word ‘new’.”
TRACK AND FIELD
Men’s and women’s track teams celebrate several new records. SPORTS, 1B
The Student Association met Thursday night with potential SA members to discuss the campaign process for next week. SA Vice President senior Joseph McManus said current SA members have shared with potential new members how they have come to understand the SA over the past year. McManus said they also plan to work more with those who get elected to shorten the learning curve process. “The whole goal is to increase our effectiveness,” McManus said. “And by sharing with them what we already know, giving them perspective, lessons learned … hopefully that will skyrocket them into a really successful year.” Potential members who submit a petition sheet with 50 signatures to the SA office by 5 p.m. Friday will continue to the campaign process. In addition to new members, the SA has also proposed changes to the SA constitution to set up a more efficient system of communication. SA President senior Tyler Gentry said the last update to the constitution came in 1982. McManus specified part
HARDING BAZAAR
POVERTY SIMULATION
Creative students prepare to debut items for sale at April 19 bazaar.
Social work majors learn what it’s like to live on $3 a day.
NEWS, 2A
FEATURES, 3B
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