Katelyn McKenney
In its almost 100-year history, the university has dramatically changed. For instance, did you know that the university’s slogan used to be “The Opportunity Place?” However, this semester has seemed especially change-filled. Several changes were on display from the very beginning of the first semester, when BJU commenced its 98th year on August 26. For one thing, we began with a new president at a new podium up on the FMA stage: Dr. Josh (Dr. Crockett? Dr. J? Doc Croc? Doc Crock?? I have no idea, but I’m just sticking with Dr. Josh for this article). There were some major dining changes: the grab n’ go (or is it grab and go?) temporarily disappeared and deprived many of lunch. We also got sip lids. Chapel attempted more changes, such as an additional song at the end, the rustling of paper Bibles, the disruption of the creed’s cadence, and the introduction of attention-grabbing video announcements. So… (checks notes) oh right, enjoy chapel.
After about a month, right after we’d gotten used to the changes (and the rush of meeting an NBA player), we were thrown our biggest challenge of the semester by a tropical storm named Helene, a turn of events no one thought of when the abolition of physical syllabi was approved. Unable to do their schoolwork and left without hot water and internet, students panicked and rushed gas stations, Waffle Houses, the fountain and (almost) literally anyplace that would give them food and a phone charger. It didn’t help that many of the faculty and staff couldn’t get out of their neighborhoods. The outages resulted in two weeks’ worth of casual dress, followed by a week of themed dress days for Spirit Week. The time was supposed to give students time to use a working washing machine, but it doubled as an opportunity to test new fall outfits.
Speaking of fall, the end of October brought students their second long weekend in a month. This gave them a perfect opportunity to take a break and listen to the Collegian’s podcast, the Bob Pod. However, our analytics show this didn’t happen. Anyway, after returning from fall break, campus geared up for Harvest Fest, our vaguely festive, nondenominational, weakly themed fall-ish gathering (Challenge: try figuring out where I stole that joke from). The following week, anyone who wanted to keep their sanity stayed out of the den, which was populated from dawn till dusk with high schools, large extended families, and political enthusiasts, all equally terrifying. Suffice to say, both high school festival and the elections resulted in winners and people who learned, plenty of illness was spread around, and afterward the den resumed its normal character as a peaceful, relaxing hangout with chances of flying ping pong balls.
Thanksgiving and Christmas break loomed around the corner, torturing students with their nearness but also the giant hills of assignments in the way. People coped different ways.
Many pulled out the Bing Crosby and Starbucks holiday cups to speed up the calendar.
Others pondered the beauty of Cyrano de Bergerac and the dethroning of defending Turkey Fest champs. Freshmen, looking down their nose at such poetry, started setting off fire alarms for some attention. Music students briefly appeared to perform recitals and hold together the praise service, lighting ceremony and Messiah and then retreated to practice rooms to prepare for their exams. I think exams went well, but I must have blocked them out. One thing I did not block out was our Christmas student body program, featuring the average BJU romantic experience.
When it was all said and done, First semester gave us great chances to practice the principle of finding joy and peace in Christ in all circumstances, through the highs of meeting famous people on campus and the lows of seeing communities destroyed. Though we don’t know what will happen these in our future, we do know that God’s control over the circumstances and care for us won’t change. So whatever happens, let’s be optimistic about what God may hold in our future.
After all, as a wise man said in his sporadic chapel series in Ecclesiastes,
“Opportunityisnowhere.”
Editor’s note: This column originally published in print on Dec. 9, 2024.