College story Part 3

At Sterling College there was a program in place called "The Competency Curriculum," we had 9 items to check off. When I transferred in some of my credits didn't count as hours but they did count as "life experiences," which in essence fulfilled one of the 9 items on this Comptency Curriculum. We called it the incompetency curriculum...it was one huge pain. So there were classes that I HAD to take and then I had to take different ones to fulfill my major/minor.

One such class (for the C.C.) was a class in P.E. Most of the P.E. major's (guys) were in this class with the exception of me and this other girl. She would come in from music class singing this odd song "you done stepped on my heart," something to that effect. She was the most friendliness person I had yet met on campus. (the spring of '76 when I had to deal with that poor excuse for a roommate). We would talk and then the teacher wrote something on our paper. We asked now who is LawR and who is MB?" Well, of course it was us and we had different views about individual and group sports so our teacher suggested that we talk to each other (which we had done previously in class). This is how and when I met my friend. We continue to still be friends, although she has moved to a different part of the state. She was the one who was instrumental in introducing me to L, twenty-one years ago.

I had met other people from Tulsa, Oklahoma; Albuquerque, NM; Kenya, Africa; Salina, KS; and Kansas City, KS. I met these two nice girls from Birmingham, Alabama (correction, Selma, AL), Bernice and Ella. Bernice was three years older than me and she was always so friendly. They were amazed that I hardly knew anyone there (only Jolene W from my hometown was the only person I knew) and yet I knew a lot of people. It was a small campus and most of the people were just so nice. The parlor people were my favorite ones: Mary Y, (OH), Heidi (MN), Diane H. (IA), Louise E. (NE), Donna (KS), LawR and LBD (KS, both from Sterling), and Susan M. (KS). MAK, lived on another floor (she's the one needing prayers), and Marva D (NJ) she had such an accent! I met a lot of great guys there too: Kerwin (KS), Rick M. (CO), Mike D (KS), Don G (KS), and Lyman, (IN).
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Traditions: There would be ring ceremonies at our dorm. If some lucky girl got engaged, she would tell dorm council (I guess) and then during the night we would hear the bells ringing. It was a signal for us to come to the front lobby for the ring ceremony. We would sing some songs and pass around a candle with the ring on it. We would oooh and ahh at it then the candle would go around quicker the next time with the girl blowing out the candle. Then of course the guys had their tradition of throwing the engaged guy in the lake (whether it was warm or cold, more likely it was cold) and then driving up around the hall honking; then they would tie him to a tree outside of the dorm. The engaged girl would have to untie him (if she could) and rescue him. This will be one ceremony I will always remember.

Other traditions were the pranks pulled. Someone or some two or three would go into Cooper Hall late at night and stack chairs in front of the entrance. It would make it impossible to get in and often times classes that were held there would be cancelled. The Administration didn't like it much but from a student's point of view it was great! :)

Once I remember someone put a motorcycle on top of the student union.

Things like this would probably never happen at a big university only at this small Christian College.
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Some of the parties were Sophomore Garden Party where everyone would dress up in formal dresswear and walk down the front of the campus led by the President and his wife from the college. There would be old movies played on Friday night. One time one of the films burned up while watching "Paint Your Wagon." Then we always made fun of "The Wizard of Oz."
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Our student union featured a small bookstore, a lounge where we could watch TV after supper (usually mystery meat), and we had an area to play games. Pool, foosball, bumper pool and a bowling alley. We had to set our own pins (and only one lane). Later on we got a student radio station and Lyman started that up!
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I am still in contact with some of these people thanks to reunions I've attended in the past years. Don G (is a History teacher and head of FCA in a Topeka area high school); Rick M (a councilman in California); Lyman (a radio station owner/program director/dj in Wichita); LawR (who moved up to Capital City with her second husband), and now recently Susan (the Reformed Angler's wife).

Small college life isn't for everyone, but I enjoyed my 3 years at S.C.
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Last part the Profs and other odd incidents.