By Kendall Patterson
Freed-Hardeman wished their new and returning students “Welcome Home” to start the 2024-2025 Academic Year. After about 15 years of “Welcome Home” the Freed-Hardeman family welcomed home the FHU freshmen on Saturday. “Welcome Home” gives new students the chance to know the campus and community that will be their home for the next four years. During the day, the students and their families have a chance to visit with local vendors, local churches, FHU clubs and more at a community fair in the Burks Student Center. They are also able to enjoy lunch at Gano Dining Hall.
There has also been a recent improvement to how “Welcome Home” operates. During Covid, the university found a way to check in while social-distancing with a “drive-thru check-in” that occurs in the parking lot at the corner of Main St. and White Ave. All the new students have to do by the time they leave the parking lot is move in. FHU President David Shannon mentioned how this new check-in method has made move-in operate a lot smoother than in the past when it was done at Brewer.
This year twins Savannah and Luke Miller of Arlington, Tennessee were welcomed home for their first year at FHU.
The quality of Freed-Hardeman that attracted Savannah to the university is the “people and the atmosphere” along with the variety of opportunities and church camps the university has.
Luke was motivated to attend with the opportunity to play on the FHU Baseball team and said that he is ready to play baseball as a Lion.
Their uncle, Bud Thomas, who is an FHU alum of the Class of 2012, said that he is excited for Savannah and Luke to experience all of the good things he did while he was a student at FHU.
“I had some of the best times of my life at Freed-Hardeman, and I’m excited for my niece and nephew to experience some of the things that I did.”
