09 autumn reporter 1-20 - Franklin College
09 autumn reporter 1-20 - Franklin College
09 autumn reporter 1-20 - Franklin College
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moments, but mostly as I think about those<br />
days a collage of memories flood my brain.<br />
Baseball road trips with brown bag lunches<br />
and spring breaks in Daytona Beach were<br />
special. SEB events with comedians like Carrot<br />
Top and singers like Mike Rayburn remain<br />
fond memories. Bowling and privy burnings<br />
were other highlights. How could one forget<br />
waking up one morning to see a blizzard of<br />
toilet paper encompassing the entire campus<br />
or seeing Ben painted yet another color? My<br />
fondest memories may be the laid-back afternoons<br />
on Dame Mall and the meals at SAGA,<br />
just hanging out and being with friends.<br />
Ultimately, however, I think my favorite FC<br />
memory is about people. FC is where I met<br />
my wife, Kristi (King) ’93, and where I made<br />
some lifelong friends. It’s the students,<br />
faculty and staff who made FC special for me.<br />
John D. Henderson ’94: My experiences as a<br />
student-athlete were some of the best times<br />
of my life. I came to <strong>Franklin</strong> <strong>College</strong> not<br />
knowing who I was or what I truly wanted<br />
to do. I only knew I wanted to be part of a<br />
team and continue to compete. I joined the<br />
varsity basketball team as a freshman and was<br />
happy that coach Handley was gracious<br />
enough to allow me to play. I worked hard for<br />
three years to make the starting lineup. It was<br />
by no means easy to accomplish. In the spring<br />
of my junior year I was able to put all the<br />
things I’d learned together to compete hard<br />
and beat Hanover. <strong>Franklin</strong> had not had a win<br />
over Hanover in three years! That win helped<br />
me realize many goals I had set for myself.<br />
I felt like I was finally able to call myself a<br />
student-athlete. More importantly, it made<br />
me feel like I was finally a leader on the team.<br />
Those principles of hard work became the<br />
cornerstone of my job as a leader with the<br />
City of <strong>Franklin</strong> Fire Department.<br />
Mary Goebel ’95: I have many favorite<br />
memories, but there are a few with the<br />
common theme of food. I met one of my<br />
good friends, Cindy (Ennis) Placek ’94,<br />
one evening our freshman year when we<br />
both happened to be walking out of Elsey<br />
Hall, heading over to the campus center for<br />
dinner. We somehow started talking. Years<br />
later we are still good friends and always will<br />
be. I also remember waking up late on a<br />
Sunday morning, after a long, fun Saturday<br />
night, and rushing over to get some sausage<br />
gravy and biscuits in the nick of time before<br />
the line closed. My only option for dinner<br />
on Sunday nights was something good and<br />
greasy from The Key; I had no car, and it was<br />
cheaper than ordering pizza!<br />
Jennifer (Marshall) Donovan ’96: Some of<br />
my favorite memories include spending late<br />
nights in Shirk Hall editing “Inside <strong>Franklin</strong>,”<br />
the SEB guest hypnotist who always made<br />
students do funny things on stage, decorating<br />
the fraternity houses during Greek Week,<br />
spending Saturdays in the fall at football<br />
games, meeting friends whom I hope to have<br />
for a lifetime, seeing my bid from Zeta Tau<br />
Alpha being slid under my door in Elsey Hall,<br />
Grizzly Grand Prix weekends, dancing in the<br />
windows of Johnson Dietz, going to sorority<br />
formals and hanging out with friends at The<br />
Willard and Mike’s.<br />
Susan (Neal) Lynch ’96: My favorite memories<br />
are of meeting great people who I am still<br />
friends with, making waffles in Saga on a lazy<br />
Sunday morning and feeling the energy and<br />
pride we shared on Homecoming weekends.<br />
I still get those feelings when I come back for<br />
Homecoming!<br />
Jennifer Martin ’96: I remember senior year<br />
gathering with the first floor gals in Dietz<br />
Center lounge to watch everybody’s favorite<br />
two shows, “Friends” and “ER.” We didn’t<br />
watch TV any other time, but we all stopped<br />
what we were doing to hang out and catch<br />
our favorite dramas.<br />
Jane Mitchell ’96: In April of 1994, I had to<br />
leave FC due to declining health. During the<br />
next fall, on my first weekend of freedom after<br />
surgery, I headed down to FC. I was able to<br />
sneak into Saga (The college social capital!)<br />
and see everyone. It was an overwhelming<br />
experience. The looks on people’s faces were<br />
of pure shock. I don’t know that I have ever<br />
had so many hugs in such a short amount<br />
of time! I’m sure I was looking about <strong>20</strong>0<br />
percent better than the last time many had<br />
seen me. After Saga, I went to the ZTA suite<br />
for the last night of Greek Rush (The sappiest<br />
of nights). That is when I became completely<br />
emotional, not believing that I had made it<br />
back to FC. It was hard to imagine how<br />
things could be so much the same, yet change<br />
so drastically at the same time. The next<br />
morning, I found my sorority sisters gathered<br />
on the doorstep of the apartment where I<br />
was staying for the weekend. They were having<br />
a serenading parade to introduce the new<br />
pledges. It was an unbelievable weekend<br />
for me, and it made me that much more<br />
motivated to get back to FC to finish school.<br />
Let’s face facts; it’s the people who make<br />
<strong>Franklin</strong> so special.<br />
Sarah Smith-Robbins ’96: I took knitting<br />
and weaving during Winter Term one year<br />
with Kathy Carlson, English professor. We<br />
spent the whole month knitting, drinking<br />
tea and looking out the windows of Old Main,<br />
watching the snow fall. I learned so much<br />
more than how to knit a sweater. It was a<br />
great experience.<br />
Lori (Jones) Tish ’96: Some of my most<br />
cherished <strong>Franklin</strong> <strong>College</strong> memories include<br />
hanging out with friends and roommates<br />
Jennifer (Eroen) Shamsaie ’96, Kim (Reckers)<br />
Drook ’96, Cara (Riley) O’Connell ’96 and<br />
Jennifer Martin ’96, participating in Tri Delta<br />
events, spending late nights in Shirk Hall,<br />
strolling through campus on a beautiful<br />
<strong>autumn</strong> day, traveling to the southwest<br />
during Winter Term 1994, delving into<br />
photography with journalism professor Susan<br />
Fleck and learning about public relations and<br />
advertising from journalism professor John<br />
Ellerbach. Of course, another treasured FC<br />
memory includes meeting, dating and getting<br />
engaged to my now-husband Jamie Tish ’96.<br />
Amy (Kean) VerSteeg ’96: One of the things I<br />
remember most about college is dorm life.<br />
After having grown up in a rural area, where it<br />
took 15 minutes by car to get, well, anywhere,<br />
I quickly came to appreciate the convenience<br />
and fun of having friends just a dorm room or<br />
a couple of floors away. Even the typical dorm<br />
noises — slamming doors, laughter in the<br />
hallways, music blaring — were a novelty to<br />
me. <strong>Franklin</strong> <strong>College</strong> was the first place I truly<br />
experienced a sense of community, and for<br />
that I’m still grateful.<br />
Adrienne McGee ’97: I loved living in Cline<br />
Hall, the supposed “quiet” dorm. Even though<br />
my room was on the third floor and the stairs<br />
got a little old, the crazy mix of people living<br />
in that dorm was so fun. You truly never knew<br />
what you would see down the hall as you came<br />
out of the stairwell. That’s how college should<br />
be — people of all cultures and ages and<br />
walks of life just hanging out. And to this very<br />
day, every time I hear “Heart-Shaped Box” by<br />
Nirvana, I think instantly of the lounge at the<br />
end of that hall. MTV was always on in that<br />
lounge, and that was the year of Nirvana.<br />
WWW.FRANKLINCOLLEGE.EDU AUTUMN <strong>20</strong><strong>09</strong> 53