For now over 75 years, The Baylor Line has been publishing vivid storytelling from across the Baylor Family. I don’t think our archives full of deep, inspirational features should live solely on shelves, so we are bringing them back to life in BL Classics. This November 1977 Classic captures the whirlwind of Baylor’s BSU Pre-School Retreat. Along the way, she reflects on faith, purpose, and finding her place before classes even begin. It’s a nostalgic snapshot of the anxious excitement every new Baylor Bear knows well.
I hated to get up at three o’clock on Saturday morning. I felt I was invading the privacy of the night when the rest of the world was at rest. I also hated to say goodbye to Mom, but it wasn’t as bad as it had been at the beginning of summer, when I left to attend summer school at Baylor.
This time my ride to Baylor was with another freshman, a friend from home. We left Corpus Christi at four o’clock in order to arrive in time for the first session of the BSU pre-school retreat at nine. The compact car was filled to the ceiling. It felt like an expanding rubber raft in the back seat was slowly pushing us out the front windows.
I had been spoiled at summer school with ten minute dinner lines and plenty of parking spaces. This time when we drove off Interstate 35, I could not believe all the people and cars I saw on campus. There were parents, cars, and U-haul trailers everywhere.
The pre-school retreat workers, dressed in their yellow t-shirts, came from everywhere. When we pulled up in front of the dorm, I had barely spit out my name to one person when a blonde, curly-haired guy grabbed my luggage and took it to my dorm room. Towers of piled packing boxes filled the halls of North Russell dorm and everyone was talking at once, meeting old friends and making new ones. It was absolutely super!
My room was a mess when I left for the pre-school retreat mixer at Founder’s Mall. I saw people I had met during the summer and made hundreds of new friends. Names and faces were coming at me so fast that my mind could not register them all. Later, all the freshmen and transfers went to Waco Hall to be assigned to their Mini- Conference (Min-Con) groups. During the program, President McCall said a few words of introduction about the university, and later a puppet presentation about freshman orientation was given by the BSU.
Then we were directed to our Min-Con group. Our group was small, compared to the others. Besides the two leaders, Randal and Julie, there were three guys and two girls. First we played a game where a guy and girl were tied up together with string. Terry, my partner, and I were supposed to figure out how to get separated, but I had too much fun talking with him. He was a cutie. After the game, our leaders told us about the traditions of Baylor.
We discussed Homecoming, the Noze Brotherhood, late roses (roses sent to a girl when her date brings her in late after curfew), freshman barricades, and other traditions. Soon we had become familiar with everybody in our group and did not have any trouble with names.
We went back to Waco Hall and heard the president of the student body speak. Later, Don Guthrie, youth director at Plymouth Park Baptist Church in Irving, Texas, spoke. He talked about the importance of getting out and meeting people and how Christians should work on their outward ministry in helping to share Jesus Christ on campus. Don told the story of Gideon in the book of Judges. The story had a big impact, especially helping me to think where my ministry lies in my campus activity. There are so many places that the BSU offers work for students. Vision, the BSU newsletter, attracted my attention because I plan to major in journalism.
Later the film, “The Athletes,” was shown. It showed clips from the 1973 Baylor Homecoming game against TCU. Everyone in the auditorium was excited about watching parts of a football game. The crowd went wild every time the Bears scored on the film. Afterwards, Grant Teaff came and talked on stage. I was really getting exciting about the thought of the upcoming football season.
By the time everything was finished, it was 11 p.m. I almost dragged myself back to the dorm. My roommate was already asleep, and I was glad because I was too tired to talk. After a twenty-hour day it was all I could do to shove the mess on my bed onto the floor before falling asleep on my bed.
And the next morning I overslept. I awoke with panic, ran to the shower, dried my hair, and got dressed in record time. I literally ran over to Collins to meet my Min-Con group for Sunday breakfast, but no one was there. I was fifteen minutes early. Our group finally made it to breakfast after a time that seemed like an eternity to my stomach, and we began to eat. Some sophomore standing next to me screamed, “Slime up!” and all the freshmen stood on their chairs and sang “The Baylor Line.” My Min-Con leaders had failed to tell me about this tradition.
We attended worship services in Waco Hall after breakfast. The BRH Choir sang, and Don Guthrie followed with a sermon. The Min-Con groups left after the service to have discussion. We played another game where we wrote down some facts about ourselves and later tried to guess who was who from the descriptions. Afterwards, we talked about where our responsibilities lie; and my leaders, Randy and Julie, discussed setting priorities as a freshman in college. The scripture reference was Luke 2:52, “And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.” We talked about maintaining a balance between the physical, social, mental, and spiritual aspects of life as college freshmen. We also discussed the outward qualities of dating and exercising and inward qualities of studying and spiritual growth. I thought about how God has given each of us a special purpose, and I wondered about my own at Baylor. I love to write and someday hope to have a career on a newspaper staff.
After the Min-Con meeting, we went to lunch at Collins. Again, I stood on my chair and sang “The Baylor Line” a few times. Even though I must have looked like a fool singing, I loved every minute of it. Besides, I knew all the other freshmen looked as silly as I did. Later, our group had a restful time of just talking about home, phone bills, and those upcoming classes. We told old Aggie jokes and made plans to get together for dinner sometime during the week.
Early that afternoon we went back for the final meeting at Waco Hall. We sang and met the Baptist Student Union staff. The director, Lonnie Hayter, explained about the BSU and its purpose of equipping Baylor students to reach the world for Christ. Nancy Deel, Vernon Miller, and Dan Ratliff were introduced as BSU assistants. The finale of the day was the posed picture of 1,600 freshmen, transfers, and leaders in front of Waco Hall. There were so many people pushed into such a tiny space that I felt like a sardine in a can. The photograph would be used in promoting next year’s pre-school retreat. [And it was used on the cover of the September Baylor Line.]
I once again trudged back to the dorm to change and this time go to the church supper at First Baptist. I rode to church with friends from home and showed them around the church I had attended during the summer. We ate a sandwich supper and went to the service, which featured the Continental Singers from California.
I was in my room by 9 o’clock Sunday night. The room was a disaster area; neither my roommate nor I had unpacked. Boxes were everywhere; clothes were on the floor. Then I discovered I had forgotten to bring any clothes hangers. I told Beth, my roommate, and we both went into hysterics laughing. We were so tired from the weekend that we could not think straight. I decided against unpacking and again shoved the new mess on my bed onto the floor. Before I went to sleep, I thanked God for the people I had met during the weekend and for giving me this time to share with Him.
