New FHU Students to Arrive Aug.13, Begin Semester with Interface Activities

Approximately 400 new students are expected to arrive on the Freed-Hardeman University campus Saturday, Aug. 13, for a week of making new friends, learning about their new home-away-from-home, worship and service, and planned and impromptu recreational activities.

Leading them through all these new experiences will be a 36-person team of current FHU students. Interface coordinators Julie Gann, a junior kinesiology major from Harvest, Alabama, and Patrick Frans, a senior youth ministry major from Mount Juliet, Tennessee, have chosen a theme, organized the team and planned activities.

Gann and Frans have dubbed the 2022 edition of Interface "Ohana," a Hawaiian word loosely translated as "family." "We decided that since 'Ohana' means family, and family means no one gets left behind, it sums up what Freed-Hardeman is as a school, community and people. We are welcoming the freshmen class to an unfamiliar environment. They are probably really scared and nervous for this new phase in life," Gann said. "Interface is all about taking away the fear and unfamiliarity of college life."

"The theme conveys that, number one, we are God's family, and we will take care of one another and, two, we are a family here at Freed-Hardeman who love each other and feel at home here." Franz explained. "We want the freshmen to come in and feel God's love and that they are a part of His family and that as the week goes on, they will feel a part of the FHU family and call this place home."