Caleb Spoon's Story

I grew up in South Africa where my parents were missionaries, then we moved to the states when I was in seventh grade. My life experiences may be different from yours, but my experience at Hardin-Simmons has been fantastic!

I first visited HSU to watch one of my best friends play football here. I fell in love with the atmosphere and the people. I felt like this was where I was supposed to be, so I prayed about it. God opened the doors and made the decision very easy.

At first, I feared fitting in more than anything, but I quickly learned that wasn’t something to worry about. “Fitting in” at HSU is instant. It’s really easy to make friends – good friends – here. Stampede (orientation for new students) is especially great for that.

To me, community is the perfect word to describe Hardin-Simmons. We’re all part of the community, whether we grew up in a wealthy suburb or poor inner city. Social class and money don’t define us. When my friends and I want to eat out for dinner and go to a movie, if one of us doesn’t have the money, we all pitch in. We don’t want anyone to miss out. We’re all in this together … doing life together.

It’s especially been a blessing to play basketball here. We’re a very close team – and it’s been that way since my first day. We’re very much a family. Some people might think that after all the hours we spend together practicing and playing, we would get tired of each other. But, we still hang out together when we’re not playing basketball.

Working in the library has been a great experience, too. The library staff is awesome, and some of them have even had me in their homes for dinner.

When you go to a big school, you’re just going to be another number. At Hardin-Simmons, professors invest in you – they know your name, but more importantly, they know you. I’ve visited friends at some large schools. It’s obvious that people there don’t care about them like people do at HSU.