Hope College - Milestone Yearbook (Holland, MI)

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Coming to Grips by Sue Van Den Brink As the hours of summer work ended and vacation drew to a close, thoughts of the experiences of the previous year colored my anticipation of returning to the school routine. Images of all-nighters. pledging, classes, familiar faces and places and friends mingled with the memories of the special events like Nykerk and Pull. Traditions at Hope College are just as impor- tant as the present and the future, and the annual Nykerk and Pull are good examples of that; and of even more. Emotionally enmeshed m the spectacle a TV 8 cameraman grabs some footage for the 6 O'clock News Wednesday, September 6 Journal entry: I just returned from the De Witt kick-off meeting for the 1981 Pull team. There were no slides or music like we had last year, but that same intangible feeling was present. In honest but deter- mined words, the coaches spoke of the previous year, of hard work and of this year's hopes, dreams and unfinished business. Familiar faces of the team members I'd grown close to. nodded now and then in agreement; fists clenched and opened The new people looked a little stunned and scared, but I think they had caught the spark of feeling which once again began to grow like a breeze-fanned fire between us. Thursday, September 20 Journal entry: Hold back time so that I can think and understand It seems like only yesterday that we began our first day of practice and all too soon the time of our goal is upon us to be conquered or lost. Tonight we girls dressed up and went to the guy's meeting. By flick- ering candlelight and a little off-key. we sang. Well, hello Pull team ... well, hello Pull team, it’s so nice to say that we re a part of you ..With only a few words and a cake, we tried to explain how much our guys meant to us. As a team we shared tears, hopes and fears. The next day. the day of the Pull, we floated through class or just didn't go. This year Pull hadn't been as distracting time-wise as compared to our freshman year; but we still lived and died for achieving our goal of winning the Pull. Before the tape-up session, a team picture immortalizing the competitive spirit of unity was taken. On film we recorded the true feeling of working toward a common goal At Durfee a stereo was on and our song was playing, and all of the team was present coaches, pullers and the morale girls; each pre- paring for their part All around me were grown and growing individuals, each an important cog in a machine; a team playing a life-game knowing that cooperation was a strong game plan. Between each one ran a fine thread of something more than just friendship. In a corner, by a window or bowed in reflective prayer on a couch; each member psyched up for what was to come The bus ride, the coaches' last words, prayer with the team, and the walk to the pits carved into our side of the Black River were tense and pensive We weren't overly confi- dent or frightened — we hadn't been cocky at all; we were prepared The first thing that greeted us at the pits were our proud blue and orange '81 sheets. We would make it; we had to. At the pits the guys left us to do warm-up cals. When they returned, we quickly taped up their hands while joking nerv- 14 The Puli

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Graduating seniors rested in the foothills in May. No doubt, it was a point of arrival for these scholars; but also, it was a point of departure. John Kenneth Galbraith sees it as something even more than just a landmark as he cites in The Affluent Society, “Scholars gather in scholarly assemblages to hear in elegant statement what all have heard before. Yet it is not a negligible rite, for its purpose is not to convey knowledge, but to beautify learning and the learned.

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Heaving with neck-vein popping tenacity. John Paul tries to make all the training pay off All are important in a team etlort Substiluto Bill Godm assists anchorman Paul De Young in Pit a 18 We weren't overly confident, or frightened .ve hadn’t been cocky at all we were prepared Coaches Steve Scott and Isaac Myers discover just how much preparation was needed The Pu 15