Last Day Of Summer....

We start school tomorrow here at Ouachita, and with that comes a last day of summer. Every summer has to have one. Therefore, today was dubbed that day. Excitement hung in the air as I had a lovely breakfast with friends and then planned out the rest of my day, including registration, unpacking, and staff lunch. This was all quickly interrupted by the loud, annoying beep of the intercom that OBU has put in all the dorms (which I just happened to be standing right under at the moment), telling us to "Stay put. This is not a test. We are in an emergency situation. Police searching for possible armed robbery suspect in area behind OCB/Anthony [two guys dorms]."  Nothing like this ever happens in Arkadelphia! (Well, not usually. It has been quite a bit more exciting around here lately, but not in a good excited way...) We got the OENS text messages and emails telling us that an armed robber was being chased on campus, but that the cops had it under control. What happened was this guy robbed U.S. Bank and took off running, towards campus and the river which runs behind us. Police and FBI (and our campus security) hunted him down, but in the mean time he lost a shoe, the money, and ended up on our soccer fields by a neighborhood and was taken into custody. Everyone is safe, and the day proceeded with normal activity by 12:30. It was a huge event! The entire campus is abuzz with talk of the chase. It's a little nuts! Facebook and Twitter blew up with info about the robbery. We knew what went on before it was on the news! Here are a few tweets/statuses from the excitement: [the names are abbreviated so that I could keep privacy as well as give credit.]

• Apparently the bank I was at 45mins ago got robbed minutes later. They're chasing the bandits all over town. Wild.-CM
• Cop chase on cherry street!!! Police screamed at me to get in the house as they drew their hand guns and shot guns and ran down my road!-JD
• No bank robber apprehended yet. My dog Kahlua however, would love a go at the cops. University security just showed up: what they gonna do?-JD
• Hey OBU, hide ya kids. Hide ya wife. And hide ya Tiger cause they chasin' everybody out here.-CM
• "Go into the nearest building until further notice!" Craziness in Arky involving a robber and guns!-AE
• Even better police quote: "Is anyone at the bank? No. Well, crap, someone needs to be at the bank!"-JD
• They found the money and one shoe: but they are not sure what side of the river he's on now. #Kindalikeprisonbreak-JD
• I've gained like 20 new twitter friends since this bank robbery went down, LOL!-JD
• RT @TwainIAint: Armed robbery + bored campus on lockdown = best OBU Facebook day EVAH!!-JD
• They got him: fun's over.-JD
• Welcome to Ouachita's World! Who ever said it isn't exciting? #thisishome-OBU Campus Activities
• News: Bank Robber dropped enough money near OBU that E. Village dorms will now be renamed in his honor.-DS
• ready to get my airsoft gun-that I don't have on campus ;)- and help the safety, cops, and state troopers catch the thief!!!-NP
• TO ALL FRESHMEN: Except for today, OBU is a safe place. This whole armed robbery things does not happen all the time. Stay inside though until it's over :)  -NP
• BREAKING NEWS: SNIPERS ON BRIDGE OVER CADDO RIVER (according to horrible facebook sources, so it take it with a grain of salt)  -NP
• registration day is normally pretty exciting, but this is just crazy!!! I guess we should all be thankful we weren't stuck in class!-RB "Be thankful we weren't all stuck in Christian Counseling Class"-AG 
• Hopes that this morning's craziness is not indicative of how this semester's going to go!-RB
• I just had lunch w/ the woman who saw the bank robber get captured on campus by FBI agents! AT is a living legend. Best staff lunch ever!-JB

Everyone is safe now, so no worries. Our dorm was on lock-down. We couldn't even get in with our keys if we had wanted to. Also, our suite doors lock and you have to use a card to get in, so we were completely safe. I was stuck in my dorm room with my roommates and good friends. We enjoyed our time visiting and speculating what was happening. At some point, we were all telling our parents about what was going on, and Aubrey's dad texted her back with some excellent safety advice: "You should all hide under your bed." He was probably completely joking, but I decided it would be a great idea to take his advice and use it as a photo opportunity!  Becca, Angela, Aubrey, and I had alot of fun getting these:

Classes start tomorrow, and while I'm not particularly excited about the busyness that comes with school, I can proudly say that I'm ready for classes and excited about the new semester. It took me a bit longer than usual, but I'm excited for marching band, and football games, and new classes, and tons of exciting new youth opportunities-like new leaders and schedules. I'm excited for a great semester! It's already been great, and we've only been here four days. 

I can't wait to see what all is in store! :)