They call ACU a bubble, and it is a pretty weird place. Sophomores carry rocks around. Students aggressively do the hand motions to “Highways and Byways.” And why does the GATA fountain smell the way it does?

I mean, ACU has a professional piano player serenade the students in the Bean. He seems to know every song known to man and is quick to play along with students singing Happy Birthday.

Freshman year, it was the place I decided to go potluck for a roommate, despite my misgivings. Two years later, she’s still my roommate and my best friend.

You see, there really wasn’t any question about where I would go to college. My parents went to ACU, and before them, my grandparents went to ACU. I grew up in Abilene. ACU wasn’t forced upon me; it was just one of those natural progressions of life. People ask me if I wish I had gotten out of Abilene or gone to a bigger school, but I’ve never regretted coming here.

There’s just something about ACU – something weird, something special, something in the water – that creates a unique, compelling community that I wouldn’t trade for anything.

Maybe I’ll stay for a fifth year.