Finn Harrison, otherwise known on Samford’s campus as “Roller-Blading Guy,” is a freshman journalism and mass communications student from Woodstock, GA.
Harrison enjoys spending most of his time out, commenting that it “feels a lot better” than being cooped up in his room. Rollerblading has become a mode of exercise and fun for him.
“I picked it up over the summer, right at the end. I was at the beach… It was a rainy day, and my brother was like, ‘We should go to a roller-blading rink.’ I was like, ‘Let’s not.’ He said, ‘We’re going to go anyway,’” Harrison said.
Harrison tried normal skates first but ended up preferring the feel of inline skates instead.
“We went back the next day because we had nothing else to do… I tried blades for the first time then. I only bladed twice inside, and then I bought my own pair when I got back, to skate outside,” he said.
Did Harrison know that he was going to become a “campus celebrity” within his first month of college?
“After my brother pointed out that there was a post about me, I was like, ‘Oh, that’s kind of funny.’ And I checked a week later and there was a dozen of them, and I was like, ‘Oh! Uh-oh!’ I didn’t expect it or see it as a possibility,” Harrison shared.
The social app Fizz has been a platform for positive supporters (“I unknowingly and unwillingly had a cult,” said Harrison) plus a few haters.
“It was pretty funny… [Someone] said something like, ‘No one else is going to say this, but rollerblading guy is a dweeb.’ I was like, that’s crazy that you actually use the word ‘dweeb,’” Harrison said.
Since moving to Samford this August, Harrison has enjoyed the change of pace.
“I can look back on every day I’ve had here and pick up something from it– nothing really blurs together anymore,” Harrison shared. “Everything’s kind of unique here. It’s just nice to take my time with my day, enjoying certain things about it.”
Though he is known on campus for his rollerblades, Harrison certainly has other interests as well.
“I do a lot of games, I read my Bible a lot. I try to spend most of my time with people if I can, whether that’s just helping someone out or just hanging around,” he said. “I’m kind of all over the place; I don’t have any big, set things that I do.”
Harrison recognizes, though, that other aspects of himself and his friends are changing.
“I got three of my boys back home that I miss to pieces, but we’re all doing our own things now and everyone’s in a different spot,” he said. “We’ve all taken an opportunity to rebuild ourselves and kind of rework everything that we really live for. [It’s] fascinating to me, like seeing how people change even after a couple of weeks, how different people can get. It’s a great thing, though. I really do love it.”
It’s not only change that Harrison’s content with; his contentment informs his outlook on life.
“Man, just take it a day at a time. Take it slowly… You have a lot of opportunity every day… don’t try and pack your day full, but try and keep your day open, if you can,” Harrison said.“There’s a lot of people out there, a lot of people you can talk to and meet with. Take it slow; it’s alright. You don’t have to rush through anything. There’s nothing there waiting for you. You got time, time to waste, time to throw around and just have a good time.”
