Nathan Hendrickson and Trevor Bennett were in the same first-year dorm hall at Point Loma Nazarene University and compared schedules while they were in line to get their books for their first semester. They discovered that they had been randomly assigned to all the same classes.
“From then on, we just tried to see how long we could keep it going,” Bennett, a fourth-year business entrepreneurship major, said.
Hendrickson, a fourth-year business entrepreneurship major, said he was unsure about Bennett when they first met.
“Don’t get me wrong, Trevor seemed like a super cool guy, but at first I was a bit skeptical since he just seemed like this fried surfer kid from Calabasas that I’m now stuck with for the whole semester.”
Photo courtesy of Nathan Hendrickson.
It has been three years since that conversation, and since then, they have managed to get 42 classes together, including summer classes at Saddleback College. They’ve also managed to live in the same dorm for three years: Nease, Young and now an off-campus house.
Bennett said that while taking classes together was entertaining, getting to class was even more memorable.
“Nathan had a super 73 E-bike, but I didn’t,” Bennett said. “So I would hold on to the back of it on my skateboard, and he would whip me around campus on our way to all of our classes.”
From challenging classes like chemistry, calculus and accounting, Bennett and Hendrickson have had their fair share of difficulties. Although there were many hours spent in the library or the Young Hall kitchen, having a partner to study with lightened their load.
“We always had a study partner and someone else to bounce ideas off of,” Bennett said. “Academically, it made it a lot easier. Socially, it also made it a lot easier. I always knew that Nathan had the same schedule as me, so we could essentially always hang out.”
Since they spent nearly every class period together, the constant overlap has naturally led to plenty of funny stories.
“One funny memory I have is when we signed up for fitness through movement, thinking it was going to be just a regular workout and sports class,” Hendrickson said. “But we got thrown into an almost all-girls pilates and yoga class.”
Beyond these moments, many of their favorite shared experiences have come from classes that included trips and hands-on projects.
“Most of our entrepreneurship concentration classes stood out,” Hendrickson said. “We have had incredible professors and have had crazy opportunities like touring the Padres stadium and meeting the CEO through our leadership and theory class — shoutout Professor JC Hurtado-Prater.”
Beyond the classroom, the two are still best friends. They spend most of their time bonding over things like Switchfoot, skating and surfing. All this time together has created a lot of trust between the two.
“He is the guy that I have spent probably the most time with, and a guy that I trust completely,” Bennett said.
Their similar schedules also influenced their career paths and hopes for the future.
“I low-key convinced Trevor to add a nonprofit minor and graduate early because that was slightly my plan all along,” Hendrickson said. “Trevor was already on schedule to graduate early. He just didn’t know that yet. So all that to say, it worked out great.”
Tim Hall, professor of psychology and kinesiology, and Robert Gailey, professor of business, have had Bennett and Hendrickson in class throughout their time at PLNU. Gailey said that the two have shown consistent collaboration in and out of class.
“I see them talk about the class and assignments in class regularly, and I can tell they are supporting each other and care about how the other one is doing,” Gailey said in an email interview.
Hall said that being close friends outside of classes has allowed them to influence each other to grow.
“They both have a personal integrity for their academics and learning,” Hall said in an email interview. “Being like-minded in this area leads them to push each other to produce as well as possible, kind of an unspoken accountability.”
To both professors, the pair’s sense of humanity and excitement has made the class more lively. They both described the comfort and true friendship between the two as a brotherhood.
“There was a beautiful presence they brought to the classroom which was undeniable,” Hall said. “I am proud of these two young men and was very fortunate that my path crossed with theirs in my classroom.”
As they prepare to graduate this fall and their college years draw to a close, Hendrickson reflects on how their friendship has grown beyond the classroom and been guided by God.
“Not to be sappy, but genuinely it felt like the Lord totally brought us together and we just became brothers,” Hendrickson said. “It’s been so rad seeing both of us grow in our walk with God and mature into our own career paths as we get closer to graduation.”
