The Empire 8 Athletic Conference named sixty Houghton College student-athletes to their President’s List for maintaining a 3.75 grade point average during the Fall 2016 semester. According to a press release on the Houghton website, student-athletes that performed with excellence in the classroom, while also displaying positive contact on and off campus, were chosen to be honored by the Empire 8.
Those honored as scholar-athletes succeed in reflecting the mission of both Houghton College and Houghton Athletics. Harold “Skip” Lord, Executive Director of Intercollegiate Athletics, is encouraged by their quality performance. “Houghton College aims to ‘equip [students] to lead and labor as scholar-servants in a changing world,’” said Lord. “Our athletics’ motto is ‘Excellence for the glory of God.’ In a nutshell, we want our student-athletes to excel in their walk with God, in the classroom, in athletics and in their relationships.” He continued, “These kinds of recognitions are evidence that we are succeeding at those goals.”
As a liberal arts institution, Lord said, Houghton encourages whole-person education. “The core of both ‘whole-person’ education and a ‘liberal arts’ education is the curricular content, so well communicated by our dedicated faculty. That core is enhanced by a multitude of experiences that happen outside the classroom,” Lord said. “Some of those experiences happen as we do life together. Others are intentionally designed to provide a depth of educational experience that impacts that whole person — spiritually, physically, emotionally, socially, etc. For almost a third of our student-body, athletics is a portal for those experiences in a direct way.”
A spirit of discipline and determination is required for excellence in the life of a student-athlete. Laurie Call ’18, a member of the Houghton women’s basketball team, is one of the sixty student-athletes honored by the Empire 8. Call understands the importance of a strong work ethic in the classroom and on the court. “I think being a scholar-athlete reflects commitment and dedication. It would be easy to simply ‘get by’ in the classroom, but thanks to my parents, I’ve learned the importance of giving 110% to everything I do,” she said.
Lord admires the character of all student-athletes striving for excellence for the glory of God. “I admire their dedication to excelling in multiple areas of their lives. I admire their personal discipline and work ethic that is reflected in this kind of accomplishment,” he said. “I admire the fact that for many of these student-athletes, like most of our students here at Houghton, the success recognized by this award is reflective of the people who is excel in many areas.”
According to Lord, the sixty student-athletes honored by the Empire 8 Athletic Conference President’s List reflect the hope that Houghton has for every student-athlete. “Our primary hope for every student-athlete is that they will leave Houghton with a deepening personal walk with Christ, having mastered the content of their selected area of study and prepared to make a difference in the lives of the people God brings across their path each day,” said Lord. “The student-athletes who are recognized in this way are not the only ones who are fulfilling this hope, but they are great examples of what it can look like.”