Author: Bethany Kuiken

A recent, anonymous donation of $2.4 million to Houghton’s Equestrian Center will allow for the expansion of new facilities, and greatly impact the community. Both students and faculty are excited about this “huge step” for the Equestrian Center and highly anticipate how it will help continue to grow the program.

Larissa Ries (Strappello), Instructor of Equestrian Studies and Equestrian Facility Manager, is looking forward to the many opportunities this new expansion will bring to the community. “The new arena will allow us to offer more events for the Equine community, such as clinics, shows, etc., providing more learning opportunities for our students. It will allow us to host events for organizations such as Pony Club and 4H. We have been approached by these organizations about using the facility, but have struggled to have the time and space with all of the programming we have going on for the college students,” she said. “Hosting more events will allow our college students to have more real life experience of planning and running equine events.”

Ries (Strappello) also commented on how the arena will directly impact the Equestrian students. “The arena will also give our students who board their horse here more time to ride. Currently, in the winter months they are limited to riding when classes or community lessons are not going on,” she said. “It will provide more year-round use space for our students to practice and hone their riding skills as well as provide more year-round space for the local equestrian community to get involved in our clinics and shows.”

Macy Baumgarten ’19, an Equestrian Performance major, anticipates taking advantage of the benefits that come along with having a new arena. “With the new arena we will have another indoor space and will have more opportunities to ride, which means that we have more opportunities to further our education as Equestrian majors and minors,” she said. “I think I am most looking forward to the fact that we will have more space. It is always so hard to find ride time in the winter because we only currently have one indoor arena.”

Not only will this expansion bring more opportunities for students and community members to ride, but it will also provide more space for classroom learning. “I am also looking forward to having a larger classroom, that will allow our lecture classes to have more space, space that does not have multiple uses,” Ries (Strappello) said. “Our current classroom is also the lunch room, tack room, cleaning room and hang-out space (because it is the only room besides the tack rooms and restrooms that is heated).”

Jordan Smith ’20, a double major in Business Management and Equestrian Management, is counting on the new expansion to capture the attention of those in, around, and beyond Houghton. “This expansion is definitely bringing more attention to the Houghton Equestrian program, so it is nice for people outside of Houghton to be able to see what our program is all about,” she said. “With this expansion we will be able to have bigger shows which will attract other equestrians to our school and program, which is always exciting.”

The Equestrian Program is thriving, and it will continue even more so with these new developments. “Each year we get more and more Equestrian students because of the amazing program we have. I think that because we are growing it is important for our facilities to grow as well,” Baumgarten concluded. “With another barn, we will finally have more room to expand and grow as an Equestrian Program.”

The Chapel Deacon Program was originated by John Brittain, Dean Jordan’s predecessor, and continues to flourish many years later. This year, the chapel deacons are Daniel Hodge ‘18, Silas Philbrick ’19, Alanna Paris ’18, Miranda Hayes ’19, James McLean ’19, and Joshua Emel ’21.

Miranda Hayes ’19 applied for the chapel deacon position after being prompted by Houghton representatives from Campus Target, a missions organization based in Lima, New York. “I applied for this position because it was something that God had laid on my heart in the middle of my sophomore year,” she said. “After pushing it aside for a whole semester, pretending that I couldn’t hear the clear calling that he had put on my heart, I finally applied after speaking with a couple of Houghton representatives from Campus Target. They encouraged me and helped me to better understand that God will use my feelings of inadequacy through this experience. I’ve always had a passion for loving people, so the idea of being in a position that could open doors for me to invest in others sounded intriguing to me.”

For Silas Philbrick ’19, the position was attractive because he felt it would enable him to both grow and be challenged in his faith. “It’s also a good opportunity to meet with the other deacons during our small group time to talk and pray about things going on on campus,” he said. “I am hoping this position will help me to be more bold in my faith. I’m excited to be able to lead a campus-wide spiritual life project that will, with God’s guidance, impact many people.”

Throughout the semester, the chapel deacons are required to coordinate and execute a spiritual life project on campus. In the past, students have planned worship services, fundraisers, coffeehouses, Bible and book studies, dorm events, and more.

After spending a semester in Costa Rica, Alanna Paris ’18 discovered a new interest in how other cultures perceive Christianity. “This semester, I would love to have some of the international students on campus host a coffeehouse or in some way speak up about how they perceived Christianity up to coming to Houghton, and what made them want to interact with Christianity here.” Paris is passionate about unpacking “the real story of Christianity abroad, not the one we’re fed.”

Joshua Emel ’21 would like to see the community “come together” and encourage one another in Christ. Daniel Hodge ’18 is interested “systemically” in “helping people become aware” of “the internal and external forces that can destroy us, or bring us together.” “I would like to see people step out of their comfort zones, and to have the strength to do that,” he said.

Dean Jordan centers the program on mentorship, inviting the deacons to meet with him once a week for a one-on-one conversation. “John Brittain more often had students plan actual chapel programming, whereas I do a bit more of a mentoring focus,” Jordan said. “Rather than help to plan chapel, I like giving students a chance to think a bit more widely about campus spiritual life and plan some sort of program that helps spiritual life on campus.”

Hayes holds her deacon position as both a privilege and a responsibility. “As my own faith growth is an important goal for my position as chapel deacon, so is the faith of other Houghton students,” she said. “I would really like to use this experience to see others challenge themselves in their faith as well by working together to be involved in the spiritual life on campus.”

Philbrick hopes this semester is one of dedication and commitment for the chapel deacons. “I am hoping that this year’s chapel deacons can be prayer warriors for Houghton College,” he said. “I hope that every time we meet we can discuss the events that are happening on campus and pray for those that are hurting as well as the overall wellness of our campus, our community, and our nation. I would like to see that when events that threaten to cause division within our community, be resolved through the grace and peace of Christ.”

Homecoming has always  been a time of celebration when current students, family, and alumni gather to commemorate Houghton’s influence on their lives.

Today, Houghton alumni are dispersed all over the world, pursuing excellence for the glory of God in their respective disciplines. Two recent Houghton alumni, Sophia Ross ’17 and Olivia Graziano ‘16, have moved on to utilize their degrees in a unique, professional setting and impact many. Ross currently works as the Marketing Associate at Image Journal, a literary quarterly in Seattle, Washington. Graziano works as the Creative Director of Intermotion Media, “a group of creatives” that use video to tell “unforgettable stories.”

For Graziano, landing a job right after graduation was initially challenging. “I searched for about a year, applied to over forty jobs and got rejected by all of them,” she said. “By chance, Wesley Dean, another Houghton graduate, reached out to me and I ended up starting to do some contract work for him. He liked it so much that he wanted to bring me on full-time.”

As part of the interview process, Graziano traveled to Cambodia with the Intermotion Media team, partnering with World Hope International, an organization that works with “vulnerable and exploited communities to alleviate poverty, suffering and injustice.” “My experience alone in Cambodia really changed me as a person,” she recalled. “We were able to film the story of a woman that was a victim of severe domestic abuse. She is the first Cambodian woman to ever successfully file and win a domestic violence court case, resulting in her ex-husband’s imprisonment. World Hope is trying to create more awareness in global communities, so there’s a place women can go to seek help in cases like this.”

Graziano is passionate about filmmaking because it presents a unique opportunity to bring about cultural transformation. “The reason I got into video was because it’s a way that you can show others your point of view or tell them a story, and change how they think,” she said. “That’s what videos do—they have the power to change how people think.”

Currently, Graziano and her team are filming footage for Houghton’s IMPACT marketing campaign, which focuses on the impact that both current Houghton students and alumni are making around the world. Next month, the Intermotion Media team will travel to Kenya and Nigeria to partner with the United States Institute of Peace in making a video to “counter violent extremists and radicalization” and “promote rehabilitation and reintegration of violent extremists in East Africa.”

For Ross, her position as a full-time employee at the non-profit Image Journal enables her to fully pursue her passions. “Working at a literary journal means that I use both my majors (English Literature and Writing), which are also my passions, every day,” she said. “I get to continue learning from great writers, not only about my craft, but about the business aspects of publishing. I also get to read several pieces of great writing a day, and decide how to present them to our audience.” An average day includes “scheduling posts to social media and the blog, meeting with interns or the editor, curating content for the online newsletter and blog,” and also “proofreading manuscripts before they go to print,” all the while ending her day by “checking social media and interacting with the readers online.”

One of her favorite aspects of the job is how she is able to connect with the contributors to Image Journal. “I love that a big part of my job is engaging directly with writers and readers of the journal,” Ross said. “I manage Image’s website, blog, online newsletter, and social media accounts, which means that I’m constantly in touch with contributors, as well as readers who are engaging with posts.”

Ross was excited to learn more about how non-profit organizations function, and has directly experienced “just how vital every person is to the organization.” She has been challenged daily by the work environment, which has pushed her to stay constantly aware of how she uses her time.

For Ross, a Houghton education was excellent preparation for her position at Image Journal. “I can’t overemphasize how instrumental Houghton was in preparing me for this job. First of all, the professors I had at Houghton pushed me to pursue excellence in my writing and critical thinking, both of which are absolutely central to this position. I can’t thank them enough,” she said. “My roles as an RA and as an editor on the Star and the Lanthorn taught me how to prioritize my time, improved my communication skills, and gave me the tools I need to work in a professional environment.”

In the Spring of 2017, Ryan Yates began his term as Houghton’s Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Data Science.

Yates graduated from Wheaton College in 2003 with majors in computer science and mathematics. From there, he landed a job in the software industry, building computer aided design tools before further pursuing his academic career at the University of Rochester.

“My area of research is in systems; in particular, synchronization,” Yates said. “Synchronization is how you manage multiple computers on the same chip all working together, and making it work to either improve speed or increase the scale of the problems we solve. The other half of my research is in the Haskell programming language which is a functional programming language that is different from others in its commitment to a mathematical approach to things.”

Combining these two areas, much of Yates’ current work has focused on improving the performance of transactional memory, which involves a compositional approach to solving problems. “In the industry I was working for, we encountered concurrency problems in managing computers that involved thinking about the whole system at once,” he said. “Transactional memory allows you to think about the small parts independently.”

Dr. Brandon Hoffman, Department Chair of Physics, Computer Science, and Engineering highlighted the strengths Yates brings to the program. “He is interested in a wide variety of fields that involve computer science, which is really important for data science because you’re applying it to anything, and he’s interested in applying it to anything,” Hoffman stated. “When you present him with a new application, he’s good at seeing the connections and he enjoys it.”

Morgan Smith ’19, a student who has been under Yates’ tutelage for several years, echoed Hoffman’s statement. “Yates is interested not only in developing valuable tools, but also in using and sharing those tools intelligently and respectfully. Computer scientists tend to retreat into their discipline and look down on what they perceive as the non-technical laity, while Yates seeks to help people with different skill sets contribute to and benefit from the discipline by prioritizing the social dimensions of technology,” Smith said. “This focus will help Yates produce excellent technologists and make him an ideal educator for students from other disciplines encountering computer and data science in Houghton’s new liberal arts courses.”

Since Yates has always valued getting to know people in an intentional way, he has adopted an interactive lecturing style in the classroom. “If I don’t get to know my students, I won’t get to know what things are just beyond their ability, and what is way beyond their ability,” he said. “I want to push them just beyond their ability, so they are constantly on the edge of learning.”

This focus has not gone unnoticed by many of his students, including Smith. “Yates combines technical expertise and pedagogical skill with humility and active concern for students,” she reflected. “In particular, I value the way he pushes students to think critically about the material they’re learning, helping them to understand why something’s designed a certain way by imagining and evaluating multiple possibilities together.”

To Yates, learning is personal. “I want every person to be aware of their own strengths and weaknesses, and I want to give them an opportunity for learning,” he said. “I want everyone’s learning experience to reach everybody, and in that vein, I also want to demonstrate my own learning and demonstrate things that are just beyond the edge of my understanding, and engage with students in those things.”

So what does “success” mean in the computer science classroom? “Getting to know better the material, and not just the ideas,” Yates said, “but also the place of those ideas in a bigger picture of the world.” He values discovering how the ideas are important to humanity, and to the world. “Each class should broaden your world in an interesting way,” he said. “You haven’t been successful in the classroom if you aren’t making connections to things outside of it.”

Being the first to go to college in your family and graduate with a degree is a huge accomplishment whether it happened generations ago, or it is happening a few weeks from now. Every year, Houghton’s graduating class is mixed with students who are following in the footsteps of family members that have graduated before them and first-generation graduates.

Ryan Spear, director of admission, said, “This past fall, approximately 35 out of 247 incoming first-year students were first-generation, meaning their parents had not received a college degree.”

Jazmine Nova ’17 is a first-generation graduate pursuing a bachelor of arts degree in biology with minors in public health and psychology. “It’s a lot of pressure,” Nova said. “It’s a lot to be proud of, but it’s also a lot of pressure. College is very different experience as a first-generation graduate, especially when you realize there are a lot of students who have had their parents graduate from college. For example, a lot of Houghton students have parents, aunts and uncles who all went to Houghton.”

Since first-generation graduates are the first in their family to pave the way with a college degree, their experience can look different from students who are not first-generation. “Anecdotally, we sometimes find that incoming students who are first-generation do not have some of the benefits of coming from a ‘college-going culture’ in their home,” Spear stated. “This can influence small things such as understanding the basics of the application process to the challenges of the complexity of applying for financial aid.”

Nova’s experience has been one of continual discovery. “A lot of it I have had to figure out on my own,” she said. “A lot of it I’m still trying to figure out on my own.”

Spear continued, “However, first-generation students can also be among the most resourceful,” he said. “They often realize the importance of college and have a firm commitment to succeeding.”

Danielle Eaton ’17 is also a first-generation graduate pursuing a bachelor of arts in communication and writing. “While my parents and family are really proud of me, and I’m proud of myself for accomplishing this, there’s an enormous amount of pressure that comes with being a first generation graduate,” Eaton said. “The fear of disappointing those who’ve invested in me financially and emotionally to help me earn this degree is what has left me stressed, sleep deprived, and anxious.”

Like Nova, Eaton has experienced the strain of being a first-generation graduate. “In a way, that’s pushed me to be the best I can be, but sometimes I think it’s pushed me to try to extend myself beyond what I’m capable of,” she said. “I’m never going to be an A student, and for a while I really struggled with thinking I was disappointing those people who were invested in my success.” She continued, “Now, I know that as long as I’m pushing myself to be the best I can be, and I’m happy with the work I’m doing at the end of the day, that’s what matters.”

Nova has also reaped the benefits of a first-generation graduate. “Being a first-generation graduate gives you your own sense of freedom. It gives you a sense of independence,” she said. “You have to build your own paths and figure out how you’re gonna get there.”

As May 13, 2017 quickly approaches, whether you are a first-generation graduate or following in the footsteps of those who have gone before you, the college is proud celebrate this major accomplishment. “As a whole, I’d say that first generation students are much like the rest of the incoming student population, highly capable students seeking the kind of liberal-arts education that Houghton is known for,” Spear said.

Every year since 1990, Houghton College has selected one of its faculty members to receive the Excellence in Teaching Award. This award is intended to recognize, publicly acknowledge and reward faculty for outstanding teaching. This year, Ron Oakerson, professor of political science, is the recipient of this honor.

Oakerson completed his undergraduate studies at Taylor University, then continued on to earn a Masters degree and a Ph.D. in Political Science from Indiana University. The end of this semester will mark his twenty-fifth year of serving at Houghton, including two years as the chair of the department of history and political science, and seven years as the academic vice president and dean of the college.

Faculty colleagues of Oakerson have “unquestionably” noted him as “one of the college’s top scholars.” They admire his ability to “devise new, creative, and innovative classroom experiences” that create a “remarkable” educational experience for his students. Peter Meilaender, professor of political science, said, “Ron is a tremendously innovative teacher who has continued to experiment with new approaches. He has developed multiple new courses, and he has introduced an important element of fieldwork into his teaching.”

Oakerson is passionate about bringing students into an unfamiliar environment where they come face-to-face with issues that are only understood when experienced. “Increasingly, I have been more interested in getting students out of the classroom,” he said. “I love the classroom, but I also think students need to come into contact with people who are immersed in doing things and accomplishing things and reflecting on how they do and accomplish these things.”

Issues related to community governance and international development have taken Oakerson and his students to numerous communities around the country and around the world. In his course on urban governance, Oakerson has taken students to meet and talk with government officials and community leaders in Buffalo to interact with principles they learn in the classroom. Perhaps his most well-known endeavor would be the “Mango Out-Growers Project,” a joint outreach of Houghton College and World Hope International that Oakerson has led in Sierra Leone since 2009. In this experience, students engage in field research in the rural villages of Sierra Leone and investigate various issues that are related to development. “For many of those students, it has been a life-changing experience,” Oakerson said.

“The ‘Mango Project’ has been a remarkable opportunity for students not only to put their political science study into practice, but also to perform Christian service at the same time,” Meilaender said.

One of the most important lessons Oakerson has learned over the past 25 years of teaching at Houghton has been the value of respect in the classroom. He said, “I’m sure I have not always succeeded in this, but my effort and my aim has always been to try to accord respect to students for their thoughts, their ideas, and their articulation of those ideas.”

Earlier this semester, Laura Alexeichik, assistant professor of sport, recreation, and wellness, spent three weeks in the Middle East working on a research project through Connecting Cultures. Alexeichik spent her time in Oman, located in the Arabian Peninsula, and bordering Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and United Arab Emirates.

Alexeichik graduated with her Ph.D. two years ago from Indiana University. Her dissertation focused on research she did with Connecting Cultures in Oman. Her trip to Oman this year was an opportunity to continue research looking at the impacts of participation within a culturally focused experiential learning experience.

According to their official website, Connecting Cultures is a unique educational program that gathers students from countries in Europe and the Arab world to promote intentional, face to face dialogue in short journeys through the desert of Oman. “This program brings youth that are 18-25 years old from all over Europe and the Arab world,” Alexeichik stated. “There are twenty participants: ten from Europe and ten from the Arab world.” She continued, “Connecting Cultures brings them together for a five day desert expedition that focuses on intentional discourse and dialogue towards building respect and mutual understanding.”

The environmentthe participants endure creates a level playing field. “They’re in the desert,” Alexeichik explained. “They’re hiking. They have no cell phones. They’re going to the bathroom outside. They are sleeping in tents or under the stars and they come to realize how powerful the environment is while having these conversations. You’re exposed.” She added, “Everyone is tired, hungry, or covered in sand and it neutralizes the participants by creating an uncomfortable environment for everyone. It allows them to have these real and raw conversations.”

The purpose of this program is to expose the stereotypes and assumptions these young people have by bringing them through an intentional curriculum. “One of the major parts of the curriculum is having conversations about what people value,” Alexeichik said. “They come to find that the values of people from the Arab world and from Europe are the same, that we hold the same values and we’re not so different.”

Although Alexeichik was not a participant or a facilitator, as an outsider she was still able to interact with the participants as she completed her research. Her research provides her with a unique perspective that can impact the influence she has in the Houghton community as a professor. Assistant professor of recreation and equestrian studies, Andrea Boon, anticipates the continued impact Alexeichik’s research will have on students. “We are excited about the depth of knowledge and experience Dr. Laura Alexeichik brings to the Sport, Recreation and Wellness department,” she said. “Her continued research and intercultural connections opens doors to cross cultural student engagement and encourages continued growth of our student’s worldviews.”

Cross-cultural engagement is necessary for breaking down stereotypes and assumptions, but it often doesn’t come without a cost. “We often have to come to grips with our own ways of thinking about others and be willing to expand our views and opinions about others,” Alexeichik shared. “If we limit the ways in which we think about people different from us we become a part of the problem, rather than the solution.”