Evan Anstey – Houghton STAR

Downstairs in Gillette, there is a hall that has taken on an entirely new name this school year. The hall many students knew just as ‘Basement New’ in previous years has become the townhouse floor.

The townhouse floor is a new option for living on campus that combines the rules of a townhouse with the setting of a dormitory. Replacing the First Year Learning Community option, the townhouse floor is a “living on campus” plan brought back to Houghton after a long absence. The townhouse floor has open hours that span most of the day beginning at 8am and with longer weekend hours, just like the townhouses and the main lounges of the dormitories. The townhouse floor is furnished with more supplies and furniture than any of the other lounges in Gillette. It contains a very useful, spacious kitchen and comfy, clean couches. Down the hall, a variety of eye-catching pictures and drawings brought in or made by residents adds a welcoming appeal to the whole area. Along with the wall decorations placed by students, an elevator and a custodial office also reside here; something different from the other floors of Gillette.

Although the townhouse floor has all the same rules as a townhouse, they are still very much a part of the rest of Gillette. The floor participates in events held by the rest of the dormitory, but would also like to participate in townhouse-centered events in the future. The floor is a living option that could be described as “in between” living in Gillette and the townhouses. Living there gives residents a sense of closeness to the rest of Gillette, a shorter walk to campus buildings, but the freedom and responsibility of living in and taking care of a townhouse.

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“It’s going well,” said junior, Rachel Wright, resident assistant (RA) of the townhouse floor. Wright calls the floor a “happy medium” and enjoys leading and living amongst the upperclassmen that she describes as, “an awesome bunch of residents.” She likes that they have a sense of maturity and a grip on what they want to do in life.

At double the size of a normal townhouse, the townhouse floor is home to sixteen residents.The townhouse floor is a privilege according to Wright, much like any upperclassmen living option. Though it is still early in the semester, Wright already shows great pleasure in her position as the townhouse floor’s RA. When told that she would be the RA of the townhouse floor, she immediately responded with a good attitude, saying, “That’s what I want to do.”

So far, the townhouse floor has been the location of a solid, focused, and successful atmosphere on the Houghton College campus. As for the future of the townhouse floor, Wright said it is “not set in stone,” but if all goes well this year, she thinks the townhouse floor will continue to be a living option in upcoming years.

Auditions for Houghton’s next bi-annual variety show, SPOT, concluded and leave some people skeptical of the event. According to director of student programs, Greg Bish, SPOT is an event “created for current students” and is “their show to enjoy” unlike school concerts which are meant for students, parents, and community members. SPOT has a different theme each semester, and this semester’s theme is “SPOT ON, NOT ON”. Bish says this semester’s SPOT will include traditional comedy and music acts along with acts meant to be “not on” or purposefully bad, as the theme indicates.

In past years SPOT has been very popular among the student body and Bish believes there have been more auditions this year than in previous years. He says that students are “coming up with more ideas,” but with “less things planned out.” Ideally, in the future Bish would like to see more creativity with Houghton-oriented and original material.

The lack of original acts could become a deterrent for SPOT in Bish’s opinion, but students’ thoughts on original material versus parodies is mixed. Sophomore, Michaela Rosplock commented that SPOT is “guaranteed to be funny” even with parody acts. Senior, Neal Fahey thinks that parody acts are good to “fall back on” if a student does not have good original material to perform and junior, Clara Robertson likes parody performances when they are familiar or based off of something well known. Michael Carpenter, one of this semester’s hosts, said, “I think we have some really funny acts, and I think we have some some really well done musical acts that people will really be able to enjoy.”

Something different about this season’s SPOT is that it will not include a house band because of the high amount of musical acts. Along with Greg Bish and the performers, the hosts also put a large amount of work into making SPOT a popular and exciting event among students. Along with Carpenter the other hosts are Travis Trotman, Simba Kamuriwo, and Joshua Duttweiler who were interviewed and selected by the Campus Activities Board (CAB). They were chosen for their ideas on how they would run the show and are expected to entertain the audience in between acts as well as inform them of per

SPOT will take place at the on the Saturday before homecoming week’s activities instead of at the end of them this semester. Trotman said, “It’s good to have it on the Saturday, that way a lot more students can come. Usually students do come to SPOT so it’d be great to kick off with SPOT and then you end off with the concert.” Another reason for the change has to do with the importance of the dedication of KPAC. Duttweiler said, “KPAC is a big deal, so they’re kicking it off this year. I’m not sure if this is a permanent change or just because of this year, but I think they’re leaning towards it.” SPOT will take place on Saturday, September 27th in Wesley Chapel. Students will have access to the chapel at 9:30 p.m. and the show begins at 10.