Author: Rachel Zimmerman

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Stories In Focus

Innovation Coming to Houghton

More than just a college town.

It can be safely said that Houghton is not the biggest, most notable town on the map. Yet a number of Houghton administrators want to make Houghton, New York more than a small college town. Through a set of varied initiatives, they are hoping to make Houghton “a destination,” as Rob Pool, vice president for student life, put it, “for visitors and guests.”

This plan has already been partially implemented through the opening of the Kerr-Pegula Athletic Complex (KPAC) this past September. Pool explained that because of the KPAC, “there are rich, varied events we now offer that we couldn’t do before.” Athletic director Harold “Skip” Lord indicated the KPAC’s capabilities. “Obviously, the size is a big factor. The flexibility of arrangement and the ability to break it into smaller or larger units are plusses.”

Accreditation4RGBSince the KPAC has been built, a concert has been held, which Lord noted “was twice as big as any ever held here.” There have also been twelve high school and college indoor track meets. Pool explained that with the KPAC’s size and capabilities, Houghton is “reaching out to section five and six schools,” which increases the amount of people who will “hear about the college, hear about this tiny place called Houghton, New York.” In addition to concerts and sporting events, the KPAC has also hosted youth events and a Frisbee tournament. Overall, Lord said there have been “almost 18,000 visitors this year.”  Regarding future opportunities, Lord said “we are looking at many different options ranging from athletics to concerts to trade shows and special events.”

While the KPAC is bringing in visitors and guests through hosting events, Pool has his own plan to bring in new life to Houghton. Pool is working toward a Houghton alumni village, meant as a place for “active retirees” to spend part of their retirement. Here, they could play an active role in campus life. Pool noted the possibility of taking classes at a reduced or waived fee or even auditing them. Beyond this, they could act as mentors, advisors, or career coaches.  Pool explained that at such a stage in life, they are often “at the top of their careers, with vast amounts of wisdom to share. Thus in playing such roles, they could create “a multi-generational learning community,” where students could have “the complementary benefit of older generations.” Pool explained that for students, “it’s so inspirational to see flesh and blood people who have had the Houghton experience and went out and lived.”

In practice, the alumni would likely be housed in the flats. The inherent difficulty is mobility for the retirees. The flats have multiple floors, and although the retirees are specified as “active,” not requiring constant care, stairs could still be arduous. Pool is still working to find a workable solution to housing, but he affirmed his overall hopes for the idea. He noted other small colleges that had accomplished a similar idea, and reiterated his feeling that alumni would like to be involved on campus in this way. “Many retirees don’t want to lounge in the sun,” Pool explained. They want an active role, and “what better place to do that than at your alma mater?”

Phyllis Gaerte also wants to make Houghton a destination, specifically through theRIVR Group, an organization working toward reinforcing Houghton economically. They were responsible for bringing in Three-Bums and Addie’s, and have hopes of creating a new park by the fire hall. “It’s all designed to make the area around 19 more attractive,” Pool explained. The goal is a Houghton “filled with thriving businesses.”

“It’s a beautiful place,” Pool says of Houghton. “Not the scenery, the people.” Lord, Pool, Gaerte, and several others share a vision of a thriving Houghton where many more people can see its beauty.

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Stories In Focus

Ready Before It Happens: Emergency Preparedness at Houghton College

Ray Parlett, as the director of campus safety and security, has to deal with emergencies before they happen.

Parlett defined an emergency as “anything that has the potential to cause a threat to life or property or disrupt our operations” in reference to Houghton. Emergencies range from levels one to four, from water leaks and individual injury to major fires and natural disaster. He writes the emergency plan which is the reference for how to approach these emergencies as they come.

Emergency-Action-Plan-8.15.11Parlett wrote his first emergency plan in 1999, and “essentially rewrote it” in 2008, in large part because of the emphasis on specific individuals instead of general positions. As people moved on, references to specific names were no longer applicable. To resolve this, a general contact page was created, listing the positions, the corresponding individuals, and their information. “As we have transitions, we can change that page,” Parlett explained.

This idea of a general framework in fact applies to the entire philosophy of the emergency plan. In considering emergencies, Parlett explained that a lot of what goes into creating an emergency plan is “identifying key players in general types of issues.” This is logical, because as Parlett put it, “they are the ones dealing with it.”

He further noted that “the critical part of that is having the right people in the right place.”

Essentially knowing who to call and where to gather is so important because not every scenario can be predicted. “There is no plan that has every possible contingency,” Parlett explained. If you tried to anticipate every way a situation could go, “the plan would be so cumbersome you would not remember it.” It would be an “impractical reference.”

Parlett’s emphasis on generalities comes from his understanding of emergencies. “Emergency by nature is fluid, fluctuating all the time,” he said. He noted, with a smile, that you cannot expect an emergency to go “as planned.” How, then, are they to be dealt with? Parlett identified flexibility as “absolutely critical,” and further noted drills as an effective way to practice it. “That is the value of doing a drill. It forces you to exercise flexibility and recognize how necessary flexibility really is.”

This was demonstrated in a Gillette fire drill two years ago. The planned situation was meant to replicate a major fire, and while the drill was going on, one of the key people involved had an asthma attack. “It demonstrated that even in an orchestrated situation things didn’t go as planned,” Parlett said. Those dealing with the “emergency” had to adapt to the situation as it came.

Training, then, is an essential aspect of emergency preparedness. Accordingly, the most recent revisions to the emergency plan have come from the “education perspective.” Faculty and staff are being trained to respond to the “more catastrophic” emergencies, when they would need to “take charge.”

Parlett noted that students and faculty the have the chance to be informed as quickly as possible. He encourages students to sign up for WENS, the wireless emergency notification system. Through this they can be notified of an emergency occurring by email or text. Students can sign up online through a student portal, and faculty through a faculty portal. An email will soon be sent out with more specifics about WENS. Students and faculty can rest assured, then, that a plan is in place with the appropriate personnel to deal with any emergency and that they will know about it as soon as possible.

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Stories In Focus

Houghton Take-Two: Returning as a Student Twenty-Two Years Later

Christopher Cilento is, in his own words, “not your typical eighteen to twenty-two year old student.” He is a non-traditional student, who first attended Houghton College in 1991. Yet financial difficulties allowed him to attend for only one year, and he found himself on the long road to his return to Houghton this semester.

Cilento described the years following his initial year at Houghton as a “downward trend.” He entered the military, seeking something “more practical” than his interest in art, and served for seventeen years. He was sent on three combat deployments to Afghanistan. Yet upon leaving the military, found himself unemployed for six months, falling into depression as he at last resigned himself to a job he hated.

A “one person intervention” brought Cilento out of this rut. “He gave me the swift kick in the rear I needed, “ Cilento said, by reminding him that there was no reason to stay where he was and that his year at Houghton had been his best. After consideration and prayer, he both applied and was accepted within a week. “It blew my mind,” Cilento said, and after that, “doors opened.”

“God has provided every time something came up,” Cilento explained. He began to prepare for the trip to Houghton without having enough gas money, but his needs were met just hours before he left.  His concerns about bad weather were allayed when “the clouds parted” as he exited onto Route 19. He noted that he had left Sunday instead of Monday as he had originally intended. Monday brought three inches of snow. “I never would’ve gotten the truck up the hill,” Cilento said, shaking his head. He looks back at his trip to Houghton as “miracle after miracle.”

Having at last arrived at Houghton, Cilento is pursuing a major in applied design and visual communications. His “dream of dreams” is to work for National Geographic as a photojournalist, but Cilento would be happy working for an outdoor or travel magazine or teaching photography. Having taken a few online courses before going to Houghton, he is happy to be attending the college. “It was not what I wanted to do. I was doing what I thought I should do,” Cilento explained.

Being a non-traditional student, however, is not without its struggles. Cilento mentioned “getting back in the groove of studying and taking notes” as his greatest difficulty upon returning to college, as he essentially must “relearn” being a student.

Yet the environment, for him, is pleasantly familiar. “The whole atmosphere is pretty much the same,” he explained. “Very friendly, very open.” During his 1991 year at Houghton, he “felt accepted,” and that is “one of the things that hasn’t changed.” He added that, surprisingly, one of the things had not changed is that “they still have chalkboards here!” Cilento also discovered Professor Ted Murphy, who had taught him in 1991, was his professor once again, and was “the same as he was back then.”

Cilento laughingly noted a few changes in Houghton since 1991. “The trees are a lot bigger,” he said. “The style of clothing has changed dramatically.” The college experience itself is also a bit different, as Cilento is much more conscious of responsibility. “I used to live in the CC basement,” he said. “Now I go home and do homework.” He explained that his first year at Houghton, “if I didn’t like the class I’d stare out the window, doodle in a notebook.” Now, he is “more motivated to pay attention in class.”

Cilento recently submitted a cartoon to the Drawing Board, portraying himself as the “prodigal son.” “That’s what it felt like,” he said. He is certain he is in the right place. “I’m where I want to be and happier than I have been in a very, very long time. If someone asks if I am happy, I can say yes.”

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Sports Stories In Focus

Athlete of the Week // Abby Schmidt

Sophomore Abby Schmidt has been playing soccer since first grade.  After dabbling in basketball and track, she continued with soccer all through high school, ending her high school soccer career with her team winning the sectional championships; it’s one of her best memories.

Girls Soccer 14The following year, she arrived at Houghton and adjusted to the program’s style of play. Women’s head soccer coach, David Lewis, said “she has adapted well to” the “increased speed of play at the college level.”

Now on the Houghton college women’s soccer team, Schmidt jokes that she has a “one a season” pattern for goals, which she fulfilled on November 1st against St. John Fisher. She scored one of the team’s four goals in the final game of the season, contributing to the win on their home turf. The win was a “confidence booster,” Schmidt said, after they “struggled in midseason.”

“In practice and in games, Abby is one of the most determined and hardworking  players on the field. Her passion for soccer and for her teammates has been a great source of motivation for me the past couple of seasons that I’ve had the opportunity to play with her,” said senior captain Mary Strand of her teammate.

Schmidt enjoys every aspect of soccer at Houghton. She appreciates the focus on Christ. “It makes you want to play soccer better,” she explained. There is “more respect on and off the team,” and the relationships are strong. She loves how her experience has been “about building relationships with the team” and that the team “sticks together. We won and lost as a team.”

She practices with her friends in the racquetball courts when she is not doing in season or spring training. “She genuinely cares about people, I have seen it in the way she interacts with her teammates and friends,” said Strand.

Schmidt’s positive attitude is reflected on those around her. “Abby is contributing to the team’s dynamic,” Lewis said. “She exhibits genuine care for her teammates…has a great attitude and fits nicely with the mission of our team.” He echoed Abby’s own sentiments, that “her best moment[s] would include the lasting relationships that she is creating with her teammates.”

“One day, Abby would like to work in public relations for an athletics team or department, which is reflective of her passions for both sports and people,” said Strand.

Schmidt exudes hope and positivity. “We’re peaking at the right time,” she said. Soccer is a large part of her life, but she affirms positively that it’s “worth it.”

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News

GCF New Vision Week: Unreached People Groups

Each year the Global Christian Fellowship prepares New Visions Week, a week devoted to offering mission related information and opportunities for the Houghton student body as a whole. It will be held from October 26 through November 2, and has various events tied together by this year’s theme: unreached people groups.

NewVisionWeek2An unreached people group is a group without enough Christians of their own ethnicity to have evangelical influence. These can be groups who are either hostile to the gospel or have not heard it. They are mainly located in what is known as the “10/40 window,” a rectangle on the map between 10 and 40 degrees north latitude, which includes North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. Although the window is not completely accurate, meaning not all groups inside it are unreached, and some unreached groups exist outside of it, it works well as a general rule.

“The Joshua Project,” a website dealing specifically with information related to unreached people, explains this in greater detail and offers maps as visual aids. The unreached people of both the “10/40 window” and areas outside of it require what GCF president, Whitney Elder, described as cross-cultural input. These are the missions New Visions Week is all about, but the ultimate goal, as the theme notes, is to plant seeds of indigenous faith in these unreached people groups so it may become their own.

The week will open with David Sitton speaking chapel and the Monday night culture fair. Sitton, who spent time working in Papua New Guinea and now is helping to operate a school in Texas that trains people to worked with unreached groups, will speak an additional five times in chapel during the remainder of the week. The culture fair is meant to “expose the average student to how God’s at work in the rest of the world,” Elder said. There they can learn about “the global church, how it’s doing.” Through this, a greater sense of connection with fellow Christians around the world can be created and students can gain a better understanding of other cultures.

Six workshops and two special interest luncheons, in addition to the post chapel lunches, will also be offered. Michael Ahland, assistant professor of linguistics and teaching english to speakers of other languages (TESOL), will speak on Linguistics, TESOL, and translation on Tuesday. His perspective will be based on his work in Ethiopia, where he, along with a Houghton student, was able to bring a local Ethiopian language into writing.

On Thursday, the lunch will look at Islam. The workshop topics range from explorations of missions (roles and settings), to TESOL, to human trafficking. There is also a workshop on how music can be used in ministry internationally.

Houghton students will not only have an opportunity to gain a better understanding of missions and the unreached people of the world, but a chance to become involved. Multiple mission organizations will be represented, from which interested students can get information. Opportunities for internships and study abroad options will also be available.

The theme verse for the 2014 New Visions Week is Romans 10:15. “And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’”

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Stories In Focus

Patrick Ishimwe, Giving Non-Traditional Students a Voice

Senior Patrick Ishimwe, executive officer of nontraditional students, grew up wanting to help people.

Born in Rwanda, moving from there to Congo, to Kenya, and eventually to Togo, where he lived for ten years, Ishimwe grew up in what he described as an “unstable environment.” Yet, he said, “there was always someone to help,” and through that, his family got “all the help we needed.”

Having moved to Buffalo, where he went to City Honors School for two years, Ishimwe eventually arrived at Houghton looking for a Christian environment and a good soccer program. Ishimwe initially did not consider SGA, but during his Sophomore year, a friend, Ben Hardy, convinced him to go to a meeting. Ishimwe was intrigued, and by his Junior year, he ran for the Senate and became part of the SGA. The SGA, he realized, was an opportunity to be a helpful voice on campus.

AnthonyBurdo_Patrick Ishimwe

However, among the changes the 2014-2015 year brought was the elimination of the Senate. Again Ishimwe made the decision to participate in SGA, this time becoming the Executive Officer of Nontraditional Students. In this role, Ishimwe deals with reaching out to the students of Buffalo who do not have the opportunity to go to traditional college.

Placing great value on education, Ishimwe is personally invested in the programs. “Education is just the key to success,” he said. In a recent Facebook post, Ishimwe wrote, “Jesus did not die on the cross just for us to live an average life.” He said, “Education showed me you don’t have to lead that life.” In his SGA position, Ishimwe is able to share this opportunity with students who otherwise would have no access to it. “They’re no different from us,” said Ishimwe, “We’re just fortunate enough to be able to afford to go here.”

Having attended school in Buffalo, Ishimwe has a personal understanding of the purpose and value of the programs for nontraditional students. He discovered that one of the students in the program was a good friend, and was able to see the positive effects. He noticed that his “friends from high school struggle with staying in college and getting a degree.” Ishimwe, in his position, is now able to see the tangible results of the programs.

Ishimwe describes his office as giving Buffalo students in the program “a voice on campus.” He keeps the SGA informed on how the programs are going, but also is responsible for sharing opportunities for involvement with other Houghton students. He and SGA president Katharine Labrecque have formed a committee that will be bringing in lecturers and possibly Buffalo residing Houghton alumni, who will inform Houghton students of opportunities to serve in Buffalo.

Patrick Ishimwe is a political science major, minoring in business and French. His desire to help people, to make a difference, is the root for his ultimate dream of going to law school and working with the United Nations. For now, he speaks for himself and reminds Houghton students, “Buffalo is a mission.” Although there is much to address for the rest of the world, for now “it’s preparation for future experiences.”

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Stories In Focus

Tracy’s Delightfuls Moves to Houghton

Less than a fifteen minute walk from anywhere on campus to Route 19, students may encounter Tracy’s Delightfuls. This family run gift shop arrived in the town of Houghton this past December. The store was originally located in Rushford, where owner Tracy Schieb and her husband, John Schieb, opened the business in June of 2012, fulfilling a lifelong dream to own a gift shop. The move to Houghton brought them a much appreciated quiet atmosphere and a larger venue. John Schieb wryly described the Rushford location as, “smaller than the room we’re standing in.” The larger venue has given them a chance to expand their merchandise, including the addition of fresh cut flowers.

LukeLauer_TracysDelightfulsThe front lawn is dotted with floral arrangements, including the sign. Inside the store, cream-colored walls are covered with bright, vibrant scarves, fingerless gloves, and an assortment of candles, mugs, and trinkets cover display tables. A pleasant scent drifts through the room, specifically the grape scent of a Northern Lights Candle.

The couple’s dedication and love for what they do becomes immediately clear upon inspection of the store. John Schieb’s woodwork can be found throughout the store, including birdhouses and antique windows transformed into decorative pieces. For their own use they have a organizational bulletin board behind the cash register. The work of Tracy’s mother is present as well, including the scarves, fingerless gloves, cowls, and quilts. John Schieb mentioned, with a grin, “about ninety-percent” of their lives revolve around the store. First year, Carina Martin, noted that Tracy, “genuinely cares about her customers.”

Family is not the only unique resource of Tracy’s Delightfuls. A shelf displays ceramic work by Naomi Woolsey and Kat Straus for sale, as well as Melissa Fink’s bracelets. Amish made bracelets and bells are displayed in the front. As a general philosophy, Tracy Schieb noted they try to support locally made products. Their new cookie cutters, for example, are made in Vermont, the Northern Lights candles are New York based, and Seacoast Florist of New Hampshire supplies their fresh cut flowers.

Tracy’s Delightfuls offers several benefits for Houghton students. There is a fifteen percent off discount for students who present their IDs. “I remember what it was like to be a college student,” Tracy Schieb said with a smile, “and that every penny counts!” Tracy’s Delightfuls also allows parents to order and ship to the college. Nationwide shipping allows students to do the same for their parents or siblings, a benefit especially fitting for the upcoming holiday season.

In the near future, Tracy’s Delightfuls will open its doors for the Harvest Festival, with a focus on autumn. The fall scents of the Northern Lights candles and the new Vermont made cookie cutters will be displayed. Tracy Schieb noted that pumpkins will hopefully have arrived as well.

Tracy’s Delightfuls offers a wide range of gifts for any season, with quirky mugs (“Fishing- if it was easy it would be called catching”), accessories and candles, and animal themed cowls. There is also a large selection of current seasonal items. “I seriously love these pumpkins!” Martin laughingly commented in reference to a set of painted wooden pumpkins. The careful detail and local involvement is reflected in the wide range of “delightful” gifts.

Tracy’s Delightfuls is located on 9726 Route 19, across from China Star. They are open weekdays from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM, and on Saturdays from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Debit cards, MasterCard, Personal Checks, and Visa are accepted.

 

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