Author: Shelby Weil

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Opinions

Students and the Recognition of the Sabbath

Every Sabbath, I ask myself this: to do homework or not to do homework – that is the question. Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to conquer the papers and projects of outrageous overload, or to relax with my weekly Sabbath away from the tsunami of stress.

saffabthEven here at a Christian college, I notice that many students spend their Sabbaths cramped up in their room, studying for that big exam they have the next day or starting that eight page paper that they have been avoiding like the plague. Where is their Sabbath day of rest in this? What has happened to the day that God has set aside as holy? Exodus 31 tells us, “You must keep the Sabbath day, for it is a holy day for you,” and what joy we feel when we observe the Sabbath!
The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath (Mark 2:27). We are human, and because of that, we have limitations. We cannot run continuously without ever getting exhausted; heck, I can barely run a mile without breathing like Darth Vader and getting side stickers. For us humans, rest is a necessity. In 2011, full-time college students studied an average of 15 hours a week, 30% got less than 6 hours a sleep a night, and 25% worked 20 hours or more a week (National Survey). These statistics alone show that college students overwork, under-sleep, and over-commit themselves.
But because God cares for us and loves us, He gives us a model to follow. That model is himself. On the third page of my Bible, I read, “On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation” (Genesis 2:2-3). Now, I can’t imagine that God was exhausted and that He actually needed an entire day to rest. But God set an example so that His children could emulate Him. So why don’t we? Why do we fill the Sabbath with work, homework, and constant business?
This is something that we as Christians should change. We should weekly take the Sabbath. So what is one to do on the Sabbath? Are they just supposed to lie in bed all day sleeping? Well, there is a difference between being lazy and resting. I believe Barbara Brown Taylor, a priest, professor, and theologian, says it best in her book, An Altar in the World, when she describes the Sabbath as “a day of saying no. A day of spiritual growth. A day of not doing, but being.” I don’t think the question is so much, “If I do this, does that count as working on the Sabbath?” as much as “How can I rest today and enjoy this day that God has blessed me with and has made holy?”
That being said, I’m not going to be like the Pharisees, defining what can and cannot be done on the Sabbath, but know that the Sabbath looks different for each person. Sleep in. Go to Church. Spend time with God: through prayer, worship, his word. Journal. Spend time relaxing, giving your mind a break from all of the studying and paper writing. Fellowship with friends, enjoying their company. Go on a hike. Read a book. Take a nap. The options are endless.
But there is one thing that is important, and that is to “Be still and know that God is God” (Psalm 46:10).
And I admit, it is hard to obey the Sabbath. This past Sunday, I battled with whether to do homework or not. With two papers and readings that were due on Monday alone, taking an entire day off from homework sounded unreasonable. But I tell you what, I kept the Sabbath. I spent time with God, I worshipped, I watched a movie, read a book, hung out with friends, and ended the night celebrating a friend’s birthday. And throughout it all, I had peace. When Monday morning rolled around, God gave me the strength to rise out of bed, and blessed me with an abundant amount of time to work on homework. And I am still at peace, thankful once again, that I obeyed my Father, rested, and took the Sabbath.
I believe Christian author Mark Buchanan sums up the Sabbath the best, saying, “Sabbath imparts the rest of God – physical, mental, spiritual rest, but also the rest of God – the things of God’s nature and presence we miss in our busyness.”
For these very reasons, every Sunday I say to myself: To observe Sabbath or to observe Sabbath. There is no question.

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Stories In Focus

Behind the Scenes: Life as a Resident Director

Living in a dorm allows you to experience an instant bond among your floormates, your RA, and even your RD. The RDs here at Houghton College include Jon Craton (Roth), Jason Stephens (Shen), Ashley Dean (Lambein), and Laura Cunningham (Gillette). This is Jon, Jason, and Laura’s first year here at Houghto456451_124673374344848_122592524_on, while it is Ashley’s third year as an RD here.

Many students wonder what their RD does all day since they do not have the typical 8am to 5pm work day. Their job is two-fold: administrative and relational. For administrative work, they send emails, send maintenance requests, and attend meetings. For the relational part, they connect with the students themselves and interact with their RAs, empowering them to reach out to their floors.

Jon Craton, the RD of Roth, is very passionate about what he does. The one factor that drew him to Houghton is the factor that others despised: that Houghton is located in a rural area. What challenges Jon to do his job is to see “students where they are, but then have a vision for what they can become, and then do what [he] can to help them get there.”

Craton, who mentioned to me that he still plays with legos, jokingly stated that he likes to think he can do anything. “I like to be a superhero. That’s actually part of the RD job description. Be a superhero.” Craton realized, though, that he cannot do everything, to which he emphasizes the importance of being vulnerable, and said, “As an RD, I want people to be able to watch me, whether that is in my relationship with Karin or how I work or how I interact with them and I want them to be able to see that and learn from it and look up to it. But I also have to be myself and if we’re honest, I’m not perfect.” Craton knows that in order to develop deep relationships with students, there is a give and take, as well being real, vulnerable, and being true to yourself.

Jason Stephens, the RD of Shen, understands that RDs “don’t always see the rewards immediately, but when you do see it, it makes your job super meaningful.” When asked what motivates him to do his job, he responded, “I think what motivates me the most is having students come to me and share their residential life experience and sharing how they have grown.” It’s these small moments that Stephens loves.

Stephens is all about building personal relationships. After his wife, Kendra Stephens, goes to bed around 11pm, he walks around the building and hangs out with the guys – he tries to do this about five times a week. After that, he has about an hour to himself, whether that is watching West Wing, reflecting, or just relaxing. He finally tucks himself into bed around 2am, only to wake up at 8am.  Stephens strives “to be on the floor with no other purpose than to just say hi to the guys. I’m there just to be a presence on their floor and get to know them.”

Stephens enjoys his Saturday morning drives to McDonald’s with Kendra Stephens for their weekly breakfast together. He realizes the importance of relaxing to prevent burnout. What made Stephens want to become an RA and ultimately an RD was his relationship with his RA when he was a freshman in college. “My RA my very first day took me under his wing.  It really made me feel like I was at home.” Jason hopes to help students grow and develop holistically in a lot of different areas.

Ashley Dean, RD of Lambein, sees the importance of knowing the names of the girls living in her dorm, even if she does not have one-on-one interactions with all of them. Dean attended Houghton College as a student, moving right into the RD role after graduating in 2011.  Even though she had originally planned on leaving Houghton after graduation, she says, “I wanted to invest back in this place and this department specifically that played such a key role in my development.”

With a smile, Dean talked about how she “loves students’ a-ha moments. When students can point out areas where they have grown, I like that.”  And through the growth of students and herself, Dean strives to be open and honest with her residents.

Even though Dean and her husband, Nathan Dean, are married now, they still embrace the child within them. For Halloween, Dean was a fish while Nathan Dean was a fisherman. They also like to turn their apartment into a fort and have a movie night in the living room.

Laura Cunningham, the RD of Gillette, likes trying new things and new adventures, which is what brought her from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to rural New York. Being an RD is the first experience Cunningham has ever had with student development. Cunningham received her degree in Christian ministries and spiritual formation and leadership after attending Asbury University and Spring Arbor University. Cunningham explains that what really drew her to the RD role was that students are “connected in so many different ways: academics, social, spiritual. So it is great to watch that unfold and support and empower you as you are experiencing those things.”

Cunningham loves that her job as RD is people-focused; she loves getting to know students and RAs and then supporting them all. Cunningham understands that her RAs are students and that sometimes one-on-ones can be rescheduled until after a big test or project is completed.

Cunningham, in jeans and a sweatshirt, playing with her tea in front of her, speaks very intelligently. Through conversation with her, I wrote down four books that I know need to read.  She also knows her strengths, listing some as ‘individualization,’ ‘connectedness,’ and ‘learner.’ She draws upon what she knows and loves to see the bigger picture, looking at how things are interconnected. She said, “For now, this is where God has led me.”

The RDs of the dorms are passionate about what they do. They realize the potential that college students have and they want to be here for encouragement, to be a listening ear, and to help us out with tough situations.  But more importantly, Craton, Stephens, Dean, and Cunningham have a desire to get to know us as people.

 

Categories
News

Our Common Ground Currently on Hiatus

Due to a shortage of time commitment and funding, events and other happenings at Our Common Ground has diminished in quantity.

What is Our Common Ground? Brian Webb, Houghton College’s Sustainability Coordinator who runs Our Common Ground, explained that the facility “is a community resource center” located on the second floor of the Allegany Harvest Cooperative Market off of Route 19. In the past, OCG has hosted workshops that “were meant to be educational experiences that promoted community sustainability and environmental and social awareness,” said Anna Dibble, previous assistant to Brian Webb. Some previous workshops included instruction in gardening, wildcrafting (medicinal herbs), and jelly-making. Webb stated that even though these workshops had great intentions, there would be times when no one would show up to them.  “It was most often that we would get ten or fewer. Even five or fewer.”

Some struggles that Webb faced for the workshops were in advertising. Marketing to both college students and the community resulted in unknown preferences. Webb would hang posters at the community library and grocery store, as well as send out emails to the Houghton students. Looking back, he understands that this was not the most effective approach to advertising.

Courtesy of akamaihd.net
Courtesy of akamaihd.net

Because of the small amount of participation in workshops as compared to the extensive planning and preparation that goes into them, Webb plans to focus more on what he can do at the college for this school year. This does not mean that OCG is closed, Webb ensured; the recycling program as well as the lending-library are still happening. Also, the location is still open for renting. The workshops, however, “are indefinitely put on hold.”

Bryn Pearson, junior, an intern for Brian Webb this year, said, “I’m sad that the workshops won’t be happening, but I also think it is the logical choice. Even with my own work times as an intern, I would rather put forth my hours each week towards making big structural changes to how the college functions and towards sustainability in that way rather than trying to do little workshops where three to five people show up.” Dibble adds that, while sad that the workshops have ended, “I understand that there may be other more pressing matters to focus on right now.”

Webb’s current “priorities are the projects on campus that he has running,” said Pearson. Webb stated that “what seems to be the wisest use of my time and money resources is to focus on the things that I do at the college. I believe in the mission of Our Common Ground. I just don’t think with the current resources, we are able to prioritize it.” Projects on campus that Webb is currently devoting to include Creation Care, reducing energy usage on campus, composting, and other projects.

Webb stated that no matter what project he is working on, he strives to “honor God by taking care of His creation.”

 

Categories
News

Contemporary Contexts Program Cut

With recent low enrollment numbers in Houghton’s three first year honors programs – East Meets West, Science Honors, and Contemporary Contexts – the college has decided to cut Contemporary Contexts for next year to focus on recruitment and effectiveness on the two remaining programs.

Science Honors focuses on researching and analyzing scientific data, while students build a model on what they are researching.  The other two programs, Contemporary Contexts and East Meets West are integrative; they combine courses on philosophy, art, literature, political science, or history, and involve experiential learning overseas during Mayterm.

CC_Josh_DuttweillerOriginally, Houghton College started its first honors program in the mid-1990’s.  This was the First Year Honors Program (FYHP), which was a semester abroad in London. The program became very popular amongst prospective students. Professor Ben Lipscomb, director of honors, said, “We found that we were interviewing and turning away people.” So as demand and interest grew for the honors program, East Meets West was created, said Eric Currie, vice president for enrollment management. This not only allowed options for the incoming freshmen, but also allowed the college to enroll more students into the honors programs.

Another program, Science Honors, was then added a few years later “to recruit students for a particular set of majors,” said Lipscomb. So in response to the higher rate of college enrollment, the number of honors programs increased from one to three programs.

Honors programs themselves “exist for two overriding purposes,” said Lipscomb. “One is to recruit ambitious, high-performing students to the college,” and the other is “to produce great sophomores.”

Previous students who were accepted into honors echo Lipcombs’ remark.  “I would not have come to Houghton if I hadn’t gotten accepted into the honors program,” said Collin Belt, a junior who was in Contemporary Contexts. Essie Fenstermacher, a previous student of East Meets West of last year, said, “Applying for the honors program made me focus more on Houghton. Having to put in that extra effort made it more of an investment.”

Lipscomb commented that in recent years, however, “recruitment numbers have been lower and that reflects itself in the honors selections process.” With student enrollment in the college decreasing and with honors programs being expensive to run, “let’s fill two programs more adequately instead of having three programs slightly under-enrolled.”

Dean of the College, Linda Mills-Woolsey, added, “If we can get the two programs fully enrolled or almost fully enrolled, we can have the same number of honor students as this year.”  This year’s total enrollment of 48 students in the honors programs is significantly lower than the projected 73 students.

In hopes to increase the recruiting process for the honors programs, Contemporary Contexts, which evolved out of the FYHP, will be cut for next year.  When talking about choosing which program to cut, Mills-Woolsey emphasized that “the things that has handicapped Contemporary Contexts is having it change every year. That has made it harder to market.” Dr. Lipscomb added, “What Contemporary Contexts struggled to do was to be a recruiting tool for the college.” And because of “its western travel destinations, it was consistently more expensive to run.”

Lipscomb continued to add that Science Honors has “bumped up the number of physics majors over the last four or five years, and we are interested in seeing how it will do with less competition.”

Mills-Woolsey stated that “whatever the future holds for honors, it needs to hold that sense of stretching and that sense of adventure.”