Category: Stories In Focus

From December 4-6, Houghton College will host the ninth annual Christmas Prism. The event will take place in Houghton, as well as Rochester and Williamsville, a change from last year’s venue in Hamburg. This year’s theme is “Celebrate the Prince of Peace!” which, according to the dean of the Greatbatch School of music Armenio Suzano, intentionally suggests that this year’s Prism will be a time of worship as well as an opportunity to experience a beautiful performance. Suzano, who replaced Stephen Plate as Dean and Director of the Greatbatch School of Music this year, said “If we have not touched the hearts and spirit of the audience, we have not done our job…People for miles around know that Houghton students are talented musicians, but that’s not the main point, here. The point is to worship the Creator of the universe.”

When asked who will be performing this year, Suzano answered “Everybody!” In addition to the classical groups that have performed in previous years (including Men’s and Women’s Choir, College Choir, Symphonic Winds, and the Symphony Orchestra) the 2015 Prism will include two, more contemporary groups: Gospel Choir and Houghton Singers. Suzano describes this decision as an opportunity to expand the horizons of Prism by including music which has generally not been included as part of the canon. He is excited for the fresh perspective that these groups will bring this year.

Along with the additions to the musical ensembles are several relatively new faculty members directing and conducting this year. Graduate Music Coordinator Kelly Van Kirk, Suzano, professor Sarah Luebke, and associate professor Adam Luebke were all brought on as faculty within the last two years. Malcolm Bell, a graduate student, will also be conducting Gospel Choir. Suzano believes that the number of new faculty will affect Prism positively, as they will be able to see it with new eyes and therefore take a fresh approach. The faculty and students, he said have been praying regularly for Prism’s ministerial success as well as its technical, musical success. Suzano also compared the role of Houghton’s musicians to that of the Levites, who performed holy service in the tabernacle of the desert and in the temple. He said the focus of this year’s performance is not meant to be on the performers, but rather on experiencing God through the music.

In addition to the musical experience of Prism, there will be an upscale dinner served on Saturday night for those who purchased the thirty dollar tickets. Phyllis Gaerte, Alumni and Community Director, said the dinner is always a beautiful experience with delicious food and a Christmas ambiance. While parents and alumni are the primary people who attend, students are encouraged to come and enjoy the pre-Prism celebration as well. Gaerte says the experience is well worth the extra cost.

For students looking for a break before plunging into finals, this year’s Prism will certainly be on the top of the list.

You may find second year music graduate student, Fabio Menchetti working hard in the music building, but one thing you will not catch him doing is complaining about the snow. He shared, “I really like winter. I hope there is so much snow that we can’t get out of our houses.” Menchetti’s adventurous spirit denies the opportunity for life to get stale. He believes, “The process is more important than the result.”  

Although he is currently pursuing a master of arts in piano, Menchetti’s music studies began long before he arrived at Houghton in August of 2014. He began playing piano around age 7 in his hometown of Lucca, Italy. At a young age, he was accepted to a music conservatory in Lucca where he received a bachelor’s degree in piano performance. He pursued a second bachelor’s in music, theater, and visual arts at the University of Pisa. Later he attended a conservatory in La Spezia where he received two master’s degrees in music education and piano performance.

After receiving a job in music education teaching junior high students, Menchetti worried that he would stop growing if he taught at the same school for many years. He admitted, “I was afraid to be stuck.” Without any connections to music schools in the United States, he sent out many applications to different schools. When Houghton got back to him, Menchetti left Italy and made the decision to go abroad and pursue a third master’s degree. He reasoned that a master’s degree from a school in the United States would be important to pursue as a transition between studying in Italy and achieving a doctorate in the United States or in another country. The decision to go abroad and leave familiar places and people was not easy, but he communicated how much he has learned and is learning from the experience of studying abroad.

Currently Menchetti has 22 piano students at Houghton as a part of his assistantship for the master’s program. He explained that it was difficult to understand and be understood by his students at the beginning of the year due to the language barrier. His first year as a graduate student was exciting because he had to navigate a new culture and language in an academic setting, he expressed. In addition, he discovered that he could not only survive the courses, but he could thrive in the Houghton environment making new friends and enjoying his work alongside fellow music students at Houghton.
This semester, Menchetti is focusing on preparing applications for Doctorate programs in piano performance. He aspires to teach music in the higher education field. He finds his musical roots in early romanticism and late classicism and especially enjoys listening to Beethoven and Chopin.

From career workshops with VOCA to Dean Jordan’s “Beyond the Bubble” chapel series, Houghton students are frequently reminded that they will not be college students forever. The prospect of leaving Houghton for the working world may seem as daunting as it does exciting. Fortunately, there are recent graduates setting an example by establishing themselves in career paths related to their work in college. Brady Robinson, Moeun Sun, and Kevin Miranda, graduates of Houghton’s class of 2015, have each found employment in fields that they were prepared for by their experiences at Houghton.

Robinson, a former Media Communications and Visual Arts major, now works on contract as a Media Specialist in the marketing department for the YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park, Colorado. During his junior year, Robinson says he was specifically looking for an internship in Colorado in which he could work in videography and photography. He found such a position with the YMCA of the Rockies through the online job board Cool Works, and worked for the organization in the summer of 2014. At the beginning of the spring 2015 semester, Robinson informed his former supervisors that he was interested in returning to the YMCA. By the end of February break he had completed the job application process.

“I accepted the position shortly after returning back to school from break,” said Robinson. “Knowing that I had a job after graduation took a lot of weight off my shoulders and allowed me to concentrate on coursework.”

Sun, another a recent graduate, also found her current position through an internship she worked during the summer before her senior year. Sun now works in Washington, DC as a Communications Fellow at the Alliance to End Hunger, a coalition that works with institutions to address world hunger. A double major in International Development and Business Administration, Sun gained a lot of work experience during her time at Houghton through positions as an RA, an ARD, a TA, and as a student coordinator for the Faith and Justice Symposiums. It was ultimately her position as an intern for the Bread for the World Institute, an organization that works also works to end hunger, that helped her find the position she holds now at the Alliance, a sister organization to Bread for the World.

“My supervisor at Bread knew that I was looking for a job for after graduation,” said Sun. “He told me about an opening at the Alliance. When I interned, I worked really hard and tried to make a lasting impression on my supervisors. The staff at the Institute were able to provide good references, which I think is what helped me get this job.”

Miranda, who recently began his career in New York City working for the accounting firm KPMG, did not find his employment as the direct result of an internship. He graduated this past year with a degree in Business and Accounting, and while he never had an internship in his field, he says that he was able to interview for the job at KPMG with confidence due to what he had learned at Houghton. He also credits the connections his Houghton education provided him.

“I found my position through networking with professionals in the city,” said Miranda. “Most of them I found through Houghton alumni and they were very helpful in not only guiding me towards a good connection, but also towards God.”

Robinson also emphasized the importance of networking in order to find the right position. He highly recommends that any student looking for work start using a LinkedIn account as if it were Facebook.

“If networking hasn’t been drilled into you enough yet, I’d urge you to be intentional about your profile by posting content that displays your interests, skills and experiences,” said Robinson when asked what advice he would give current students. “I’ve been able to make connections with other creatives and learn from people who are doing what I one day hope to be doing.”

Sun recommends that students hoping to find work next year start building contacts now so that they will have someone on the inside to reach out to when organizations post job vacancies. She also encourages students not to feel discouraged when looking for jobs, despite how arduous the task may be.

“I applied to a ton of positions in DC before I even got an interview,” she said. “Even though it was really hard, you just have to keep applying without giving up. Something will come up eventually.”

On the whiteboard in Professor Ransom Poythress’s office, there is a quote that says “Be unwavering in the things that matter.”  On the wall above his desk, there are superheroes which cling to it, and a Captain America figure on a motorcycle. Christmas lights hung over his bulletin board unlit. Barnyard animals cover the remaining wall space. Poythress explained that when he first arrived at Houghton, his office was so empty that some of the students decorated it for him.  This explains the variety of decorations.

Poythress is a new professor to Houghton and this fall marks the beginning of his second year.  With classes such as Biology Senior Seminar, Molecular/Cell Biology, Comparative Animal Physiology, and General Biology, he has the opportunity to teach a wide range of classes that he is passionate about.  Though the semester is really busy for him, he is enjoying it nonetheless.

During his classes, he likes to take a break to do something called “soapboxes.”  Soapboxes generally refer to a speaker who has a point they are trying to get across.  Poythress calls them “mid-class devotions.”  While biting into his sesame seed PB&J bagel, he explains that Christian world view and sciences have influence on everything and Christ is preeminent in everything.  He says that there is usually a disconnection between school and spiritual life and he does these devotionals to connect the two.  For example, when discussing water molecules in science, he will talk about how water plays a role in the Bible.

Mainly with the upper level classes, he likes to present his students with a “skeleton” for a project and they need to make something that fits it, such as an experiment or technique that excites them. He says it gives the students ownership of the project, and it is interesting to see what they come up with.  In the upcoming spring, Poythress would like to start a project to find out whether or not it is possible to convert by mutation one protein into another functional protein.  

Poythress didn’t always want to be a teacher though. He grew up in Northeast Philadelphia, and during his time in high school he thought about doing research or zoology.  However, he really thought bioinformatics, or the science of collecting and analyzing complex biological data, would be what he wanted to do because it “sounded cool.”  

After graduating high school, he went to California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California where he received his Bachelor of Science degree. From there, he went on to Boston University where he received his PhD in Molecular and Cell Biology and Biochemistry. One of the requirements in his first year at Boston University was to teach two semesters in an intro level biology class. Poythress enjoyed it so much he decided to pursue it further.  A short time later, he went to Westminster Theological Seminary of Philadelphia where he received his Master’s degree in counseling.  “I always say, if you don’t know what to do with your life, just keep going to school until you figure it out,” Poythress said of his extensive education.

After graduating college and during his schooling at Westminster Theological Seminary, he worked simultaneously at UPS and CVS loading and unloading boxes from trucks, mainly overnight.  It definitely wasn’t his “dream job,” but he said “you gotta do what you gotta do to survive.”

Poythress enjoys getting to know his students and loves the opportunities to interact with them on a more personal level outside of class.  This may include just praying for them, inviting them to dinner, dessert, or a movie at he and his wife Lisbeth’s house.  Poythress said that it means a lot to him that he and his students can get acquainted on a different level in the terms of friendship because it helps in the way of learning and improves involvement in the classroom.  

The Poythress’s recently got married towards the end of June.  As he looked at his watch to check the date, he proudly says, “Four months and one week” to be exact.  In the future he said he would like to add to their family, but maybe start out with a pet first.

A gray wolf stares out into the distance with a calm but intent gaze that betrays its predatory nature. Farther to the right, an entire pack of canines gather around each other, playfully nipping at one another’s heels.

Wolfe joined Houghton’s ranks in 1988 as a professor of biology. Wolfe, who had never heard of Houghton before, was at once drawn to Houghton’s woodland location. He stated that his passion for nature was “very strange for a kid who grew up in suburbia and parents from New York City.” The North east has been his home for the majority of his life, having been born in New York City but growing up in Norwalk, Connecticut. Wolfe received a B.A. in biology from Gordon College, his M.S. in botany at Oklahoma University, and finally his Ph.D. in biology at the University of Rhode Island.

Having accumulated over twenty-five years of teaching experience at Houghton, Wolfe has taught a large variety of classes ranging from genetics in the classroom to field courses out in the Alaskan wilderness.

“Dr. Wolfe is definitely one of my favorite professors at Houghton,” said sophomore Vivian Chappell ‘18, a student from his Alaskan field course. “He is incredibly knowledgeable about the earth and the environment.”

Besides instructing students, he displays his passion for nature through his ongoing research on lake and stream ecosystems in Allegany County and in the Adirondacks, which has been his focus over the last ten years.

Wolfe has new plans for the upcoming semesters. During an interview with him, Wolfe sketched out a study of coyotes he will be conducting in the upcoming months. Sitting in his office chair, he scooped up a gray collar off the floor by his feet. The collar, he explained, fastens around the coyote’s neck and transmits a signal to a GPS system whereby Wolfe can monitor the animal’s movements.  Pointing to a knob that protrudes from the collar, Wolfe explained how the knob will “pop” out and sever the collar after a set period of time.

Wolfe’s love for these four-legged creatures can be seen in the pictures posted about his office space. Right now, Wolfe has two Alaskan Malamutes which he said much resemble wolves, each weighing over a 100 pounds with long fluffy coats.

Over his years at Houghton, he has had four dogs. His first dog, Wolfie, was actually a stray some students had found. The students asked him to adopt the “puppy” as they called it (leaving out the fact that the dog was already full grown). The professor hemmed and hawed for two weeks before accepting.

“It became a sort of tradition,” Wolfe said. After Wolfie died, he adopted another stray called Ranger, and finally the two Alaskan Malamutes he has presently, Kiska and Kenai.

His dogs are a large part of his life,which is evident to his students. Chappell remarked that he “shows his passion for God’s creation through the love he has for his dogs.” Dr. Wolfe loves the opportunity to introduce them to his students. “Many of my students have met my dogs,” Wolfe said.

 

A gray wolf stares out into the distance with a calm but intent gaze that betrays its predatory nature. Farther to the right, an entire pack of canines gather around each other, playfully nipping at one another’s heels.

Wolfe joined Houghton’s ranks in 1988 as a professor of biology. Wolfe, who had never heard of Houghton before, was at once drawn to Houghton’s woodland location. He stated that his passion for nature was “very strange for a kid who grew up in suburbia and parents from New York City.” The North east has been his home for the majority of his life, having been born in New York City but growing up in Norwalk, Connecticut. Wolfe received a B.A. in biology from Gordon College, his M.S. in botany at Oklahoma University, and finally his Ph.D. in biology at the University of Rhode Island.

Having accumulated over twenty-five years of teaching experience at Houghton, Wolfe has taught a large variety of classes ranging from genetics in the classroom to field courses out in the Alaskan wilderness.

“Dr. Wolfe is definitely one of my favorite professors at Houghton,” said sophomore Vivian Chappell ‘18, a student from his Alaskan field course. “He is incredibly knowledgeable about the earth and the environment.”

Besides instructing students, he displays his passion for nature through his ongoing research on lake and stream ecosystems in Allegany County and in the Adirondacks, which has been his focus over the last ten years.

Wolfe has new plans for the upcoming semesters. During an interview with him, Wolfe sketched out a study of coyotes he will be conducting in the upcoming months. Sitting in his office chair, he scooped up a gray collar off the floor by his feet. The collar, he explained, fastens around the coyote’s neck and transmits a signal to a GPS system whereby Wolfe can monitor the animal’s movements.  Pointing to a knob that protrudes from the collar, Wolfe explained how the knob will “pop” out and sever the collar after a set period of time.

Wolfe’s love for these four-legged creatures can be seen in the pictures posted about his office space. Right now, Wolfe has two Alaskan Malamutes which he said much resemble wolves, each weighing over a 100 pounds with long fluffy coats.

Over his years at Houghton, he has had four dogs. His first dog, Wolfie, was actually a stray some students had found. The students asked him to adopt the “puppy” as they called it (leaving out the fact that the dog was already full grown). The professor hemmed and hawed for two weeks before accepting.

“It became a sort of tradition,” Wolfe said. After Wolfie died, he adopted another stray called Ranger, and finally the two Alaskan Malamutes he has presently, Kiska and Kenai.

His dogs are a large part of his life,which is evident to his students. Chappell remarked that he “shows his passion for God’s creation through the love he has for his dogs.” Dr. Wolfe loves the opportunity to introduce them to his students. “Many of my students have met my dogs,” Wolfe said.

Imagine you see Professor of Communication, Douglas Gaerte, and three people from the advancement office sit down at a small table for dinner in the dining hall. The automatic assumption would be that this is a business dinner. It is just as likely, however, that you are witnessing a family dinner. Doug, his wife, and their two children Andrew Gaerte and Emily Spateholts all work for Houghton College.

The Gaerte family hasn’t always been associated with Houghton. Doug and his wife Phyllis met and started dating at Grace College in Indiana, a college not entirely unlike Houghton. Doug said they had a great experience there and upon graduation he decided he wanted to do something similar. The couple had family in Connecticut and Pennsylvania, so Gaerte sent resumés to colleges all over the North East. At that time Houghton had a communication professor who was looking to retire, and Doug was offered the job. According to Doug their original plan was to only stay for a couple years, but they fell in love with the are the wonderful students, and colleagues they found here.

They stayed and Phyllis began work for Houghton as the Director of Alumni and Community Engagement. When it was time for Emily and Andrew to choose their prospective colleges, they both said their parents encouraged them to look elsewhere. However, they knew the people here and knew they could get a great education at Houghton.  Ultimately, both Andrew and Emily decided to attend Houghton.

Andrew graduated from Houghton in 2008 and returned in October 2013, to take the position of  Regional Director of Development at Houghton. He said he was never opposed to coming back to Houghton, but never planned on it. However, he realized that Houghton was doing new and exciting things and he wanted to be a part of it.

Emily Gaerte, now Spateholts, graduated in 2012. After graduation she worked in the campus store as the office and course materials manager. She left in the Spring of 2014 to help her friends start a business. When the business was established, she returned in January 2015 as the Development and Reunion Specialist.

The Gaertes all mentioned how much they enjoy working together. Since three of them work in  the Advancement Offices, their jobs tend to overlap. Emily mentioned how she specifically enjoys getting to work together on something they are all passionate about.  Another unique opportunity this offers is for parent and child collaborations. Doug and Andrew were able to team up with Professor Ryann Cooley, the Associate Professor of Digital Media and Photography, and get the college a $10,000 grant for a new lighting studio. Doug summed up their family’s involvement best when he said “the mission of Houghton College has become such an important thing for our family”. By working together they can serve their family and the college they have all grown to love.

Students and Faculty Work Side by Side

While most students spend their summer sitting by the pool, traveling, or working, this summer a group of students spent their summer on campus, conducting research and experiments.

Physics professor Mark Yuly, helps lead and guide students through research each summer.“It’s a time when professors and students can work on research projects during the summer… and stuff.” Yuly laughed. “It’s nice, because during that time—during the rest of the year, professors and students are still working on research, but in the summer you can really focus.”

According to its webpage, the Summer Research Institute (SRI) allows students “to interact with faculty in a much more collaborative sense than in the classroom setting” through research in physics, chemistry, biology, math or computer science. This research ranges from studying genetic modifications in influenza viruses, to exploring spam message detection on Twitter.

Yuly has been involved with the SRI since it began, writing the initial proposal for the program. He then worked with computer science professor Wei Hu to make the SRI a reality.

Hu is the director of the SRI. He coordinates the research projects, in addition to doing his own research with students each year. Hu said he and Yuly met with Ron Oakerson, the Dean of the College, in 2006, and received approval to launch the program in 2007.

Seniors August ‘Gus’ Gula and Thomas Eckert worked with Yuly this summer on research involving inertial confinement fusion (ICF). Yuly explained ICF as a process “when you take a little tiny pellet of nuclear fuel and hit it with laser beams from every direction.” This results in an implosion which is incredibly dense and hotter than the core of the sun.

Unfortunately, the scientific instruments which may be used to study the implosion are too delicate to withstand the experiment. Therefore, as an alternative, scientists “put a piece of carbon in [the test chamber], a piece of graphite, and the neutrons that are coming out of the explosion cause the graphite to undergo a nuclear reaction.” This can hopefully be used to determine what happened inside the implosion, said Yuly.

For this technique to work, scientists need to know “how likely it is that a neutron would interact with the graphite and not just go right through it,” said Yuly. Until recently, no one knew what that likelihood was, so Yuly and his two students spent the summer finding out.

Yuly’s days at the SRI started early. “A typical day for me would be to get here at 5:30, and work for a couple hours before Gus and Thomas came,” Yuly said.

Once the students arrived, they would meet with Yuly to review their plans for the day. Each student had a focus area, tailored to their individual strengths. “Thomas mostly worked on simulating the experiment using computer codes,” said Yuly. “Gus primarily worked on collecting data.”

The objective of the research project, according to Yuly, was gradually tweaking and improving Eckert’s simulation, so it coincided with the data Gula collected. Yuly said by the end of the summer, all the collected data, aside from one set of results that Yuly is “still not completely sure” about, aligned with the final simulation Eckert had created.

For science students interested in going to graduate school and someday carrying out their own research, hands-on experience during undergraduate school is crucial, said Yuly. “You won’t get [research experience] in a graduate school unless you have some experience that you can point to.” he said. Yuly said the reason graduate programs want students with hands-on experience is because it teaches them key skills that will help them in later research.He said, “You learn a lot of things that you wouldn’t learn just by taking a normal class or listening to a lecture.”

According to Hu, faculty members benefit from the program, as well, “Our SRI faculty learn how to work with students in research, which is not possible in a standard course work.”