Category: Stories In Focus

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Stories In Focus

A Sodexo Story: Pam Wilkinson

Since the fall of 2009, Pam Wilkinson has worked as a Sodexo greeter in the dining hall where she scans ID cards for meals, does other miscellaneous jobs when needed, and gets to interact with Houghton faculty, students, and other community members.

Pam first became affiliated with Houghton when she attended one of the college’s programs at its West Seneca satellite campus in the early 1980s.  She graduated with an associate degree and remembers her time with “fond memories.”  Shortly after graduating, Pam met her husband and became a stay-at-home mom to their three children.

PamRGBIn 2006 Pam reconnected with Houghton when her daughter, Candace, attended as a student from 2006-2010.  At this time she was not working and since her children were all beginning to leave home, she decided she “wanted something to do with [her] time”.  She would often visit her daughter while she was a student at Houghton and began thinking, “I would like to work here”.  Following her daughter’s encouragement, Pam decided to go ahead apply at the dining hall. She wasn’t aware that a food service ran the dining hall so she was told to go online and apply.  After she applied, Pam ended up earning the position as a greeter in the dining hall. While this was good news, Pam was still nervous, “I haven’t been in the workforce since the early ‘80s, so I was nervous” she said.

Although she has a 40 minute commute each day from Delevan, Pam loves her job and the college atmosphere.  “The students are what I love most about Houghton. They are so friendly and so full of energy,” said Pam, who especially enjoys having conversations with students throughout the day. “The faculty and staff are also very friendly,” said Pam.  Pam’s most memorable experience occurred when she came into work on her birthday and found three huge birthday balloons at her register, “I have never seen such huge balloons.  To this day I don’t know who they were from.  I will always remember that!  That really made my day!”

Pam doesn’t quite know what is in store for her in the future, but she does know that she wants to continue her work here at Houghton.  She and her husband are grandparents to one twenty-one month old grandson and a granddaughter on the way this coming July.  During her time off, Pam enjoys hobbies like crocheting, painting, quilting, decorating, and shopping.  She also enjoys reading, walking her dog, and watching Jane Austen and Bible movies.  Pam can always been seen at the top of the dining hall stairs, wearing a smile, ready to greet everyone entering the our dining hall.

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Stories In Focus

Houghton Movement and Arts Center

Local Dance Studio Offers Opportunities for Aspiring Dancers of All Skill Levels

In September of 2011, after living in Houghton for only 8 months, Sarah Badger took over an empty studio on Route 19 and began Houghton Movement and Arts Center with 40 students. The building she currently occupies was previously owned by Sandy Charles who taught dance at her studio named “Pointe by Pointe”.

“We saw that dance needed to continue in Houghton. I started initially just thinking I would offer some private lessons to performers who wanted to keep up with dance. It just sort of occurred to me that this building could be put to really good use and I envisioned a way of bringing not just dance but other forms of recreation and performing arts to students in Houghton,” explained Badger, “This could really be a third space for performing arts that’s outside of the schools.”

Badger began her training at age four with dreams of being a professional dancer. When she was ten she switched to studying purely classical ballet. She trained at the Ballet San Antonio Academy and also attended a magnet High School for dance, the Northeast School of the Arts. She left Texas for New York City to go to Marymount University. She didn’t study dance in college, but danced professionally while training at the Ailey School. “My plan was always to stay in New York City and have a dance career there. When I married my husband he had not been to college yet and when I finished school he was really interested in attending a Christian liberal arts college. So, we ended up in Houghton.”

Badger felt frightened starting such a new enterprise. “I had never set out wanting to own a dance studio. I had always seen myself as a performer – maybe teaching a little down the line,” said Badger. She enjoyed her first teaching job in New York City. When the Badgers moved out to Houghton, Badger jumped on the opportunity to teach, “It was definitely a little bit scary, but I tend to see potential in things and want to make things as good as they can possibly be.”

The studio has done well in the rural setting. It is growing each year and branching out to offer new classes and more performances. Badger said,“People tend to think a dance studio is just for little girls, but we’re so much more than that. We have tons of adult programs. We’ve offered acting and voice classes in the past. We have adult dance classes and dance and fitness and theatre arts – things that can be enjoyed by a lot of different people.”

One of the developments the studio has made in the past year is the creation of Genesee Dance Theater. This is a semi-professional dance company, meaning that a fraction of their dancers are not professionals – students, teenagers, community members – who are working alongside local professional dancers. This past December they put on a well-received performance of the Nutcracker, a performance they plan on continuing annually. Ultimately, the goal of the company is to put on two to three annual performances in Western New York.

The college, though not exclusively connected to the studio, has a good mutual relationship. Kayleen Norcutt ‘16 has taught classes at the studio and dances there regularly and said, “Most students I talk to are surprised when they discover that there is a dance studio in Houghton. I found it about a year before I began college, and was in contact with Badger throughout that year regarding job and dance opportunities. It was certainly a deciding factor in attending Houghton.”

Kara Bartholomew has been teaching classes for the past two semesters. “Dancing has taught me how to meet people at different spots in their lives. Throughout my years of teaching I have encounter many students at all different levels,” said Kara.

The studio is now at a transition point. With her husband Graham graduating from Houghton this semester, he is looking to work in his field which might require them to move. The couple wants to stay local, but aren’t certain where they will end up. Because of this, Badger doesn’t want to commit to owning the studio for another full year. Rachel Phillips, a former instructor for Badger, owns a studio in Fillmore called STEPS. HMAC will merge with STEPS under the ownership of Phillips. Badger says very little is going to change and that she will stay on staff as a ballet teacher and consultant.

Badger sees the studio as a place where students can deeply develop their skills whether they are looking to dance professionally or just to keep up their training and health. She encourages all of her students to follow their dreams, “If a student comes to me and they really want to be a professional dancer, I’m not going to laugh at them and say ‘That’s not possible because you live in Houghton or you live in Allegany County’.”

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Reviews Stories In Focus

Blast From The Past: Lost in Translation Review

Hotels are neutralizing. They exist as these in-between purgatorial vacation places, where you can pretend to live without the nagging burdens of modern life. You have a pool now, and a maid, and endless patterned hallways to explore, all filled with people who are only temporarily living in this halfway home for the well-off with you. Anything can happen in a hotel. You are a new person, in a new place where nobody knows you. This is the timeless in-between space that Lost in Translation takes place in and pulls its acerbic wit and quiet energy from, creating a nuanced, contemplative experience that dazzles with its emotional subtleties.

Lost_in_Translation_posterThe story of Lost in Translation is fundamentally simple. Bob Harris (Bill Murray) is an American film actor who has lived to see his glory days come and pass, along with the happiness of his marriage. His career is no longer defined by his skill as a performer, but by his marketability as a face that people remember fondly. He now finds himself in Tokyo starring in an ad campaign for a pronounced whiskey brand, away from home, surrounded by a language he doesn’t understand, on the verge of a mid-life crisis. Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) is a recent college grad and the young wife of an up-and-coming photographer, tagging along on his job trip, caught between imposing existential and marital quandaries. Two wandering souls searching for meaning in a westernized, urban landscape. Their meeting place? A smoke-filled, burgundy-carpeted hotel lounge, overlooking the city with poetic, restrained arrogance. After glances grow into larger interactions, they discover that maybe the best way to find yourself in a culture that is not your own, is to be lost in it with someone else.

It feels typical, soapy, even expected, but despite any attempt to make it sound like the tagline for Nicholas Sparks’ most recent cinematic offering, there should be no detraction from the quiet brilliance of Sophia Coppola’s vision of hopeful melancholy. Coppola has a deft understanding of film; from her drifting cinematography, to the subtle acting cues that shape the atmosphere of the film, everything is near-perfect. Yet the true beauty of the movie is in its narrative execution, in its ability to take the familiar and the occasionally cringe-inducing aspects of life and roll them into intricate character interactions that shine in their small moments and large alike.

Murray and Johansson are both tastefully, even impeccably cast. Murray bounces off of Johansson with a romantic charm that would be considered creepy if the film were in less capable hands. Yet their age difference is never an issue. If anything, it adds significantly to the spirit of what a hotel is: a timeless, ageless crossroads for people searching for fulfillment away from the comforts of home. This theme is crucial to understanding who these people are and why they would be vulnerable enough to approach one another in the first place. There is a youthful zeal to Bob’s antics, a sense of wonderment in Charlotte’s longing for purpose, and together they’re delightful in their tragic meeting. Despite the joy that they experience in their first quiet conversations at the hotel bar or in their escapades through the arcades of downtown Tokyo, there is always a knowing look of loss in their eyes. To each other, they are like beautiful relapses away from normal, and they both know that soon they will return to their homes and spouses again, and re-adjust. These things are never stated, only read. Read in the quaint eyebrow shifts, the mumbled trailing-off of loving sentences, the aching, intimate glances in the midst of open-mic karaoke. These are the moments that make Lost in Translation feel whole.

Lost in Translation speaks to a wistful transience, captured in its brittle, contemplative story of hotel guests transitioning from facelessness to fleeting connection. Just as a brief hotel stay, the experience exists in its own place, separated and distinct from the world, yet still familiar. And in the end, we must go home.

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Stories In Focus

Houghtons Only Accounting Professor To Retire

When Lois Ross first joined the Houghton faculty in fall of 2008, she wasn’t anticipating that within two years the accounting major would be cut. Ross, associate professor of accounting, is and has been the only accounting professor at Houghton since her arrival at the college. Once the major was cut, Ross got right to work to bring it back.

LoisRossRGB_LukeLauerThrough an immense amount of research and work, Ross helped reframe the justification for having an accounting major. Kenneth Bates, associate professor of business administration, said that because of Ross, “We were able to make a strong, irrefutable case as to why the college needed to bring the accounting major back.”

Ross’s dedication and determination did not go to waste. The following fall, the major was reinstated. “She breathed life into a program that had died,” said Bates, “Since then it has grown leaps and bounds.”

Bates and Ross are longtime acquaintances, both attended Houghton and were only a couple years apart. He was a busboy at the old dining hall that used to be in the basement of Gillette, and she was a waitress, and that’s where the friendship was born. They kept in touch over the years and when a position opened up for an accounting professor at Houghton, Bates notified Ross and suggested that she interview for it. She did, of course, and they went from being classmates to colleagues.

Aside from being known as the person to bring back the accounting major, Ross is also known for her humor. “When I first met Professor Ross, I thought she was unapproachable, but once I got to know her, I found out that she was actually pretty funny,” said senior, Kevin Miranda, and accounting major who came to Houghton the year that the major had it’s revival. “I appreciate her sense of humor,” said Bates “She has brought levity to situations that have been too serious.”

Most people view accounting as tedious. “I had this misconception that accounting was uninteresting and that accountants didn’t have a lot of personality,” said Miranda. However, over the years Ross has proved just the opposite to him. “She makes accounting more interesting, especially once you get past the introductory classes,” said Miranda “She relates some of her own experiences to her teachings, rather than just teaching from the textbook.”

The students at Houghton, in particular the accounting students, are what have made the biggest impact on Ross. “Getting to know the students and prepare them as Christians in the business world has been really neat,” said Ross. Being the only accounting professor and advisor to many, she has developed close relationships with those students. “I’m excited when I think about some of these students graduating because I am thinking what an impact they are going to have and how the Lord is going to use them,” said Ross. “I will miss the interaction with them definitely.”

The students have enjoyed interacting with her as well. “I have heard regularly how much her advisees enjoy getting to know her outside of the classroom,” said Bates. He continued, “She has a cheerful personality and maintains an even keel.” Miranda added that Ross creates a better learning environment because of her willingness to help students understand the material. “You get the sense that she cares,” he said. “She is always available to help and genuinely wants to help. She is very personable and easy to talk to.”

Ross has dabbled in a lot of different things during her career. After receiving her B.A. at Houghton, she went on to get her M.A. at California State at Los Angeles then proceeded to get her M.B.A. from SUNY Buffalo. Ross worked in both public and private accounting firms, taught at the high school level, and received CPA credentials. Her last stop in her career was Houghton, where she said she was “happy to meld my two interests together, teaching and accounting.”

What does Ross plan to do come fall when she doesn’t need to report back to campus? “Decompress,” she said laughingly. After her eight years of teaching at Houghton, she is ready to leave the work behind, but not the people. “I will miss the students and my colleagues, but I wont miss the work,” chuckled Ross.

Ross also plans to spend time with her family, go away to Florida for a month, and tend to her vegetable garden.

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Stories In Focus

Mathematics Professor Parts From Lifetime Houghton Connection

Camenga Makes the Difficult Decision to Leave Houghton.

Though Kristin Camenga was not a Houghton student, she has always felt connected to the school. Her mother, a high school teacher, visited campus for a conference while pregnant with Camenga, marking the future professor’s first visit to the college. After nine years as a professor in the department of Mathematics, and five years as chair of the department of mathematics and computer science, Camenga will leave her positions at Houghton at the end of this spring semester.

CamengaRGBCamenga did not begin her career intending to teach at the post-secondary level. She wanted to follow in her mother’s footsteps, and trained to teach high school math at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. Following her graduation, Camenga taught at the secondary level for two years, during which time she dated her now husband, Andrew Camenga, a ’92 Houghton graduate. Shortly before they were married in 2000, Camenga’s then-fiancé, an ordained Seventh Day Baptist pastor, took a job directing the denomination’s Board of Christian Education in Alfred, NY. Camenga used their cross-country move as an opportunity to continue her education. She was accepted at Cornell University, and graduated in 2006 with both her Ph.D. in Mathematics and M.S. in Education. She then applied for teaching positions in the Alfred area; one of these was at Houghton.

“It was exactly what I wanted,” said Camenga about the Houghton job posting. “It was a math job, and it meant working with people who wanted to be math teachers. That’s what I wanted to do, because I was a math teacher. I’d seen how important it was.”

In 2006, Camenga began her Houghton career as an Assistant Professor of Mathematics, and has taught several math courses, as well as the Math Methods course for the Education department. In 2010, she was appointed Chair of the Mathematics and Computer Science department. Colleagues consider her to be a diligent Chair, noting that Camenga is always on top of her work, ensuring that the department’s projects are always on time. More recently, she has acted as the Faculty Development Coordinator, organizing and leading such events as the new faculty seminar and faculty retreat.

Among students, Camenga is known for her thorough and individualized instruction. Camenga’s courses help them feel prepared for whatever is next, whether it’s student teaching or heading into the workforce. “All of the work feels really purposeful,” said senior, Emily Bradley.

Camenga creates a strong connection with her students. According to senior, Amanda Gokey, the way that Camenga cares for each student in her class makes her an exceptional professor. When students have difficulty with their work, Camenga is available and eager to help them. This relationship is a major part of what Camenga says she will miss about Houghton.

“It’s really hard to leave my students who aren’t graduating yet,” said Camenga. “I’ve known a lot of them since before they walked on campus officially as freshmen. They’re my friends, and I’m going to miss that. I’ll also miss my colleagues. I have trouble imagining a place where I’ll have colleagues that work this well together.”

Camenga’s decision to leave has been almost two years in the making. The couple felt it was time for Andrew to move on from his one-person office in pursuit of a pastorate, leading him to resign. Last fall, he accepted a position in Salemville, PA, but the congregation understood that his wife would want to finish out the year at Houghton first. Camenga was able to officially resign in mid-September, and helped to find her replacement.

“Some people would feel that, even if you know you’re leaving, you don’t actually resign,” said Camenga. “I wanted to know that the things I’ve worked on for the last nine years are going to continue.”

While Camenga is sorry to leave the community she has built at Houghton, she trusts that this is the right decision.

“You’ve got to go where God leads you,” she said. “You trust Him to take care of the pieces where they fall.”

Camenga’s lifetime connection to Houghton, her dedication to teaching and preparing students to teach, and her ability to discern God’s leading in times of change are enduring gifts to this community.

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Stories In Focus

Musician of the Week: Jerbrel Bowens


Jerbrel BowensBorn in February 1994, Jerbrel is an aspiring young composer that offers a wide variety of style and sound at different levels of achievement for young  ensembles, all the way up to college & professional level ensembles. He currently studies music education with a focus in music composition & Percussion at Houghton College in Houghton N.Y.  He currently studies composition under Dr. Carrie Magin, and has studied with Dr. David H. Davies. Jerbrel studied/studies percussion under Dustin Woodard, and Jim Tiller. He also studies and performs jazz with Dr. Ken Crane. Jerbrel Graduated from Webster Schroeder High School in 2012 in Webster N.Y where he grew as a percussionist and composer. He marched 4 years as a snare drummer and has also served as section leader for the 2011 field season and the winter percussion ensemble and has been involved with the drum corp. world since 2009. Jerbrel was given the opportunity to premier one of his wind ensemble compositions entitled “Flash” where he coached his high school ensemble and conducted it at the concert in March of 2012. He has also had drumline cadences premiered on national television, as well as jazz charts that have been performed at the Rochester international Jazz Fest. Jerbrel is also an internationally premiered composer having compositions premiered in Belgium Europe, and Melbourne Australia.

Jerbrel has been composing since the age of 8 and playing the drums since he was 2. He continues to prosper in this field is growing and making new musical connections. He has written over 90+ pieces for Symphonic wind ensembles, orchestras, choirs, marching bands, drum Corps, Drumlines, and chamber ensembles. He looks to serve ensembles, students, and educators that love to make and perform music just as much as he does.

Check out Jerbrel’s music on youtube, soundcloud, or on his website.

Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/jerbrelbowens?feature=mhee

Souncloud: https://soundcloud.com/jerbrel-bowens

Website: http://jerbrelbowenscomposer.weebly.com/

 

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Stories In Focus

Athlete of the Week: Andrea Melhorn

Growing up in the heart of Amish country, Andrea Melhorn ‘15 began her track and field career as a high school first year at Donegal High School in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  She soon discovered that she not only loved the sport, but also excelled in all throwing events.  Once in college, she continued throwing weight and shot put for indoor track; and hammer, discus, shot put, and javelin in outdoor track.  Andrea has qualified for Indoor and Outdoor Track Nationals every season since her first year of college.  She has placed at Nationals every year, often within the top five, and holds the school record for weight and hammer.  In addition, she was picked as the NCCAA Athlete of the Week.

While Andrea has a deep love for track and a variety of other sports, such as downhill skiing, she said that it is the people who make it worthwhile.  As captain of the Houghton Track and Field team, she is constantly encouraging and supporting her teammates.  However, Andrea takes it a step beyond to truly encapsulate the slogan of Houghton Athletics: “Excellence for the Glory of God.”

AndreaMelhorn1_LukeLauer_RGBAs Cara Davenport ‘15, a teammate and close friend of Andrea’s, puts it: “She consistently improves and is always making new goals for herself and setting the bar higher.  It’s encouraging and inspiring to see the way that she interacts with the throwers from other teams, and her camaraderie and investment in them epitomizes the team’s mission of outreach to other schools at meets.”

Andrea would like to continue with athletics after her time at Houghton as a collegiate coach.  Her coach, Robert Smalley,  has been “one of the most influential people in my life at Houghton,” Andrea said. “He is the epitome of a servant leader and I strive to be more like him.  He is such an example of what grace should look like; he puts his athletes first.”  She wants to coach because she sees sports as “a tool to teach more than just athletic abilities, but also learning about others, yourself, and God.  You can teach morals through sports.”

For Andrea, track is not just for exercise, but rather a way she “experiences God’s joy.”  Realizing that she can do sports for God puts so much purpose behind why she competes, she explained. Andrea credited part of this realization to a program she did in Spain during summer 2015 called Athletes in Action.  The purpose of the program was to spread the Gospel through training with Spanish club teams and competing against them.  At the end of the program, she participated in an ultimate training camp involving 24 hours of non-stop intense physical activity, modeled along the same timeframe as the Stations of the Cross.  “Experiencing a snippet of Christ’s pain made me understand so much more about the deepness of Christ’s love for me on the cross.”

Majoring in Spanish, she carries her love for athletics into her academics with minors in business and sports ministry. While she wants to eventually go on to coaching collegiately, she has some exciting plans for the meantime, such as working for a fishery in Alaska, as well as trying out for the US Women’s Olympic bobsled team this summer.  However, her Lancaster roots still shine through as she hopes to one day “grow old on a farm making warm chocolate chip cookies for her grandchildren.”

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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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Printed Matter Press

Stepping outside the automated world with screenprinting and letterpress.

The Printed Matter Press (PMP) may be one of Houghton’s less visible student organizations, but when they set up shop, they stand out. The self-described “team of designers, printers, printing assistants, marketers, and sales students,” appears during Homecoming Weekend, at the Arts and Crafts Fair, or prior to a major holiday. Visitors will see their table, neatly arranged with a collection of cards, T-shirts, and posters for sale, all designed and handmade by the team.  More present among the Houghton community during these sales, PMP nevertheless remains active all year, working to design and print a variety of products from tote bags to notebooks and cards.

PMP1_LaurissaWidrick_RGB “It’s a fairly big time commitment,” said junior Mason Wilkes, who is a recent member. Ten members attend regular meetings where they anonymously submit designs and vote on which to print. Then, as a team, they meet in the Stevens Art Studio to either screen print the designs onto T-shirts or to use the college’s century-old letterpress to print cards, notebooks, and posters. According to senior Laurissa Widrick, a member since 2012, the group will often hold midnight printmaking sessions.

“We’ll all be up at the studio at the same time printing, packaging, and getting everything done for the upcoming sale,” she said. “There is always something for everyone to do, whether it’s printing, packaging, folding T-shirts, cleaning screens, or just making sure we have good music playing.”

While PMP uses college facilities to create their products, they provide all of their own supplies. Senior Alex Hood, who has acted as “a sort of director” for the loosely structured organization over the past year, oversees their finances with assistance from faculty advisor, interim art professor, Alicia Taylor. For the most part, the students themselves control the business aspect of the organization. Taylor helps with logistical issues, such as paying for tickets to the international printmaking conference that the group attends yearly.

PMP3_LaurissaWidrick_RGBSince the group’s inception over five years ago – a joint effort between students and Jillian Sokso, former art professor – one of PMP’s primary goals has been to raise funds to attend an annual conference held by the Southern Graphics Council International, the largest print organization in North America. This year, seven PMP artists, along with Taylor, are currently attending the conference in Knoxville, Tennessee between March 18th and 21st. They will attend exhibitions, demos, and keynote speeches offered by high-profile printmakers, as well participate in open portfolio sessions.

“It is a gathering to try and concentrate as many printmakers in one spot as possible,” said Wilkes about the conference’s attraction. “[Printmaking is] a growing market right now again, but it is still a niche thing. There really aren’t that many studios out there.”

The conference gives students an excellent opportunity to make connections in the printmaking world, and even to advertise their own work. Last year, students took a suitcase of their inventory and sold it during the open portfolio. Senior Katie Kloos, a member of PMP for three years, recalled the positive reaction the group received for their work at last year’s conference.

“People loved it. It was really reaffirming to have people who know about letterpress and screen printing like and buy our merchandise.”

Right now, PMP is winding down for the semester, with only one event officially scheduled before the end of the year: Take Back the Night.  As in past years, the organization will set up a table to live print their “Take Back the Night” design onto T-shirts or paper.

Though several PMP artists are about to graduate and are currently focused on their own senior art shows, members are working to ensure that the organization endures. The group is always looking for new members to keep the legacy going.

It isn’t just the teamwork that goes into sales or the pride the group takes in their work that makes them so intent on keeping PMP going.In a world where goods are often pumped out in identical batches by machines, they know what they’re doing is special. It’s the kind of work, says Widrick, that allows one to “…step outside that automated world for a while, and into one that’s more personal and meaningful.” Through their work both on campus and off, PMP invites the Houghton community to step into that world with them.

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Stories In Focus

Activity of the Week: Skiing

Cross-Country and Downhill Skiing, Snowboarding, and Snowshoeing.

“Warm is bad, cold is good. Sun is bad, snow is good.” This chant echoed across the snow as Professor of Recreation and Physical Education Thomas Kettlecamp’s cross-country skiing class began their first day of swishing through the snow on slick runners.

During a winter in which temperatures plummeted and remained at the bone-chilling -30 degrees, the opportunity to catch a little fresh air without freezing your lungs seems like a distant memory. Though this winter has been record-breakingly cold with frigid temperatures that froze boogers in between classes and paralyzed productivity, activity on the trails and at the ski hill has been bustling. For skiers, snowboarders, and snowshoers alike this winter has been ideal. The cross-country and downhill skiing classes did not get canceled once, a new record according to Kettlecamp.

JonEckendorf Skiing - Killington,VTParticipating in outdoor activities such as skiing, snowshoeing, or snowboarding provides an opportunity to stretch out the legs and unflatten the behind. Skiing is one of the most beneficial activities to participate in, since it targets muscles all over the body much like swimming. It is also a physical activity that can continue into older age as other exercises become more difficult or too damaging to the body. While snowboarding or snowshoeing may not provide as complete of a workout or may take a larger toll on the body, they are nevertheless popular sports that provide a refreshing break from what can become the dreary days of winter.

As we lift our heads to the wind to sniff long anticipated signs of spring, do not forget to catch the last few days on the slopes before the snow melts! Send out winter with a wave and the mantra that all Kettlecamp’s classes do: “Cold is bad, warm is good. Snow is bad, sun is good.”