“Houghton has been a home for me and a place where I have grown and changed,” stated Emma Steele ’18 as she reflected on the past four years. As a major in business administration with minors in math, art, data science, Bible, and communication, Steele embodies what it looks like to be a passionate student-leader with a host of diverse interests.
Over the past three years Steele has been involved in her class cabinet, serving as vice president her sophomore and junior year, and the senior class president this year. She was also a Highlander leader and an EMT, running with the Houghton ambulance for the past two years.
One of Steele’s passions is student engagement on Houghton’s campus, since “there is so much more that Houghton has to offer than simply taking classes and getting a degree.” Her leadership roles also reflect her deep-seated desire to “reflect God’s love for me in the way that I interact with and help others.” These motives have manifested themselves in her leadership roles, and have led her to cultivate a deeper love for people. “Serving in these positions has fostered my love for people and desire to help them,” she said. “And, of course, working in these positions has helped me see Houghton’s needs as a campus in a much clearer light.” Her passions have “given me the drive I’ve needed in order to take on these positions and fulfill all that they require. It hasn’t always been easy with classes, friendships and life in general, but I would say that it has definitely been worth it!”
Steele considered it “an absolute joy” to serve as a Highlander leader. The role involved “working with another leader to guide a group of incoming students on a wilderness adventure in the Houghton woods and then the Adirondacks. Along the way, a Highlander leader not only needs to have the hard skills required in outdoor living, but also the soft skills required to help mentor the Highlander participants through this change in their lives. Working the ropes course and balancing decisions and viewpoints with my co-leaders were fantastic experiences for me.”
Steele would encourage underclassmen “to pursue any and all interests or passions they have energy for, and intentionally invest in the people around them. Houghton is this unbelievably cool opportunity where you can dive into areas of study that most people would never have the time to explore, and do it with the support of faculty that care deeply about their students holistic growth.” She added, “As a side note, I think all students should take a math class while at Houghton because our math faculty rock. And try to get involved in Highlander. If you missed the chance to do the actual program, take Outdoor Leadership Training from Coach Smalley!”
Following graduation, Steele will be getting married to Luke Duttweiler in May and moving into the Rochester area, where she is currently job hunting. “Even though it will be bittersweet for me to graduate, I feel confident in leaving that I am ready for what God has prepared next.”
Now it’s here at Houghton, interpreted by Ryan Stevenson, a Cleveland native who specializes in Shakespeare and film. Influenced by film heavyweights such as David Lynch and Stanley Kubrick, Stevenson finds Woyzeck, a fairly experimental and adaptable production, to be a pragmatic choice for Houghton’s fledgling theater program. 
According to head of the psychology department, Dr. Paul Young, the tracks have been in place since 2009, and the proposal to add them to the online course offering was an exciting proposition for his department. In fact, Young was quite pleased by his department’s commitment to finding ways to service more nontraditional students. At Houghton College Buffalo, the first cohort to receive a Bachelor’s degree in psychology is looking forward to graduation this semester. 
With an overall record of (10-7) and (6-2) in conference, the Highlanders were sitting at the third spot, trailing only Sage and St. John Fisher in the Empire 8 standings. If there was any doubt that the Highlanders deserved that third spot, it was quickly erased by their 60-52 statement win on the road at Sage College. Houghton came into the game full of confidence and essentially controlled the game from start to finish surrendering a two-point lead only once in the second quarter. It was a team effort from the Highlanders. The team had three players make their way into double digits scoring the ball, and the team passed the ball well totaling 16 total assists. “I’m honestly super excited to be where we are right now…the overall focus in our locker room is to take it one game at a time, one quarter at a time, one minute at a time, and one position at a time. and to just build on what we have already accomplished this year.” Said sophomore guard Cori Beck. The win goes a long way, letting the rest of the conference know that the highlanders are here to compete. The Highlanders will have a chance to defeat the only other team ahead of them in the conference on Tuesday night at the Neilsen Center at 8:00. 
Currently, the new building’s foundation has been laid and steel beams have been erected, according to Ries. Students reported their excitement at the progress and for what the new facilities will mean for the equestrian department. Hannah Williamson ’20, an Equestrian Management major, said “Seeing the progress on the new arena makes it seem more and more real each day. As more beams go up each week and the framework starts to resemble the new arena to a better scale, it makes me realize how lucky I am to be at a school with amazing instructors and lesson horses.” 
Aside from supporting sustainable energy usage, the exercise is also designed to reduce waste in one of the college’s most significant expense areas. “The primary goal of the Kill-a-Watt Competition is to encourage students toward good stewardship by learning to become mindful of their daily energy consumption,” he said. “Most of us could easily cut our energy use by 25% or more just by adopting simple habits, such as turning things off when not in use. As cliché as it may sound, switching light bulbs to LEDs will also save most people another 25%. Most students probably don’t realize it, but our electricity bill is one of the college’s largest budget items. The more we’re able to reduce that, the more we have to spend on programs and projects that directly benefit the students’ educational experience.”