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Buddy’s Place Now Open for Business

This past November 9th saw the opening of yet another venture aimed to bring more business to the town of Houghton. Buddy’s Place, which had its first open house then, currently offers spaces for rent to community members, students, and other interested renters in the area to retail artisan crafts and other goods.

Buddys_PlaceAlthough the establishment has received support from the Houghton Group, a collection of professors and community members interested in bringing business and further economic development to the Houghton area, the venture itself was spearheaded by Ralph Kerr, Houghton Group member and owner of the upcoming Genesee Rapids baseball team. Ken Bates, business professor at Houghton and Houghton Group member, said, “We began considering this about three months ago if my recollection is correct. When Ralph brought up the ideas there was an immediate positive reaction and several began suggesting possible businesses that would be interested possibilities.” Added Kerr, “We kind of play off each other and if somebody has an idea, we may just throw it out there.”

The name comes from Buddy Keith, a member of the Houghton community member who passed away about a year ago. “”Buddy was the headmaster of the Houghton Academy for years and years and he and his wife–this was their family home,” explained Kerr. “To the people that live in this area, Buddy Keith was like an icon.”

With eight total rooms open for rental, Buddy’s Place offers spaces at rates per square foot as well as deals on full-, half-, and quarter-room rentals. Several community members have expressed interest in renting spaces. Stephanie Wittenrich, administrative assistant for the Genesee Rapids who is also involved with the project, described the visitors as “a lot of local crafters, just a lot of community members that are crafty but … want to team up with other people. There’re a lot of people in the community that are creative and belong to little groups, so they just do crafts on their own. So, they’re all trying to look at forming groups to rent out spaces together.”

According to Wittenrich and Kerr, two of the available rooms have already been taken. “The first people in this morning… they run a place called ‘Tracy’s Delightfuls.’ They do gift baskets and sell candles and home decorating kinds of things and they also run the Tuxedo Junction tuxedo rental shop…” said Kerr during the open house. Other interested parties have come from the local Allegany Artisans. In addition to accommodating community members, Kerr has also expressed a willingness to work with college faculty and students in putting their pieces up for sale. “We know that, particularly for the students, they’re not going to be in a place where they can commit to a rental,” said Kerr. “But, we’d like to work out something where we could give them a wall to display their stuff and leave it here under consignment or something.”

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College Investigates Performance with Decennial Review

Every ten years, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) requires Houghton College to conduct an extensive review on different aspects of the college. Houghton completed its last review in 2005; the next, already in progress, will reach completion in 2015.

FancherThe review is labeled a self-study, conducted by Houghton for the benefit of Houghton. The MSCHE website describes the review as “a voluntary, non-governmental, membership association” and contains a manual asserting the commission’s fourteen “characteristics of excellence” that affiliated institutions strive to meet.

Each institution is required to create a missions statement. Each characteristic of excellence in turn must line up with that statement. One standard of excellence specified by the manual reads, “The human, financial, technical, facilities, and other resources necessary to achieve an institution’s mission and goals are available and accessible.”

The MSCHE provides a resource containing similar information collected by other institutions involved in the commission. Any previous MSCHE study conducted at a given institution may be accessed through the website at any time.

In order to facilitate the self-study process, Houghton collected what is called the Self-Study Steering Committee, comprised of both students and faculty. Paul Young, Chair of the Self Study Steering Committee, works with the president and the dean of the college to select the students and faculty who serve as members.

The committee then works to collect information.  Young said, “We’re doing what’s called a comprehensive review… we’re looking at every one of the fourteen standards to see how well Houghton meets the standards.”

During the self-study, the committee appoints seven groups of information gatherers, each of which gather information on two of the fourteen standards. “They are responsible for gathering information, then analyze what the information means, evaluate it, and write a chapter for the final report,” said Young.  Each chapter consists of analysis of evidence in regards to how well Houghton is meeting the specified objectives, and will in turn make recommendations based on that evidence.

According to the Self-Study Design, a document created by Young to outline the purpose and instructions of the Self-Study Steering Committee, each group must “locate existing evidence, collect new evidence as necessary, and analyze evidence relevant to the research questions assigned to the group” as well as “answer each research question, identifying issues critical to Houghton College.”

One of the seven groups, for example, collects information on faculty and educational offerings. Some research questions outlined by the design analyze the qualification of specific faculty in their current roles, current hiring practices and their effectiveness, as well as the efficiency of educational offerings.

Houghton uses the information found through conducting the self-study to improve certain aspects of the college that may prove lacking.  In the last survey, results suggested that a full time institutional research position was necessary to Houghton. In 2007, that change was enacted.

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Sodexo Opts for Local Food Suppliers

Courtesy of sodexoeducation.com

Sodexo has recently made an effort to use locally- and regionally-produced and grown foods.  Within the last school year, over 23% of the produce served in the dining hall, from potatoes to lettuce, was grown within 250 miles of Houghton. Despite a decrease in students, there has been a steady increase in the local and regional produce being served.

However, there is a limit to the local places from which Sodexo make make purchases. For instance, there are guidelines that prevent Sodexo from purchasing food from farms that have not gone through a process of meeting safety regulations. These regulations help companies track the source of contaminated foods as well as other routine safety measures that benefit consumers’ health. Tina Powers, general manager, stressed that Sodexo loves the small farmer and small businesses. These are the places that are making new things and doing it with quality. A large company like Sodexo has the means to purchase large amounts of product that can greatly benefit a local economy.

Many of the gluten-free products available in the dining hall comes from a shop in Ithaca, NY. All of the dairy products used by Sodexo at Houghton are from a local company. Sodexo is also willing to work with any small farm that wants to make the transition to become a Sodexo supplier.  For example, Powers shared an anecdote of a sunflower farmer who wanted to sell his sunflower oil to Houghton and they helped him make connections with the people who could help him be inspected and regulated. However, when safe, sometimes Sodexo finds ways to work around the strict guidelines. During homecoming, Powers went out and purchased bags of potatoes from a local farmer to make the dining hall’s salt potatoes.

Two students who have worked for Sodexo for multiple years expressed the significance of local foods and in-house processed foods in the dining hall’s offerings. Emily Raczelowski, junior, sees the value value of using more local products in its reduced cost and reduced environmental impact because of transportation. Jonathan Hardy, senior, said, “Over the last four years I noticed a gradual increase in quality and variety of offerings.  This year is, of course, the largest change yet.”

This semester, the dining hall made a change to serving more foods that have been processed in-house. The rationale behind this was that the food had to be processed somewhere and that food is the best quality when it is processed as close as possible to the time it is served. Raczelowski said that “the benefit of processing whole foods in-house is that as an employee I can see firsthand what is being done to my food.” Most of the salad bar as well as ingredients in the soup and other areas are now all prepared in the kitchen. This is of nutritional and other health benefits. Powers mentioned the shredded carrots on the salad bar. They are not as good when they have been pre-shredded and packaged and have added ingredients to keep them fresh. One might have also noticed the lettuce on the salad bar is not the same lettuce that comes mixed with carrots and cabbage in a bag.  Powers discussed the fact that the salad is now often browning on the salad bar. This is because it is fresh and has not been treated to prevent browning.

Cafeteria workers have also been trying to find ways to process whole foods as close to the serving time as possible. The drawback to this new policy is that, even though they save on money on produce because they are not paying someone else to process it, they have had to increase labor and pay for more waste removal. Powers feels that the benefits strongly outweigh the increased cost.

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Houghton Pops Cancels Activities for Semester

www.houghton.edu

Two weeks ago Houghton Pops Orchestra (HPO) director Nathaniel Efthimiou (class of ’14) informed the members of the Houghton Pops orchestra that he and the board had decided to cancel the concert scheduled for the 22nd of this week. The performance planned for next semester is still planned for; however, there will be no performances by HPO this semester. “We simply didn’t have the resources or personnel this semester,” said Efthimiou concerning the decision.

HPO has faced a number of challenges this semester which, in the end, proved to be too much for the orchestra to overcome. One reason given by Efthimiou for the cancellation this semester was the music the group was forced to choose. “Our budget this semester was zero dollars,” said HPO president Ian Love, senior. “We had to use scores borrowed from the Philharmonia library,” said senior clarinettist Toni Bliemeister. “With the size of our group we just couldn’t pull some of them off.  And most of it just isn’t us.  It’s not music HPO should be playing.” As a club, HPO is still in the “provisional” stage, making SGA funding requests somewhat unclear. Next semester, however, they are scheduled to be approved as an official club. Orchestra members are hopeful this will allow the club to put on a more cohesive and accessible concert.

Another issue causing the concert cancellation is the extremely small size of the orchestra this semester.  “We have more cellos than violins this year,” reported one member. Other commitments and schedule conflicts have made it difficult or impossible for past members to participate.  Some former members are student teaching or studying abroad while others simply do not have time.  “With the musical this semester and everything else I just didn’t have time,” said cellist Chad Sell, sophomore, who starred in the HMTP production of The Drowsy Chaperone earlier this semester.  Efthimiou also had other commitments which took away from HPO, including conducting the pit orchestra for a musical as well as conducting pieces for composition students’ recitals.  Many other members of the group were also involved in these productions, leaving little to no time for them left for HPO.

Members are hopeful about next semester, however. “Canceling this semester was sad, but the right choice. Next semester will be better, though, with new music and without Christmas Prism to take so much time at the end of the year,” said Bleimeister. When asked to comment on plans for next semester, Efthimiou replied that, “The HPO board and I are taking time to explore new ways by which the success of the orchestra can be ensured so that future productions by our members are of the highest possible level. There is no reason to worry about the health of the Houghton Pops.”

 

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College Looks to Hire Forest Manager

Houghton_Forest_CMYK

This month, Houghton College is interviewing to hire a forest manager. Tasked with culling mature tree growth on the college’s 533 acres of forested land, they will produce and execute a plan that increases revenue and pays mind to the local environment.

The four-man panel directing this operation consists of Dr. James Wolfe, Dave Smith, Brian Webb, and Don Haingray. Their intent is to take on tree harvesting in the forests as both an economic and environmentally benefiting endeavor. “While logging is typically thought of as a negative in ecological terms, it can actually be good for a forest if done correctly,” said Brian Webb, Sustainability Coordinator for the college. Don Haingray echoed this statement, “This is about the health of the forest.  It is the right thing to do if we are to be good stewards of the land.”

In a meeting with the college’s board of trustees, the panel described their goals for forest management: improve forest health by cutting and selling overgrowth, facilitate sustained timber production at 15-year intervals, minimize logging-related erosion, improve and protect wildlife habitats, and avoid disturbing everyday use of the property.

The first step in this process is contacting the Department of Environmental Conservation and meeting with the New York State Forester, Robert K. Davies. Davies has reviewed the college’s extant forestry plan from 2002 and surveyed the property. He verified the current plan to be in depth and needing only minor revision. He also provided the college with a list of cooperative foresters to be interviewed for the role of forestry manager.

In mid-November, the panel will meet with several candidates to decide which one is right for the position. While each member of the board has his own concept of an ideal forest manager, the overall consensus seems to focus on sustainability as a priority. “Hiring a forest manager who is committed to sustainable forestry practices will enable us to preserve the long-term value of our woods – not just economically, but ecologically as well,” said Webb.

The selected candidate will take on the role of forestry manager and several key responsibilities. These include updating the college’s 11 year-old forestry plan, marking trees that will be harvested, managing bidding and contracts with a logging company, and overseeing the actual logging process with a mind towards protecting the environment. The forestry manager will be paid a percentage of the earnings from harvesting.

Updating the forestry plan will involve working through about 100-pages of documentation and editing its contains based on current observations of the forested land. Before now, said Webb, “Our forests really hadn’t really been maintained.” There is very little growth due to older trees dominating the ecosystem. This logging process will help to remove those older specimens and encourage new ones.

Once trees are marked to be logged, the forest manager will take bids from logging companies to enter into contract with the college. Special considerations will be taken to ensure that the college is hiring a company that will preserve the forest’s natural ecology. The company that will win the bid will be the company that best balances monetary investment with environmental provisions.

The panel is approaching this process with caution, however. There have been many instances, both locally and nationally, of logging practices being poorly handled. Oftentimes, the harvesting process can damage roadways, habitats, and soils. Smith, said that he will not permit a logging company to treat the land that way, “We don’t see any benefit to clear cutting our forests to make some temporary money. That’s not our goal.”

Properly executed, the panel would set up a sustained process for small-scale timber production in the forest. At 15-year intervals, the forest will be reexamined much as it is today. At such time, logging practices will be enacted only where it is both ecologically and economically sensible. The panel sees a long-term investment as far more beneficial than a short-term payoff.

In Webb’s words, “While this process was initiated by a desire to create income through logging, I believe we can do so in a manner that maintains the beauty, as well as the ecological health of the Houghton woods. My goal is to ensure that we demonstrate responsible stewardship by caring for the forest that God has blessed us with.”

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Rastrelli Quartet Performs for Houghton Artist Series

This past Friday the Wesley Chapel was filled with a moderately sized but enthusiastic audience to hear the Rastrelli Cello Quartet, an ensemble of four Russian cellists who have toured the world and received much critical acclaim in the 12 years since their creation. Their performance here several years ago left a strong impression on the community. According to former music faculty Dr. Robert Galloway who organized Artist Series concerts in the past, “[They] were a tremendous hit;… and I had students begging me to bring them back.” The Rastrelli Quartet’s repeat performance was certainly not a disappointment and had the audience cheering, begging for an encore which the performers generously provided.

The quartet members were equally pleased to be coming back to Houghton. “The second time back in this beautiful region feels like home,” said Kira Kraftzoff, the group’s artistic director.  “In Russia, young people go to the classical music concerts before going to clubs.  Seeing college students at concerts is wonderful.” They loved not just the audience but the hall, “We’ve played all over the world and this is one of our favorite halls to play in.  You have one of the 5 best stages in the world.”

Courtesy of http://www.1erang.nl
Courtesy of http://www.1erang.nl

“They truly are world class,” said Dr. Stephen Plate, Director of the Greatbatch School of Music who is now in charge of the Artist Series as well. The Irish Times of Dublin says of them, “…each is a virtuoso in his own right, and together they play with a sense of musical purpose and personal camaraderie that is infectious.” Indeed, among their members the quartet possesses numerous awards, honors, and contest prizes and their technical proficiency is truly incredible. However the most inspiring part of their playing is their unity and the deep passion they express in their performances. Whether a tarantella, tango, swings, classical or opera arias, Rastrelli handles all genres with energy and masterful interpretation.

“The artist series is about performances which are otherworldly,” said Plate about his vision of the Artist Series concerts in my interview with him, “They are to inspire us to think larger than we are.” While classical concerts will still be the primary focus as they have been in the past the broader goal is to bring in world-class performers in any genre not easily accessible in Allegany county. “Artists come in all different shapes and sizes… I hope to bring in some excellent jazz performers among other less represented events.” The repertoire of the Rastrelli Cello Quartet is ideal to this goal of a broader definition of “artist.” Their program on Friday contained opera excerpts, arrangements of folk music of various kinds, and modern and jazz music, all the arrangements exquisitely done by the quartet’s own Sergio Drabkin.  “It’s not about ‘classical’ vs. ‘jazz’ vs. ‘popular,’” said Kraftzoff. “What are these anyway? Just names. 150 years ago it wasn’t ‘classical’ music, it was just… music. For me it is simply good music versus bad music whether ‘jazz,’ ‘classical,’ or ‘popular.’”

The next Artist Series event is pianist Ning An, who will perform January 24th.

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Honors Undergoes Revampment

Despite a recent program cut back in September, the college is looking to reinstate and perhaps add another honors program to its offerings as well as renovate the current structure of honors at Houghton. During a meeting with the college board of trustees in late October, it was strongly suggested by the members that a third honors program with a European focus be reinstated. “We had already been working on revisions to honors before the board of trustees met in October. We’ve been concerned that despite the quality of our three first-year honors offerings, enrollments have been weaker than we would like over the past three years,” said Linda Mills Woolsey, dean of the college and one of those who met with the board. She cited the current economic climate and increased competition with other schools’ honors programs as likely causes.

Courtesy of londonandpartners.com
Courtesy of londonandpartners.com

In a recent proposal for a comprehensive revamp of the honors program, Benjamin Lipscomb, professor of philosophy and director of honors programs at Houghton, explained that although “[t]he students we have enrolled remain (by and large) impressive, … there have been too few of them to populate our three gateway programs, and we have not been able to be as highly selective as we were in the past.” In an interview he added, “We did form a waiting list for the first time in a while this last year… but there had been a couple of years in which basically there was no waiting list. We had … a three-tiered system [for admission] in which there was ‘yes,’ ‘maybe,’ and ‘no.’ We had a year or two there after we switched from London to Contemporary Contexts … at which it was basically, ‘yeah, probably, we think you’re a yes’ or ‘no.’”

Although not set in stone, under consideration as replacement for a third honors program is a semester-long study abroad option similar to the London honors program cut back in 2011. “A number of trustees look back to the recruiting success of London Honors and would like to see us have a distinctive program with the same recruiting power,” said Woolsey. She added that the program “will probably be a return to a semester abroad with a focus on modern and contemporary culture, a stronger global focus, and some service components.” Eric Currie, vice president of admissions, also added that “in trying to recruit some of the students who have had significant scores that go for full tuition at other schools … some of this semester abroad opportunity … has an engagement level that seems to spark their interest.” Such a program will take a while to redevelop, however. “I reported to the board that we were undertaking revisions and their request was that we speed up the timeline,” Woolsey said, adding that the intent was to have the new freshman honors program available to students in 2015-2016.

In addition to a third freshman honors program, also under consideration by the college is a full four-year honors program. Starting with one of the three main “gateway” honors programs (Science Honors, East Meets West, or a third new program), students completing one of the programs will be offered the opportunity to take one-credit “seminar” classes on a specific topic. Completion of a predetermined number of seminars will allow students to graduate with an honors diploma and transcript. Seminar topics will be varied, but will most likely be in the social sciences or humanities. However, it was stressed that it was hoped that honors students from all disciplines might be able to participate in the seminars. “Arts could be in it too, and there’s every possibility for people in the natural sciences, mathematics to pick one or two works that would be accessible to someone who hadn’t been through the whole curriculum,” said Lipscomb. “We’re going to try to make that set of offerings as diverse as possible. … The point is mix and mingle, not to extend the gateway programs as segregated phenomena.”

While Lipscomb says the four-year honors program has been approved “in principle” by the board, obtaining official approval is still in the works. However, it is expected that proposals for seminars will be submitted this spring and will be included in the course offerings for the next academic year. “We’re going to send out an email blast the beginning of December to prospective students who are thinking about honors, letting them know … there’s this extension of the program … and we’ll be talking about it on the recruitment weekends.”

Also in development, but still not yet in the works, is a potential honors program for transfer students and Houghton students who display honors potential later on in their undergraduate careers. “As we predict, watching national trends, we might see more and more of … people for cost reasons doing a couple years at a community college and getting an associate’s degree,” said Lipscomb, and the intent of a transfers program would be to accommodate such trends. Also included in the target demographic for such a program would be so-called “late bloomers:” students who, according to Lipscomb, “get a ‘no’ in the honors recruitment process because they clam up in their interview… [when] it turns out they… get into college coursework and discover themselves and turn out to be really excellent students.” For now, the idea of a transfers honors program is still very much in its infancy, with the reinstatement of a third honors program and the creation of a four-year program being among the current priorities of the college.

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Philippines Faces Crisis After Typhoon

In the week following the impact of the deadly Typhoon Haiyan, the Philippines has struggled to recover from the aftermath. The typhoon left, at current estimates, more than 2,300 dead, with many more injured or displaced, and flattened major population centers. Haiyan made impact on the Philippines on November 7. According to statements made by the UN, a total of 11 million people have been affected by the storm.

The typhoon has thrown the country into disarray, prompting officials to declare a state of crisis. Looting and raiding have become commonplace in the affected areas which are mostly in the central Philippine islands. According to CBS, thousands of desperate Filipinos stormed a government-owned rice warehouse (an event that killed eight people) and made off with roughly 100,000 sacks of rice to feed themselves and their families. Access to clean water is also hard to obtain for the survivors. Reports say that people have dug up water pipelines, regardless of safety, in order to access drinking water. Shelter is also scarce and many have been forced to live in the open.

typhoon_haiyan_houses
Courtesy of http://l.yimg.com/

According to a report covered by Al-Jazeera America, another major obstacle facing the Filipino population in coming weeks is the lack of basic medical supplies and facilities. The storm damaged hospitals and interrupted the supply of medicine due to damaged infrastructure, leaving only scanty resources behind. In Tacloban, a city about 360 miles from Manila and one of the major sites of destruction, the current medical center is a run-down, single-story building at the city’s damaged airport. Along with treating pregnant women, children, elderly, and those with injuries from the storm, medics expect to be treating infections, pneumonia, diarrhea, and dehydration in the coming weeks as the effects of the storm and lack of clean water and food take their toll on the population.

Meanwhile, aid to the struggling country has been trickling in slowly, mostly due to damaged infrastructure. The first sign of international assistance appeared Wednesday with 25 tons of biscuits delivered by US military jets. More aid is expected to come to the Philippines soon, but it may take a while to distribute to the more inaccessible areas on the islands. The damaged roads from the storm are a problem. Looting and lack of order is also making the process difficult. A report from The Guardian said that a Philippine Red Cross convoy was attacked by armed men and its drivers were killed.

Typhoon Haiyan is one of the deadliest typhoons ever recorded in Philippine history. The typhoon, which a mature tropical cyclone, arose from the lower Pacific (near Micronesia) and made its way to the Philippine islands in about three days, making landfall in the country on November 7. At its peak, its winds were 195 mph. A few days later it receded in intensity on November 10 when it struck Vietnam as a severe tropical storm.

The American Red Cross and other aid organizations are currently accepting donations to help aid the Filipino people as they begin the process of recovery from this disaster.

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Students Present Research at Penn-York Conference

This past Saturday, November 9, Professor Laurie Dashnau and ten Houghton students attended and participated in the 14th annual Penn-York Undergraduate Research Conference held at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford. The university hosted the conference in conjunction with their 50 year celebration of the university’s operation.

Courtesy of Mark Dashnau
Courtesy of Mark Dashnau

The Penn-York Conference is an opportunity for students to make a brief presentation of their research to a group of their peers and to “learn a lot of interesting material from areas outside of their disciplines” said Prof. Dashnau. The conference provides an opportunity for learning and for honing presentation skills. “The conference went very well. I had an opportunity to attend approximately 25 paper readings…. All of the presentations went very well.” said Dashnau.

Seniors Caleb Johnson, David Smith, Jessica Dreiling, Hannah Lily, Ben Murphy, Taylor Ross, Elizabeth Wallace and juniors Sylvia Morrow, Meghan McCuistion, and Stephanie Ford gave oral presentations at the conference. In addition to oral presentations, there were also poster presentations displaying student research and projects.

There was a varied representation of academic areas at the conference, both from the Houghton students and the conference presenters overall. From Houghton, “Five were presenting writing specifically; Caleb Johnson’s paper was from… [an] economics class and the same for Taylor Ross’s paper titled ‘How does Health-Care Affect Economic Freedom?’… Sylvia Morrow presented a physics paper,” said Dashnau. Johnson’s presentation was entitled “Free Trade Agreements,” Smith’s was “The Effects of Nonverbal Communication in the Writing Center,” Dreiling’s “Rapport in the Writing Center,” Murphy’s “The Case for Inclusivity at Houghton College,” and McCuistion’s “Electroencephalographic Measures of Negative Priming Effects on Event-Related Potentials and Reaction Times.”

Junior Sylvia Morrow’s presentation was entitled “Searching for Rigid Triaxial Deformation in 70Ge” and focused on her research that she conducted over the summer on rare nuclear shapes at low energies in 70Ge. Morrow said that “it was a good opportunity to practice bringing science to the public.” For Morrow the conference also presented a chance to “practice my presentation and public speaking skills” she said.

Senior Hannah Lily’s presentation was entitled “Personal Repertoire in Writing Center Consultations” and focused on “how the sharing of details builds repertoire,” said Lily. Lily also commented on her participation in the conference, saying “it was a good experience being able to see everyone else’s presentations and the methods that they presented in, there was a wide variety of topics.”

Besides Houghton, students from Hilbert College, the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, the University of Pittsburgh at Titusville, Alfred University, St. Bonaventure, and Clarion University of Pennsylvania also presented at the conference.

Dashnau was optimistic for the conference’s growth and development next year. “I’m delighted that next year more students from St. Bonaventure University will be joining us in larger measure… one professor there who also went to the Penn-York Conference has agreed to be the keynote speaker; his name is Gregory Privitera,” said Dashnau. Houghton has hosted the conference in 2007 and there is an expressed hope to host the conference next year.

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Collegiate Baseball Team “Genesee Rapids” to Debut Next Summer

Upcoming efforts to transform incoming traffic to the Kerr-Pegula Athletic Complex into a positive, continual impact on Houghton may have another attraction to accommodate: that of a collegiate summer baseball team.

FURapidThe idea for such a team was formed by Houghton graduate Ralph Kerr along with the input of the other members in the Houghton Group, an organization working to bring new business and development to the Houghton area with the new traffic brought in by the athletic complex. Originally inspired by his grandson’s position on the Niagara Power team last summer, Kerr began to consider the possibility of bringing such a team to the Allegany County area. “When I saw not just him but other young men from all over the country having an opportunity to grow as Christians and using baseball as a vehicle to do that, I was really thinking it would be terrific if we could replicate that same thing in Houghton where we already have such a beautiful facility that is just going to sit vacant all summer long,” said Kerr.

After convening a group of potential supporters of a new team and presenting his idea to them, community interest in the project became evident. Kerr was also eventually able to gain support from the Houghton Group in finding support from local businesses, including advertising on the field during games, and from members of the team board, who typically make a financial contribution to the team and participate in its management. Further support comes from the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), of which the team is an affiliate, which is able to funnel donations to the team through its website.

One of the aspects of the team which drew interest was its potential to bring traffic to Houghton during the summer, a time during which many faculty and students leave the area, leaving a void of activity. “The first thing is simply people coming to their games from out of town. It becomes summer evening fun, wholesome entertainment. Around here, that’s pretty hard to come by. There’s not much going on here during the summertime,” said Ken Bates, a business professor at Houghton, a Houghton Group member, and a team board member. Adding that team members would most likely be staying in the town during practices and home games, Bates cited this as another source of economic activity in the area. Phyllis Gaerte, director of community relations at Houghton College and a Houghton Group member, spoke similarly. “More people in town to support small business is important, and having small businesses to provide for the needs of people who come to town is important,” she said.

As for the team itself, which has been named the Genesee Rapids, the search for skilled players has already begun. The team was awarded a franchise three months ago by the New York Collegiate Baseball League, a league which already comprises twelve other teams from the state of New York. The League was initially hesitant to take on another team, but after a representative toured the athletic field on the college campus, an agreement was reached. “[He] saw our field, walked around the grounds, and got quite excited about the possibility. …he said something to the effect that this field was on par with some of the fields in the major leagues,” related Bates.

Players on teams in the league must be registered college students by the time they play summer games, so most members are typically sophomores or juniors. Describing the recruitment process, Kerr explained, “The League receives applications from players from all over the country and they forward those to us … [and] they fill out a formal application that includes something about their testimony and where they are in their relationship with God as well as the position they’d like to play, a little bit about how well they play, and then we have references from their college coach and then some other references as well.” Kerr explained that the motivation to play on an intercollegiate team isn’t just for entertainment purposes. Some players have intentions of continuing to play even after college. “In 2010, 38 of the players from the league were actually offered major league baseball contracts,” Kerr said.

With recruitment already underway, those involved with the Genesee Rapids have a vision for what the final team will look like. “We are recruiting from all over the United States and Canada, and so we expect to have 30 players on the team. We may have some players from the college team, but we’re limited to four,” said Kerr. Also aiming to achieve ministry through baseball, it is hoped that team members will be Christians or have some foundation or expressed interest in exploring the Christian faith. “What we’re looking for at a minimum is young men who aren’t afraid to have people talk about Christ with them,” said Kerr. “If we can witness to a young man who’s willing to be witnessed to, I’m all for that.”

So far, the creation of the team has continued with positive results. “Just today we offered 12 contracts to our first 12 recruits, so hopefully within the next couple of weeks we’ll be announcing some of our first signees,” said Kerr. Community outlook appears positive as well. “I feel this will be an asset to the community and a catalyst for economic development and community revitalization projects we’re working on right now for the hamlet of Houghton,” said Gaerte.