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Letter to the Editor Opinions

Finding Yourself in a Distracted World

Distractions. In 2022 with social media, an abundance of things on your list to do, and the fear of shutdowns, distractions are unavoidable. I’ll admit the first thing I do when I wake up in the morning is check my phone — it’s a terrible and an addictive habit. I’ve heard many different versions of the same thing: if the first thing you do in the morning is look at your phone, you’re doomed. Okay, so that’s not exactly what I’ve heard, but the essence of what I’ve heard was that it was a horrible habit and it should be done away with immediately. But what should you do to replace that habit?

 In one of my classes this semester, fellow classmate Sarah Halvorson mentioned how they started enjoying a cup of coffee in the mornings with a new activity: staring at their wall. Now to some, that may seem ridiculous. There’s so much to get done! How could one possibly waste time and stare at a blank wall, letting their thoughts take over them? My professor, filled with wisdom and always knowing what to say, replied to my classmate with “Ah yes, we are human beings, not human doings.”

And so there I was, in the middle of a class that was supposed to be about narrative and personal essays and I found myself struck with this earth-shattering new thought process: I just have to exist. That’s all I need to do in order to be considered a human being. How refreshing! So often we might find ourselves wrapped up in expectations; ones we have placed on us from jobs, parents, professors, friends, families, significant others, and even ones we place on ourselves. How do we find the time to just exist? The time to sit in our rooms and stare at blank walls, to roam around with no destination, to let our minds run wild in all the thoughts we avoid during the day-to-day, too concerned with what we have to do.  Am I saying you have to look at your wall every morning? Nope. But I am suggesting you find time in your day to simply exist — or even find time in your week to start, because this isn’t something that comes naturally to us anymore and might take some training. Forget about the to-do lists, forget about the obligations and responsibilities. Of course, you can’t forget about those things forever, but the key to this is to find the balance that works for you and for your life. Maybe it seems impossible for you to fit existing into your full schedule, and if you’re sitting here reading this article and finding yourself in that position, then this is exactly the thing you need to hear. When I look back on the past four years here at Houghton, I don’t remember every homework assignment I had, I don’t remember every shift I was scheduled or every thing I checked off my checked list. I remember the moments I truly enjoyed. I remember taking a break from homework to go get Chinese food with a friend, I remember sitting in Java for a few hours and not getting anything done, but simply enjoying the atmosphere. That is what I encourage everyone here at college to do. Take time to enjoy every day, even if that means you stay up five minutes more just to give yourself that time. I can’t promise it will solve all of your problems, I can’t even promise it will make you happier, but I can promise that your body needs those breaks. If you take anything from this article, I hope it’s this truth: you are more than a human doer. You are a human being. So take the time to just be.

Distractions. In 2022 with social media, an abundance of things on your list to do, and the fear of shutdowns, distractions are unavoidable. I’ll admit the first thing I do when I wake up in the morning is check my phone — it’s a terrible and an addictive habit. I’ve heard many different versions of the same thing: if the first thing you do in the morning is look at your phone, you’re doomed. Okay, so that’s not exactly what I’ve heard, but the essence of what I’ve heard was that it was a horrible habit and it should be done away with immediately. But what should you do to replace that habit?

 In one of my classes this semester, fellow classmate Sarah Halvorson mentioned how they started enjoying a cup of coffee in the mornings with a new activity: staring at their wall. Now to some, that may seem ridiculous. There’s so much to get done! How could one possibly waste time and stare at a blank wall, letting their thoughts take over them? My professor, filled with wisdom and always knowing what to say, replied to my classmate with “Ah yes, we are human beings, not human doings.”

And so there I was, in the middle of a class that was supposed to be about narrative and personal essays and I found myself struck with this earth-shattering new thought process: I just have to exist. That’s all I need to do in order to be considered a human being. How refreshing! So often we might find ourselves wrapped up in expectations; ones we have placed on us from jobs, parents, professors, friends, families, significant others, and even ones we place on ourselves. How do we find the time to just exist? The time to sit in our rooms and stare at blank walls, to roam around with no destination, to let our minds run wild in all the thoughts we avoid during the day-to-day, too concerned with what we have to do.  Am I saying you have to look at your wall every morning? Nope. But I am suggesting you find time in your day to simply exist — or even find time in your week to start, because this isn’t something that comes naturally to us anymore and might take some training. Forget about the to-do lists, forget about the obligations and responsibilities. Of course, you can’t forget about those things forever, but the key to this is to find the balance that works for you and for your life. Maybe it seems impossible for you to fit existing into your full schedule, and if you’re sitting here reading this article and finding yourself in that position, then this is exactly the thing you need to hear. When I look back on the past four years here at Houghton, I don’t remember every homework assignment I had, I don’t remember every shift I was scheduled or every thing I checked off my checked list. I remember the moments I truly enjoyed. I remember taking a break from homework to go get Chinese food with a friend, I remember sitting in Java for a few hours and not getting anything done, but simply enjoying the atmosphere. That is what I encourage everyone here at college to do. Take time to enjoy every day, even if that means you stay up five minutes more just to give yourself that time. I can’t promise it will solve all of your problems, I can’t even promise it will make you happier, but I can promise that your body needs those breaks. If you take anything from this article, I hope it’s this truth: you are more than a human doer. You are a human being. So take the time to just be. ★

Jacie is a senior majoring in writing with minors in Psychology and Photography. Her favorite things in the world are rainy days, iced coffee, a good Spotify playlist, and books!

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Opinions

A Tale of Two Zip Codes

Tonight, along Houghton’s Genesee river banks, I cast my fishing line and hear the ghost of Charles Dickens howling – “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”  Downstream there was a sense of the best of times. The affluent citizens of the Pittsford area kept warm in their gas-fueled homes after tending to their white-collared professional careers and driving their new BMWs through the streets of one of the most successful elite super zip towns of America.   Upstream the working class folks of Belfast were heated by the glow of a wood stove, modestly getting by driving in a late model Chevy pickup coming from their blue-collared job in one of the poorest counties in the state.  

JosephGilligan_RGBMy fictional scenario dramatizes the national economic debate called income inequality. Yet, as a whole, the two Genesee Valley towns offer a glimpse into the true root of the cause of income inequality between the new elite class and the lower middle class.  While many carelessly characterize Pittsford as greedy, selfish, and very secular, the irony is most affluent towns are following traditional American values more so than their working class counterparts.   While we have always had rich people in the US, it appears that cultural norms that once glued us together have created a chasm between the classes. In the 1950s, there weren’t super rich towns. The rich and poor lived together, worshipped together, and sent their children to the same school. Today, the rich live in super zips, also known as the zip codes with the highest per capita income and college graduations in the country; yet, the glue (i.e. education, marriage, religiosity, and community involvement) holding income classes together is coming apart.  

We know a college degree creates higher earning potential.  In Pittsford, over 70% of the population has a college degree, with a median household income north of $130,000.  In Belfast, just 12% of its citizens have a college degree and have a household median income of $40,000.  Colleges provide proficiency in a specific majors and create networking opportunities with fellow students and alumni alike to secure future jobs. Local companies recruit students who will transition quickly at their firm.  In the Genesee Valley, engineering firms recruit from Rochester Institute of Technology, hospitals will recruit nurses from St. John Fisher College and NGOs recruit at Houghton.    

Marriage is the cornerstone of our culture and creates stronger economic and social power for children.  Single family homes accounts for a third of the reason why income inequality has grown since 1979.  In Belfast, the divorce rate is nearly twice that of Pittsford.  We  have recently seen the rise of assortative mating by couples subconsciously using college degrees to screen marriage prospects such as many Ivy league alums marry other Ivy league alums.  Such clustering of educated married couples into Pittsford creates a brain drain from lower middle class towns. 

Community volunteerism helps develop what social scientist Robert Putnam calls “social capital”.  A community with high social capital is more likely to have members that volunteer in their youth sports leagues and their fire departments.  It will also be place where neighbors help a family that loses their house to a fire or an unemployed father trying to find a job.  These communities tend to have lower crime rates, better health, great public schools, and better economic growth rates.  Pittsford boosts one of the top high schools in the nation and list over 30 community events including parades, festivals, concerts, dances, and outdoor movies.  Belfast only lists five. 

Finally, there is religion.  Church organizations create nearly half of the charity and half of the volunteerism in this country.  According to psychology professor David Myers of Hope College, people that are religious tend to create a happy community and a happy community tends to be contagious.  Living in Pittsford you are 65% percent more likely to belong and attend a church than Belfast.   

In the 1960s President Johnson declared a war on poverty. More than fifty years and 22 trillion dollars later, we have not changed the poverty rate. The war was lost because many of the programs crushed our traditional values and failed to calculate human nature. Today’s war on inequality will double down on these misguided policies and expect a different result. My contention with Pittsford and the super zips isn’t their success or affluence; rather, “they don’t preach what they practice” notes Charles Murray, a social scientist 

Let us pass policy to increase equitable education through tax vouchers for private and charter schools, strengthen marriage by eliminating the marriage tax penalty, and restore good paying blue collar jobs by eliminating unnecessary regulation on construction, fracking, lumber mills, fishers, farmers and coal miners.
As I throw my fishing line into the Genesee River for the last time tonight, I think of the preaching of Jesus who said, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

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Stories In Focus

A Day in the Life of a Maintenance Worker

“We’re girls in a boy’s world” Kim Lawson, Maintenance Secretary, said as she began a tour of the maintenance building.  Lawson and Linda Perry, or as they call themselves “the maintenance moms,” sit behind the front desk and handle the organization of the maintenance department.  After the tour Lawson made a call over the radio and before I knew it I was invited into a big, white maintenance van, ready to start my day as a maintenance worker.  

“Well I’ve got to be in Gillette because one of my workers called off… again” the driver said.  “After we drop you off I’m taking her to the flats” the other woman in the passenger seat said.  The van pulled into Gillette, the driver got out, and the new driver said “You can move up front if you want.”  Her name is Correne Goodenow.  

Maintenance staff RGBGoodenow works as a full-time custodian and her jurisdiction includes guest housing – usually the college flats – the library and half of the Center for the Arts building.  Each custodian has their own building(s) and they hire student workers within their areas.  Custodians are “supposed to have a daily schedule” she says, but when student workers don’t show up they have to cover their work.  According to Goodenow “when things come up, we do them”.

We arrive at the flats and head into a lounge full of towels, cups and soap, used to prepare rooms for the upcoming cross country guests coming that weekend.  “Yeah” she said while stuffing a pillow case, “my life is boring, but it’s kind of fun because I’m an introvert.”  Goodenow, who is originally from Jamaica, now lives in Rushford with her husband and three-year old daughter and said “There’s not much job-wise very close” so she sought a position at the college.  She attended a college with the same atmosphere as Houghton and she “wanted to be in that kind of family again.”  

After preparing the rooms we hopped back in the van and went back on campus to vacuum the back stairwell of the library.  The van pulled into the Chamberlain parking lot and while scanning the lot for a parking spot, Goodenow said “The benefit of driving a maintenance van is you can park anywhere you want.”  As rain drizzled down we ran into the back door of the library.  After vacuuming, Goodenow asked, “Have you ever been in the archives?”  The archives needed dusting that could have waited, but she went in any way to give a tour.  Goodenow pointed out the old typewriter donated hundreds of years ago and shuffled through painting after painting displayed in cases, in awe as she circled the room.  

After finishing in the library, Goodenow got another call on her radio.  “Oh yeah, on top of all of this, I’m also a certified pool operator” she said.  So our next stop was the pool to test the chlorine level. Only a few people on staff are certified to do this test, so she often gets requests that call her up to the pool.  After finishing that task it was time to break for lunch and time for Goodenow to pass me on to another worker, this time from the maintenance area.  So she gave Frank Eszes a call on the radio.“Well we’re gonna be up on the roof… is that something she’d want to do?” Frank asks over the radio.

Before continuing on to our duties, Frank and I sat in the truck for a few minutes before he asked “So you want to know my life story or something?  Well I’m a transplant from California.”  Eszes is from Santa Maria, California, and he “transplanted” to Cuba, NY, where he and his wife bought a house.  In June 2014, Eszes heard about an opening for a custodial position at Houghton.

According to Eszes, “There’s nothing wrong with being a custodian.”  He is a retired fence contractor and has a contractor’s license so he wasn’t getting to do much of what he loved in his custodial work.  But after a month and a half of his time at Houghton he got transferred to a maintenance position and gets to do some elements of his previous career in his work.  Eszes opens the door to the science building when he said, “I’m also a big motorcycle guy.  Here let me show you a picture” as he pulls out his phone to show me a photo of his own motorcycle.  Approaching the third floor of the science building, Eszes described that unlike custodial where each worker has their own area to tend to, maintenance workers get assignments that vary each day depending on the order of demands.  “We just go places and check things” he said “and we’re always encouraged to, if we see something wrong, to fix it or find someone who can.”  He pulled out his clipboard and started looking for room numbers.  His job today was to check the air inside the fume hoods in all of the labs.  

“Sometimes I like to listen to music when I’m doing a job like this, but I never know if other people want to listen to my kind of music” he said, gesturing toward the few students working at some lab tables.  He shrugged and said “I’m kind of old school.”

Eszes likes the people he has met at Houghton and has “no complaints.”  He said “Houghton does a good job of providing a nice environment, all the way from professors to custodians to people working in the cafeteria.”  Eszes said he has had positive experiences with students and because the maintenance department doesn’t have many student workers, he only interacts with students when he’s out doing jobs around campus.  “I haven’t met one student I don’t like.  Although because I’m an adult, some people don’t talk to me” he said with a chuckle and elbow nudge.  “They might complain because I yak too much” he said as he scanned his list to mark off another completed task.  He smiled and there was silence for a few seconds.  “Ooh, let me show you a picture.”

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Stories In Focus

Jason Bintz: Southern Math Teacher Turned Seminarian Turned Houghton Math Professor

The first time Doctor Jason Bintz, Houghton College’s new assistant professor of applied mathematics, attempted to visit the Houghton campus, he found himself snowbound. Fresh from a mild Tennessee winter, he arrived in Buffalo to learn that his ride from the college could not drive into the city. Bintz was ultimately forced to find a hotel room, and conducted the first part of his job interview over Skype. Happily, he made it to campus the next day, and was officially offered the position a few weeks later.

Despite the snowy introduction to Houghton, Bintz was thrilled accepted the offer.

“I was just leaving my house when I got the call,” said Bintz. “I went back inside, and celebrated with my family.”

JasonBintzCMYKBintz began his career in higher education as an undergraduate student at Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Georgia. Like Houghton, Covenant is both a liberal arts college and a member of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities. Bintz graduated from the institution with a degree in mathematics in 2003, and immediately found work teaching high school math in nearby Chattanooga, Tennessee. Three years later, he decided to continue his education, but in a different field.

“In my time working with high school students, I felt called to seminary,” said Bintz. “I wanted to receive the same training a pastor receives.”

This new vocation led Bintz to the Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Massachusetts, where he and his wife resided until his graduation in 2008. From there, Bintz returned to teaching math at the secondary level for one last year before he made the choice to pursue graduate work in applied mathematics at the University of Tennessee. He graduated with his Ph.D. this year.

“At the end of the day, I wanted to be in a college setting,” said Bintz.

During his time at the University of Tennessee, Bintz worked on two main projects in the area of mathematical biology. One attempted to find the best way to allocate resources in order to benefit a specific species, while the other involved building a mathematical model to evaluate the policies implemented by hospitals to reduce Clostridium difficile infections. Bintz remains interested in the broad range of mathematical applications for biology research, and hopes to eventually interest his students in this area.

According to Linda Mills Woolsey, Dean of the College and Vice-President of Academic Affairs, Bintz’s work using math to support biology research, along with his abilities as an interdisciplinary thinker, helped tip the balance in his favor during the hiring process. Kristin Camenga, former chair of Houghton’s department of mathematics and computer science, as well as a member of the search committee that hired Bintz, echoes this sentiment.

“One of the things that impressed me about Jason is his care for people and his deep interest in subjects that cut across disciplinary lines,” she said. “The fact that he has a seminary degree and a Ph.D. in applied math gives him a broad base of knowledge to connect with others, but Jason did research to find out about other faculty at Houghton and their interests to discover commonalities. I really think he will be a great addition to the math faculty and the college at large!” 

Bintz first met with the search committee from Houghton for a short interview in early January at the 2015 Joint Mathematics Meetings in San Antonio, Texas. They met once more during his February campus visit before Bintz was offered the job. While he had applied other places, Houghton was always his preference.

“I had a pretty strict profile in mind of where I wanted to be,” said Bintz. “Houghton was the only school that fit the profile, and the job was exactly what I wanted to do.” He adds that he is also excited for his wife and three children to experience the kind of community Houghton has to offer them as a family.  “We’re really happy to be here.”

This semester, Bintz teaches Calculus I, Multi-Variable Calculus, and Probability and Statistics. His experience in his field, his commitment to his faith and family, and his enthusiasm about the college community all point to his being an excellent fit for Houghton.

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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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News

Obama Proposes Free Community College

Last week in the State of the Union Address, President Barack Obama outlined America’s College Promise, a plan to “lower the cost of community college — to zero.”

According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, the proposal aims to waive tuition for community college students who maintain a minimum 2.5 GPA and “make steady progress toward completing their program.” The plan applies to both half-time and full-time students and includes certificate, associate, and bachelor’s degrees. The plan would cost the federal government an estimated $60-billion over ten years, which would cover 75% of projected costs, while participating states would be asked to fund the other 25%.

358209_Obama-Community-College.18Dr. Linda Mills Woolsey, Dean of the College, who said she has “mixed feelings” about the plan, described it as a “well-intentioned” attempt to “meet a projected education gap” and to “make sure that there’s access to education for people from all economic backgrounds.” Woolsey said doing this solely through the community college system, however, encourages the mass-production of education,“we’re imagining a kind of Henry Ford type way to get students through their first couple years of education.”

Eric Currie, Vice President for Enrollment Management, said while initially the plan might “create a challenging moment” for Houghton, the already existing “great transfer processes” Houghton has with community colleges will be an important asset. Currie said Houghton is likely to continue to prioritize the continued development of online programs and of the Buffalo campus of Houghton, both of which more closely meet the needs of the demographic of students primarily targeted by America’s College Promise.

President Shirley Mullen said her primary concern is the current prominence of cost in the dialogue about higher education would make it “easy for the idea of a free two-year college to just be too tempting for students for whom that really isn’t the best option and not the only option,” and usually the rhetoric about cost “underestimates the impact of [four year] education on even one’s financial resources over the long haul.” She described a sadness in the potential loss, not just for Houghton, but for all students pursuing higher education if the proposal draws students away from four-year learning communities that in general provide “a more coherent education overall.” However, Mullen also said, “we would like to have more transfer students” as they often bring a greater appreciation for Houghton and a more focused drive. Currently, transfer students make up 18% of incoming students and 15% of the student body.

Currie said while he supports anything that will bring education to more people, he would have liked to see the government offer to pay two years of tuition for eligible students at any college that was able to meet a given price cap. “I would say challenge us all to rise to the occasion. Not just community colleges,” said Currie. “Challenge whoever is willing to go and make it happen…I think that that edifies some of the best things about our society which is innovation, entrepreneurship…and the kind of take charge personality, and yet still meeting people’s needs.”

The needs of the people are not just financial. Woolsey said she embraces the social good of widely-available free education, but is not sure “it will do what we want it to do if in the process we lose the richness and variety of higher education.”  Woolsey said, “These small private colleges and even some of the midsized, private Christian colleges offer an education that’s more varied, sometimes more creative, and certainly more focused on the individual.”

Though at this point it seems highly unlikely that the proposal will make it through congress any time soon, Currie said, “Whether it’s President Obama or the next President or the President after that, I think that something like this is going to come through…it’s on the radar in the federal government and in the state governments that they feel that they really want to have an impact on this issue, and I think they feel it’s important.”

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Stories In Focus

The Role of Social Media Outlets at Houghton

“Students have a lot of influence on what works and what doesn’t work when it comes to social media at Houghton,” said Amy Tetta, Development and Communication Specialist. “Current students bring a certain aspect to social media at Houghton that I can’t provide. When students go on fieldtrips or have class experiences that I am not able to see, take a photo, and then upload it to Instagram, it gives prospective students a way to see what life is really like at Houghton.”

JoshDuttweiler_AdmissionsWith the multiple social media outlets that Houghton College has, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and a Pinterest page, alumni, students, faculty, and prospective students are able to connect with each other from all over the world. Tetta said, “Social media is allowing students to have a voice in the community. I am always looking for fun photos that we can put on our Facebook page or Instagram of a student’s perspective on dorm life, the dining hall, and just everyday life at Houghton.” Senior social media intern, Meagan Hummel, said, “Technology is becoming more and more prevalent in society. Prospective and current students use social media all of the time.”

While social media allows for current students and alumni to stay up-to-date on upcoming events that are happening on campus, social media plays a role in drawing prospective students to Houghton. As an intern, Hummel manages the Instagram page and said, “it is more than just showing them [prospective students] the nature and what Houghton looks like, it is showing them what it is like to be a student. Things like SPOT, Chapel, concerts, art gallery openings, sporting events that make Houghton more appealing”. Felicia Rynzowski, a first-year student, said that as a prospective student, she noticed many of these student events held on campus through Facebook. “I like that Houghton posted things that students were involved in,” said Rynzowski. Alanna Paris, also a first-year student, added that prospective students can see what it is like to be a student on campus.  In addition to the main Houghton Facebook page, other Houghton Facebook pages exist to connect accepted students and alumni from different graduating classes.

Social media, specifically Instagram, which is run primarily by Tetta’s social media interns, allows prospective students to see what life is like at Houghton from the eyes of a current student. “It wasn’t long ago that I was a prospective student. I have a pretty good idea what students like to see and how they use social media so I am able to use my insight to help Amy,” said Hummel.

Along with all of the helpful uses that social media plays in the Houghton community, there are ways that some posts or pictures can sometimes be taken in a negative way. “I always try to put myself in the place of a prospective student, current student, alumni, and faculty member to see if the post can be taken in a negative way,” said Tetta. Because social media allows individuals to post whatever he or she would like to, “it can start great dialogue, but it can also start negative dialogue. That is when it needs to be closely monitored,” said Hummel. Additionally, Tetta mentioned that social media is meant to be a conversation with people that might have different backgrounds and experiences than someone else might have. “It’s hard to sit back and watch an argument take place online. But Houghton is filled with a kind group of people that can sort out issues,” said Tetta.

Social media plays a role in every student’s life here at Houghton College. One of the ways that it influenced student’s lives was last April during the One Day Giving Challenge. Social media was used throughout a majority of the day and made the giving challenge a success. The funds raised from that day were used to help current and prospective students with the scholarships and grants that they received this year.

By tagging Houghton College or using the hash tag “#houghtoncollege” you may possibly have your Facebook posts, tweets, or Instagrams reposted by Houghton College. “The students are our biggest asset,” said Tetta, “They make Houghton what it is.”

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Opinions

Enrollment and The Hail Mary Pass

A Vanderbilt University study concluded colleges that had recently closed had enrollments of fewer than one thousand students and endowments of under $50 million. Many were religious institutions such as Bethany University in California. First year student enrollment drastically dropped – by 10% or more –  at more than a quarter of U.S. private four-year colleges over the past two years, according to the Wall Street Journal. Higher education experts foresee a death spiral for small private schools due to an overreliance on tuition revenue and a scarcity of large endowments.

JFGVHoughton College has been affected by low enrollment over the past several years. Last year, Houghton missed their enrollment target and the administration enacted austerity measures such as staff layoffs, closing of floors in dorms, and cutbacks to underperforming academic and sports programs. Houghton has survived more than a century of wars, depressions, and social changes. The problems faced today are found within rapidly changing local and national demographics. As Western New York loses 1% of its population every two years and families move south, the possibility of a vibrant local enrollment diminishes. In addition, our winters make Houghton a tough sell to out-of-state students.

The national numbers are even more implacable. As high school graduating class size declines, those who graduate are deciding in larger numbers not to attend college. Private liberal arts schools continue to be dominated by white, female students. At open access colleges, which accept at least 80% of applicants, enrollment for African-Americans and Hispanics doubled in the past decade.

Religion in America is also changing, according to Pew Research. In 1955, our country was composed of 70% mainline Protestant faiths. Today, Protestants account for 50%. Catholics and non-denominational Christians are now up to 36%.  Houghton College and Dean Michael Jordan have been very accepting of all Christian faiths, but Houghton should include our Christian diversity more when promoting the school.

The dawn of online education also hurts enrollment. According to a Babson College survey, 32% of students nationally had enrolled in an online course. To add fuel to the fire, many liberal arts schools have simply priced themselves out of the market. Tuition costs have risen beyond the inflation rate and the ability to find a job to pay off debt has severely diminished due to a poor job environment.

Every problem has solutions and Houghton has responded with many positive initiatives to assist in this year’s enrollment, which is up 10%, or about thirty students, from last year’s numbers.  The increase can be attributed to an agreement with Indiana Wesleyan to launch Houghton education online, a newly opened associate’s degree program in Buffalo, the Loan Repayment Assistance Program, and an increased effort to attract foreign students in Hong Kong. These endeavors have moved the football down the field a few yards, but more students can be added at a low cost. Houghton would score a touchdown by using its best asset.

Through a generous gift by the Kerr-Pegula family, we have trumped nearly every college in the Northeast with our athletic facilities. Houghton has also spent a lot of money to complete the project. There has been a growing population of students who play sports at Houghton. According to Skip Lord, Houghton’s Athletic Director, 25% of students participate in athletics, with a goal of a 33%. The ratio is excellent, but consider elite academic schools such as Haverford College and Williams College with nearly 40% of their students playing varsity sports. Athletics attract students to come to campus, stay on campus, take up residence, and buy Houghton sports themed apparel. Our teams recruit players at camps and give Houghton visibility. Houghton athletes establish recruiting pipelines from their former high schools. Coaches have a distinct advantage of selling the college over an admissions officer as athletes and their parents are easily swayed by the opportunity to play at the next level.

Recently, the addition of several new sports has helped enrollment. Of those additions, baseball has been the biggest success adding more than 30 students. Coach Brian Reitnour has recruited students from Colorado, Washington, New Jersey, Tennessee, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Canada and British Guyana. We could add more students by relaunching low-cost, official JV teams. Sports like soccer and baseball are ripe for JV programs and could add 50 students. Houghton is well known for its equestrian studies and runs one of best equestrian summer camps. Could not Houghton mirror the program and competition schedule of Centenary College of New Jersey, which packs ninety students on the equestrian team?

However, the enrollment touchdown pass for a small college is to add a football team with a promise of over one hundred new, paying students. Since 2009, over 40 new college football programs have been added. Many programs have helped small private schools such as Hendrix College reverse the enrollment death spiral. Seton Hill also found enrollment in football. The school’s president noted to The New York Times, “I could have started a spiffy new major of study, spent a lot of money on lab equipment and hired a few new high-powered professors; I might have gotten 25 more students for that. Instead, I started a football team, brought in hundreds of paying students, added a vibrant piece to our campus life and broadened our recognition factor.” College football is a game changer for small schools. Besides just boosting enrollment it can eliminate low male ratios and attract new Christian minorities and ethnic, Catholic students that might not consider Houghton. Football can also add a 25 person cheerleader squad and a 60 student marching band to our vibrant music community.

In sum, Houghton doesn’t have to be a small school casualty. We must acknowledge that demographic shifts and technological changes are moving rapidly and are beyond our control. With our athletic facilities, Houghton College has distinct advantage to reverse a national trend. How we react and adapt to those trends will be how our future is determined.

 

Categories
Stories In Focus

After Houghton: Seniors Accepted to Graduate Programs

For those of us enveloped in the familiar “Houghton bubble,” the thought of life after college can easily get crushed under more immediate obligations: Assignments, exams, delicious oven-baked cookies in the dining hall.

Inevitably, the reality of life after Houghton must be acknowledged. As graduation rapidly approaches, many students contemplate leaving as they move on to the next step of furthering their education: graduate school.

Senior Ben Murphy is one such student, going to the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill for a PhD in English. His ultimate goal is to become an English professor, though while at school he hopes to focus on 20th century to contemporary American literature. “I want to study post-humanism. It has to do with science studies: how science and technology may change what it means to be human.” When asked about the application process, Murphy commented, “It’s not terribly expensive, but the GRE (Graduate Record Exam) is necessary and that’s like 200 bucks…I spent a lot of time researching graduate programs…to get into the programs, you have to be really specific about the professors you want to work with in your personal statement.”

Outside of the English department, junior Rebekah Kimble is currently applying to schools in order to earn her PhD in history. For Kimble, this process has been extended and strenuous as Kimble admitted  “Right now the history job market is terrible. It’s completely flooded with people who have graduated and have a PhD.  Most of the programs I want to get in are only accepting 6-10 students into their entire history program. There are around 400 applicants per program, so I’m actually applying to 18 schools.”

However, this abysmally low acceptance rate has not deterred Kimble in the least. “I really love the subject, and I see it as an opportunity to be a Christian in a secular university… to be a witness without evangelizing per se, being an example without hitting people over the head with religion. Also, I just love researching. Going to graduate school enables me to research what I love and publish books.” Despite the current job market, Kimble has decided to pursue her passions.

Senior Abigail Bruxvoort will attend Northwestern University to procure her PhD in philosophy. Applying to a total of 11 schools, Bruxvoort described her application process: “I took the GRE last May, and I did some basic research on schools over the summer and created a list of schools to apply to. Then, in October and November I started preparing my writing sample, writing a statement of intent, and asking for letters of recommendation…The main difficulty with applying and visiting schools has been being a full time student in the midst of it all.”

When asked about her decision to go to graduate school, Bruxvoort replied, “Why am I going? Because I would happily spend the rest of my life in philosophy classrooms.”

While a PhD program may be what first comes to mind when it comes to talking about graduate school, some Houghton students have their eyes on different goals. Senior Jim Vitale anticipates working toward his Master of Divinity at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, MN. When asked about his future plans, Vitale responded, “I have been pursuing an interest in ministry on and off for almost eight years now, and my love for theology has only grown in my time at Houghton. I hope to use this degree to be ordained a Lutheran pastor and serve a church somewhere.”

Senior Caleb Johnson plans to attend George Mason University to further his studies in International Relations. “I’m an IR major and I love it. I want to join the Foreign Service. Graduate school will present me with opportunities and internships, and give me the experience I need to pass the Foreign Service test.”

From the science department, senior Esther Schow intends to enter Auburn University to pursue a degree in veterinary medicine.  Speaking about her passion for becoming a veterinarian, Schow commented, “I love caring in a tangible way that conjoins the academic side of science, with the emotional side of animal husbandry… since high school, I have known that I wanted to either become a doctor or veterinarian, so graduate school has always been something I assumed I would do.”

Applying for graduate school can be an arduous process which requires planning, research, time, and a moderate amount of cash, but for those with the desire, the opportunity to further their education and grab their goals is entirely worth the effort.

Categories
Opinions

Do You Live in a Generational Bubble?

After four years at this college, I have heard my share of depreciating remarks about the “Houghton bubble.” We’re a geographical bubble. A religious bubble. Perhaps a socio-economic bubble, and sometimes even a racial bubble. And none of these bubbles are bubbles you want to live in, since living in a bubble means residing in a state of relative ignorance and naiveté, cut off from the rest of civilization in a more-or-less pathetic way. People who live in bubbles are clueless. They make sweeping and misdirected assumptions about the world outside their bubble. They don’t get it. Now, to be frank, I’m not so sure that Houghton is a bubble. At least, Houghton doesn’t have to be a bubble for anyone. However, this doesn’t mean that we’re not in danger of slipping into bubble life, at certain points.

abbyHere is a kind of bubble that you may not have thought about before: generational bubbles. College students, perhaps more than any other demographic, live in a generational bubble, since to be a residential college student is to live entirely among one’s peer group. We share rooms with our peers. We eat with, attend class with, study with, and hang out with them. We are constantly around others our age. But isn’t that the point? It’s the “best” age group and a high concentration of the age group to boot. No wonder your college years are the “best” time of your life!

This is bubble thinking at its worst. College students are not self-sufficient unto their own age group. We need friendships with those from other generations, whether younger or older. In part, we need these relationships in order to counteract bubble life. Being friends with people who are younger or older helps us to get outside of ourselves and remember that non-college students have lives and worries too. Getting to know empty nesters, for instance, offers us insight into the lives of our own parents. Meeting the parents of young children makes us feel embarrassed about our own pretense to busyness and sleep-deprivation. Interacting with the children themselves is, usually, plain-old delightful.

Moreover, although we toss around phrases like “older and wiser” with carelessness, there is truth to the idea. We ought to treat experience with living as something of great value, and accordingly, we should seek out those from older generations. Furthermore, we ought to put the experience of these people to use by asking for advice, in mundane and deep matters both. In some cases, we will reject the advice upon reflection, but the practice of asking for advice is still a helpful one, since we practice not-knowing-it-all when we ask for advice. Additionally, when we find ourselves returning repeatedly to a particular person for advice, we form a mentoring relationship. Or, as I like to think of it, a well-established mentor relationship is a kind of apprenticeship, in which the skill being learned is how to live well.

Thankfully, Houghton students are well positioned to counteract the generational bubble. A happy side effect of attending a tiny college in the middle of nowhere is that we have an abundance of opportunities to meet and get to know people from other generations. Our professors are an obvious starting point, as are Houghton’s staff members.  Churches, bible studies, and small groups are another good place to look. But, regardless of how we counteract the bubble, this much is clear to me: there is more to life than being a college student. Interacting with other generations will help us remember this.