Tag: Houghton

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Arts

Houghton Palooza

Spring came just in time for Houghton’s annual outdoor music extravaganza, the Houghton Palooza, taking place this Saturday April 27 on the quad at the townhouses. This year’s event will host a musical line-up featuring of a mixture of local musicians and Houghton students.

Courtesy of samecity.com
Courtesy of samecity.com

One of the bands performing this year is Samecity. Headed by Justin and Hannah Bowersox, Samecity is an alternative/folk rock group that will be playing the songs from their new EP that was released this week. Graduate Justin Bowersox, lead vocals, said that the band’s music “[addresses] the issues of brokenness and hopelessness and reconciling them with the hope found in Christ.”

Hannah Bowersox, senior, said that for Samecity, the Palooza is “an opportunity to play for friends…they can see what we devote our hearts to.”

Many involved with the event are hoping for and expecting a big turnout. For many of this year’s performers, the Palooza is an opportunity to showcase a year’s (or more) worth of hard work and practice. Senior Dan Larson, drums of Samecity, said, “it’s nice to see all our friend’s bands and what everybody’s put together.”

Sophomore Aaron Arber and his band “Crowning Achievement” will also be playing at this year’s Palooza, performing a selection of covers and some original songs ranging from pop punk to heavy rock in genre. This is the band’s first time playing at the festival, and Arber said, “We’re going to try our best to entertain, but we’re mainly playing to have a great time.”

In addition to the musical main event, there will be several different clubs making an appearance and hosting booths. For instance, junior Nathan Hatch said that Printed Matter Press will be offering screen-printing and that the Environmental Club will offer Henna tattoos. Senior Lanthorn Committee members Hannah Hanover and Megan Specksgoor will also be joining the festivities and hosting a face-painting booth.

Hanover said that, in addition to face-painting, the Lanthorn’s booth will feature some free books as well. Hanover added that she and her fellow editor, Specksgoor, “can’t wait to relax with other clubs on campus…and to have the opportunity to share [their] enthusiasm for student art with the campus.”

Hatch said that this year will be different thanks to the involvement of several different clubs, making this year’s Palooza “a better event for everyone.”

Accompanying the music and various activities hosted by each club’s booths, Hatch said that there would be “plenty of 3 Bums pizza, cotton candy, and smoothies.” Hatch also said that Silas and Sadie Miller will be selling lemonade to raise money for Silas’ well fund in Africa.

This year’s Houghton Palooza is sure to be a “rollicking good time in the sunshine and a great opportunity to socialize, relax, and listen to live music,” said Hanover.

Categories
Sports

Spring Sports Update

The end of another school year also marks the end of an athletic season and a collegiate career for the graduates. Although Houghton athletes were honored earlier this month for their accomplishments, some athletes are still working hard to finish their seasons.

“We are looking forward to getting into year two and continuing down this road with our involvement in Empire 8,” said Athletic Director Skip Lord. “We are excited about what is happening with the National Christian College group.”

The track team participated this past weekend at the Empire 8 Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Nazareth College. The women finished fourth and the men took seventh. Freshman Tim McGowan, sophomores Mary Strand, Marina Slavin, Cara Davenport, Andrea Melhorn, Danielle Lyndsley, Jordan Cady, and juniors Leah Williams and Alyssa Figueroa had notable performances.

At the Empire 8 Championships this weekend, men’s golf finished ninth out of nine teams. Junior John Carpenter led the team with the lowest score; however, it did not figure into the team’s overall score since he did not compete in the fall. Thus, sophomore Evan Castle’s score of 367 led the team.

Courtesy of facebook.com
Courtesy of facebook.com

Last week the women’s golf team beat Keuka at the Keuka College Spring Invitational on Wednesday. Sophomore Hannah Fink led the Highlanders with a score of 94. However, the team came in third at their home tournament last Saturday. Fink led the team again, shooting 109.

As a new program, women’s lacrosse has fought hard to earn their first win. The Highlanders defeated Hilbert 14-13. Junior Amanda Zacchigna had a career high of six goals and an assist, sophomore Tyler Reese contributed three goals and an assist, and sophomore Nicole Mason had two goals and an assist.

Men’s lacrosse has been struggling as well this season. Their top scorer, senior Tyler Kempney, has been out due to injuries. They conclude their season this weekend against Bryn Athyn. Unfortunately, neither lacrosse program can participate in postseason play through NCCAA because there are not enough teams.

“It is really hard to progress as a team made of a bunch of guys who have never played before, but considering we are a new program we have done really well,” said junior Shawn Schelble. “Everyone who is playing is there because they want to play. In practice everyone is intentional and deliberate in what they do.”

The baseball team continued their winning streak against Utica this past weekend. Sophomore Kevin Cassar earned Empire 8 pitcher of the week for striking out nine hitters and walking no one. The win was a team effort, with exemplary performances from seniors Kaiden Bowers, Jacob Bannerman, Ignacio Villalobos and sophomore Seth Cornell.

“Baseball is sort of ahead of the game [regarding the new programs]. They are winning some games and knocking some of the Empire 8 teams as a brand new program,” said Lord. “Softball, although they are still looking for their first win, tend to play competitively, usually struggling in one inning.”

Senior Megan Musser, junior Samantha Patoff and sophomores Sarah Beirne and Morgan York have all competed well on the softball field. It has been a challenge with both softball and baseball playing their home and away games on a different field.

“The fact that we are away so much, makes it so difficult to keep up with our tough academic loads,” said senior Cydney Blong. “It really tests our ability to stay focused every day.”

The softball and baseball fields should be completed by this July. There will be a special board meeting on May 3 regarding the progress of the field house. Potentially, they could break ground as early as this May, meaning the field house could be completed by next April.

More change will come as the transition to NCAA continues. Tennis will be added next fall, playing a full Empire 8 schedule. Coach Charlie Ellis has already been hired and is actively recruiting. As new players come in, seniors say goodbye to their collegiate careers at Houghton.

“I have learned a lot after four years as an athlete,” said Blong. “Coach Lewis helped me to develop my faith, Coach Dougherty taught me the importance of staying focused on the prize, and Coach Shepherd helped me to learn patience and perseverance in trying situations.”

 

Categories
News

2013 Summer Ministry Team Starts Training

Every summer Houghton sends out a ministry team composed of six students who serve at summer camps over a 10 week period. The program is run by Betsy Sanford, Church Relations office manager, who prepares the students on the ministry team by organizing training by a variety of Houghton staff. This summer the ministry team will be led by Andrew McGinnis and made up of Emily Bradley, Jody Crikelair, Janelle Conklin, William Strowe, and Ryan Ovell.

Courtesy of facebook.com
Courtesy of facebook.com

The students are trained during the first week of the program here on campus and then travel to different camps, usually staying about six days before travelling on to another camp. The team is comprised of students with strengths in different areas so that they can assist the staff at camps in many different ways.

“When we get to a camp, if they need anything from us, we are ready to go. I think that’s what sets us apart from all the other teams that we meet over the summer because some teams are just worship bands or just counselors, whereas the six of us, we’re ready to go. Whatever task you give us we are going to execute it and execute it very well.” said Zina Teague, a student who participated in the program for two summers.

This program provides the opportunity for Houghton students to connect with youth and to work in areas about which they are passionate.

“Being at camp, student are out of their comfort zone, away from their families, immersed in nature—really a unique opportunity to form relationships with campers,” said Sanford.

Hannah Prentice, a Houghton student who took part in the program said, “My favorite part of the summer was always the nights of cabin devotions with all my girls. We would just sit around and talk about life issues and relate that to my experience and my testimony and how God has used that in my life.”

Besides relating with students about their walk in life, the Houghton team also talks to the youth about higher education and Houghton College.

“It’s not even just telling them about Houghton, it’s telling them how to be prepared for college in general,” said Teague.

Overall the aim of the ministry team is to serve other people outside of the Houghton community.

“We come in ready to serve in whatever capacity the camp leaders want us to serve, and that’s how we’ll serve,” said Teague.

Categories
Sports

Golf Team Hosts Invitational

The women’s golf teams will be hosting the Empire 8 Invitational this Saturday. The tournament will take place on Houghton’s home course at Allegheny Hills Golf Course in Rushford. The women will be hosting both Nazareth College and Hobart and William Smith, both established programs.

“I am really excited because it is our first match on our home course,” said sophomore Hannah Fink, “So hopefully it will be a beautiful day to compete.”

This season the golf team had two tournaments cancelled in March. One was rescheduled for this coming weekend while the other was dropped. Overall, the team has five tournaments to compete in within two weeks.

“We practiced in the sleet and rain and 36 degrees on Saturday so this recent weather has been good, especially because we only have two weeks left,” said Coach Thomas Kettelkamp.

At the Westminster Invitational last week, Fink had a score of 98, ranking thirteenth out of forty-seven competitors. The other members of the travel team included freshman Breanna Smithley and Kourtnie Franklin, sophomore Taylor Button, and senior Andrea Ypma. The women returned to Keuka this Wednesday to defend their championship title earned at the Keuka Invitational last fall.

“Hannah has been very competitive, while the others are new at the game. It is their first year and I expect them to knock their scores down quite a bit,” said Kettelkamp. “So I would not be surprised if we did not win it again.”

The golf team rarely practices with each other because of the inherent individual nature of the sport. However, they still push each other to practice and do their best as only a certain number of members are able to travel and attend each tournament.

“Although practices are individualized for what you need to work with, like your swing, [golf] is very team oriented because we are always encouraging each other to meet our next goal and do well as a team,” said Fink. “Overall, we have really good team chemistry…and we have a lot of fun.”

Both the men’s and women’s teams have new additions this spring, including freshman Maggie Reynolds and sophomore Jordan Hobba for the women’s team and, for the men, junior John Carpenter and senior Michael Ball.

Courtesy of athletics.houghton.edu
Courtesy of athletics.houghton.edu

Thus far, the men’s team has performed in one tournament, hosted by Utica College. The top performances came from Ball, Carpenter, and sophomores Evan Castle and Nathan Sircy at this match. Castle led the team with a score of 92, ranking 31st of 52 golfers. The men are currently preparing for the Empire 8 tournament this weekend in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

“Our goal for this season is to keep on improving,” said Sircy. “We are playing better than last season and we hope to keep doing so in the future.”

“Last year, we were last place in every contest. This year, the men were seventh of [nine] … and the women were eighth of [nine], that’s progress,” said Kettelkamp. “We are not going to start at the top, but I do expect to move into the mix a bit. This fall we were not, this spring I think we will be.”

Categories
Sports

New Tennis Coach Selected

Next fall, yet another sport will be introduced to the athletic department at Houghton: tennis. Coach Charlie Ellis will lead both the men’s and women’s teams.

Courtesy of atheletics.houghton.edu
Courtesy of atheletics.houghton.edu

Ellis has over 30 years of experience within the tennis world. He began learning what he could at a young age until he joined the tennis program at the University of Georgia. Ellis was ranked eighth in college tennis and then went on to be first in the state of Georgia, earning a World ATP top-300 ranking. From there Ellis went on to coach and then settled into the field of club management, where he has stayed for over 20 years.

The nationwide search to find Houghton’s first tennis coach was extensive and competitive, in hopes of finding a near perfect fit to Houghton’s athletic program. Athletic Director, Harold Lord, said that Ellis was ideal for this position. Lord believes that Ellis will be a “quality member to the department, campus, and community”.

Up to this point Ellis has developed numerous tennis programs for all ages and skill levels ranging anywhere from toddlers to elite adult players. He also spent time as the general manager for Sportime Fitness in Schenectady, NY where he taught lessons to over 100 players. In addition, Ellis founded Fair Play Tennis, a company dedicated to helping young athletes create individual plans to enjoy and succeed at playing the game of tennis.

Ellis approaches this new opportunity with three principles in mind. He begins with the foundation of a faith based team with players who “show a godly respect for one another.” His next principle is that each athlete will have a particular group of people who will be devoted to promoting and maintaining his or her academics. Lastly, Ellis wants the team to “enjoy the journey of getting better at tennis.”

As Ellis looks forward to the upcoming season, he is eager to be working at a college level again. He said he wants to “get as many people involved and interested as possible in embracing the game of tennis.”

Lord said that the addition of tennis will hopefully create a different atmosphere on campus, spurring students to play recreationally. He said that, “tennis is an intercollegiate sport that will last a lifetime.”

As a result of the integration of NCAA tennis into the athletic program at Houghton, the first season will have an abbreviated schedule. The season is also split, with the women’s team beginning with their Empire 8 conference meets in the fall while the men’s team participates in non-conference events. The teams will then switch in the spring.

Each team will consist of approximately 12 to 15 individuals who will play both singles and doubles matches. The season will conclude in the spring with the NCAA National Championship.

Bethany Chesebro, freshman, began playing tennis sophomore year in high school. She chose Houghton knowing that there were plans to form a tennis team. Chesebro said she is excited “about being part of a team and being challenged at a more competitive level.”

Categories
Opinions

Ambiguity and Confusion in the Imitation of God

As a kid, my parents bravely took me on a trip to the geysers at Yellowstone National Park. This was daring because they were taking me out on a wooden walkway, surrounded by boiling water mixed with sulfur. I remember being terrified that the wooden structure would break, and my entire family would plummet to our boiling doom. I thought it much better to remain on the dry land, away from the scary wooden walkway, where nothing bad could possibly happen.

Courtesy of travel.nationalgeographic.com
Courtesy of travel.nationalgeographic.com

My mother would have none of this. She had dragged two squawling toddlers across the continent, and had no intention of remaining on the boring, dry land when she could be walking six inches above a boiling geyser. As I loudly denounced her, she dragged me by my skinny wrist out to the observation platform. Every time I tried to bolt, she would bring me back, until it finally dawned on me that the wooden walkway was not in fact going to plunge us into Nature’s cauldron.

As a senior in high school, I was pulled aside by a well-meaning, but very conservative, friend. He was afraid that “those professors” with their theories would undermine my pure, simple, uncritical faith. He was afraid I would wander off the walkway of faith, and boil to death in the sulfurous world of academics. Little did he know how correct he would prove to be.

At Houghton, I have learned to doubt. I have learned to doubt simple answers, quick replies and the reduction of life to the formulaic. There are very few parts of my pre-college life that I haven’t learned to doubt. Morality? Check. Faith? Check. Political affiliation? Check. Social views? Check. Star Wars vs. Star Trek? Check. The list goes on and on, until at last I realize that I have, at some point or another throughout my college years, held every single opinion on almost every issue Out There in the world. I have waffled between the isms like a sail in a crosswind.

I also doubt whether this is a bad thing.

There must be a space for ambiguity in this world. Back on that wooden walkway in Yellowstone, I was convinced we were about to topple into the geyser. My four year old brain knew nothing about structural integrity or about the fact that wood floats on water. I didn’t know that the government sent out inspectors to make sure that no one plunged to their doom in the geyser. The entire regulatory and building structure of modern society was almost entirely unknown to me. I hadn’t learned to trust the world.

Nor would I have learned about the trustworthiness of modern carpentry if I hadn’t eventually wandered out onto that wooden walkway. The only way to learn to trust is to nearly fall into boiling water. I could hardly have known, later in life, that airport terminal arms, skyscrapers, bridges, or the infamous road climbing into the Dalmatian hillside called “The Stairway to Heaven” were reliable if I hadn’t learned to trust that walkway.

Similarly, I could hardly learn to trust modern society and its multitude of intellectual, spiritual and moral developments without going through a period of complete bewilderment and ambiguity. As human beings, we can’t learn without experiencing confusion, and we can’t love without feeling pain. Houghton’s official religion, Christianity, contains this belief at its core.  God entered the particularity and confusion of human existence, and felt pain, in order that we might understand love.

Here’s to ambiguity and confusion in imitation of God. Here’s to inching out slowly, ever so slowly, onto the wooden walkway. Here’s to continuing to study and analyze and synthesize. May you never wander off the walkway, but please don’t remain back on the land looking anxious. If I try to bolt to the land, make sure I don’t succeed, and when you try to bolt I’ll drag you back to the observation deck. The confusion and the uncertainty is good, and ambiguity is actually healthy, for this is the only way to learn to love. May God protect us all from the denial of confusion, and the elimination of ambiguity.

 

Categories
News

Buffalo City Semester: Diversity Close to Home

While scrolling through the course offerings, one may easily skim over the bold print: “HOUGHTON COLLEGE CITY SEMESTER (Buffalo)”. In fact, many Houghton students are alien to the course.

Courtesy of city-data.com
Courtesy of city-data.com

One student replied to the question “Do you know what the Buffalo City Semester is?” with “I heard of it, but I don’t know exactly what you do.” Another student said, “It’s not advertised as well as it should be. I have no idea what it is.”

So what exactly is the City Semester? Located only an hour and a half away, students have the opportunity to live, learn, and explore the historical and culturally diverse city of Buffalo. While in Buffalo, students have the opportunity to engage in an academic environment where development, politics, sociology, and culture come to life. Experience becomes concrete, as professors take students across the West side of Buffalo, providing visual aids for students to stimulate ideas and connect the dots.

The city semester offers a environment drastically different than Houghton’s campus. Students can spend days roaming the streets of Buffalo, experiment with various cuisines, talk politics or philosophy over coffee, or share a home-cooked meal at the Houghton Rectory while listening to stories from Professor Massey.

City semester students also have the opportunity to intern as they take courses from professors Chuck Massey, education, and Cameron Airhart, history. Several students have taken advantage of this diverse option.

Internships are becoming more desirable in the 21st century as jobs become scarce. David Boyes, owner of a technology consultant firm, expresses his concern about students graduating today with a lack of experience as most of their time is spent behind a textbook. To combat this fad, Boyes emphasizes, “[do] an internship.”

Houghton Senior and alumni of the Buffalo City-Semester, Hannah Vardy, said, “The ability to do an internship was an amazing opportunity. Growing skills and learning about your field is a great way to begin looking towards your career or even to see if it’s not for you.” Many internships are available and include Wesley Service Corps, Jericho Road Ministries, Journey’s End, Habitat for Humanity, and numerous other local firms and institutions.

Though the city semester does not compare to the semester in Tanzania in traveling distance, it can be an equally influential experience. It is a way to connect a little place called Houghton with a big city that has its own identity. Embarking on a cultural excursion does not necessarily have to take students halfway across the world.

After being canceled this past spring, Houghton students and faculty are doing all that they can to restart the city-semester program. Professor Airhart is looking for interest in the fall 2013, as well as spring 2014. If interested, please email him at Cameron.Airhart@houghton.edu.

Categories
Arts

Student Juried Exhibition

Courtesy of Andrea Pacheco
Courtesy of Andrea Pacheco

Saturday, March 16 was the opening reception of the Student Juried Exhibition, a collection of artwork submitted by Houghton students and selected by visiting artist Kevin Shook.  Shook is an Associate Professor of Art & Art History at Birmingham-Southern College, and specializes in printmaking and digital media.  In addition to selecting which of the submitted artworks would be displayed in the show, Shook also chose at least ten pieces to be awarded with between $25 and $200.  Additional awards were given by President Mullen, the First Gentleman, and various art faculty members.

Each student was allowed to submit up to five works, and many took full advantage.  In the days preceding the show, canvases and prints could be seen through the windows of the gallery piled against walls and pedestals, awaiting Shook’s judgment and the skilled hands of Gallery Director Renee Roberts and her assistants to arrange the show.  Submission was not limited to art majors; any students on campus interested in art could submit their pieces.  The tremendous response from students, as well as the open submission policy, resulted in a full, vibrant, and incredibly diverse show.

Unlike Ortlip Gallery exhibitions in the past, including previous Student Juried Exhibitions, this year’s show possesses very few common threads throughout the pieces.  The color schemes are varied and disconnected.  The mediums range from woodworking and ceramics to painting and drawing, and from book-making and textile art to printmaking and graphic design.  And the pieces vary in size; they are sketch-pad sized and teapot-sized, they are teeny tiny and they are monumental.  So perhaps it is fitting that the central focus of the room—the movable wall containing the title of the show—is painted in flashy fuchsia, a color not found in any other piece in the room.  And that hanging upon that wall is a lovely abstract oil painting by Lindsay Burgher, which is made up of greens, yellows, blues, pinks, and oranges—representing in one work the splashes of color seen in different works throughout the room.

The medley of submissions is also accurately represented by the array of awards presented.  The Presidential Purchase Award and the First Gentleman’s Purchase Award went to pieces of two different media, Katelyn Kloos’ woodblock print Misty Morning in County Cork and Megan Loghry’s ceramics piece Great Balls of Fire, respectively.  The Moss Award for 3rd Place went to a colorful oil painting entitled Bad Company by Kelly Ormsby.  Rebecca Dygert’s sweet and wistful litho The

First Dance took home the Alumni Award for 2nd Place.  Art Gallery, the witty watercolor by Megan Tennant, received the Paul Maxwell Memorial Award for 1st Place.  And the Ortlip Award for Best in Show was presented to Alexandra Hood’s beautiful and elegiac litho, In Time.  Several other awards were given, representing a small percentage of the assortment of submissions from package design all the way to photography.

The Student Juried Exhibition will be on display in the Ortlip Gallery until April 18.  All students are encouraged to take the time to swing by and check it out.  Find out which other submissions won awards, take in the beauty of all the pieces of art, and appreciate the talent and hard work of fellow Houghton students.

 

Categories
News

Houghton Fire Hall’s Lack of Funding Leads to Ambulance Fees

The Houghton Volunteer Fire Department has recently begun charging a fee for ambulance rides to the hospital.

The fee comes as a result of decreasing financial support from the community and increasing cost burden on the department.

Courtesy of houghtonvfd.org
Courtesy of houghtonvfd.org

Over the past several years, the executive board of the department has been looking for ways to mitigate the costs involved with keeping an ambulance service up and running. The President and Ambulance Captain of the department, Mae Stadelmaier, said,“In order to provide the community with the proper standard of care, some form of billing needed to be implemented in order to cover the costs of the ambulance.” This is a move that reflects trends seen in other rural emergency service providers throughout the country. The board views this step as the only realistic and viable option to keep the ambulance service running in Houghton.

Beyond community donations, the department supports itself by holding fundraisers. These include a community yard sale, biannually, on Memorial and Labor Day weekends where the department charges $8 to vendors coming to sell their old things and hosts a community barbecue. It also holds an annual community dinner in the Houghton Wesleyan Church and sells Study Buddy Packs to Houghton students during finals week.

In spite of these fundraising efforts, there is still a deficit of income for the department. In the words of Captain Stadelmaier,“The costs of running an ambulance are a lot higher than many realize. The basic supplies needed to stock the ambulance are ridiculously expensive, not to mention the cost of the ambulance itself, as well as the maintenance, insurance, fuel, certifications, etc. The money we receive from donations and fundraisers has been decreasing over the years. We also don’t receive money from the tax payers for the ambulance as the ambulance is self-supported.”

The department worked to set the rates for the rides as low as they can be in order to lessen the impact on patients’ health insurances. The average price for a ride depends on the type of call and the level of care provided. Each ride to the hospital requires at least 3 volunteers, a driver and two EMTs, and 2 to 3 hours of work. Ultimately, the fee charged to the patient would include the costs of gas, medical equipment, and various other costs the department deals with, such as vehicle maintenance, which amounts to at least a few hundred dollars.

What complicates matters is that the cost of a ride to the hospital cannot be billed to an insurance company directly by the department. The bill that was formerly sent to the patient, from the medic, now gets included in the department’s bill. Then, the price that the patient pays is based on what their health insurance will cover.

There are also many costs that the department is preparing to pay for in the near future. “We need to be looking at replacing our ambulance in the next year or so, which is around $160,000 – $200,000, and with new state mandates will be getting a cardiac monitor, which can be up to $40,000. It is unlikely that donations and fundraisers alone will raise enough money to accomplish these tasks.”, says Captain Stadelmaier.

As the department faces such economic troubles, it is important to remember that it is part of a great community effort that goes beyond fees and bills. In the words of Kelsey Hancock, a Senior EMT volunteer, “We, the Houghton Volunteer Ambulance Service, are your classmates, your neighbors and your friends. We can’t do this alone; we need your support. We need more community members to join as EMTs to fill the gaps when students aren’t in Houghton. We need your participation in the fundraisers like the Spaghetti Dinner coming up on April 4th. And we need your encouragement and prayers. Our work can be tense, thankless and disheartening.”

Hancock concluded with gratitude toward the community of Houghton; she said “A simple word or note, or even praying when the siren sounds helps us to fight off exhaustion, discouragement and burn out. Thank you for caring about us and encouraging us. It makes a huge difference during our long hours of work.”

Categories
Sports

Athlete Profile: Mary Strand

Courtesy of athletics.houghton.edu
Courtesy of athletics.houghton.edu

Mary Strand was recently honored with the title of NCCAA Female Track and Field Athlete of the Week. Each week the NCCAA decides on one student athlete from a number of recognized schools to represent the accomplishments within that particular sport.  The recipient of the title exemplifies quality performances as well as Christian ideals.  

Strand set the new school record for the 200 meters, 4×200 meter relay, and qualified for NCCAA Nationals in the 400 meter during a competition at Brockport State Invitational.  At Nationals, held at Indiana Wesleyan University, Strand helped the relay team beat the school record again and placed individually with her best time of the season.   

Strand, a sophomore, has been participating in track and field since seventh grade.  Although she is mostly a sprinter, she has also trained in other areas and was even part of last year’s JV soccer team.  

While Strand is appreciative of this award, she said she will continue to stay focused.  Strand said that  while running, “you push yourself as far as you can go and then you push yourself further.”
Strand attributes her success to the support of her coach and team.  Her captain, Sarah Munkittrick, said there is a lot to learn from Strand, describing her as a hard worker and a perfectionist who still remains humble.  Munkittrick also said that Strand “not only pushes the team to work harder but also brings them together.”

Track and field coach, Matthew Dougherty, said those honored with the title of Athlete of the Week are great performers, tremendous athletes and talented individuals, with Mary Strand possessing all of these qualities.  Dougherty defined Strand as someone who has strong motivation paired with a ferocity most would not expect, allowing her to achieve anything she sets her mind to.  

Strand plans on practicing just as hard in order to continually get better and achieve more later on in meets both as an individual and as a team.  Dougherty said that Strand’s position on the team is “integral in terms of chemistry,” helping to inspire others through her talent and fun attitude.  

Strand is excited to begin the outdoor track and field season, having used these recent experiences as a preparation phase.  She expects to practice and compete with the same determination, progressively challenging herself.  Dougherty said that Strand’s disposition is one of a “driven and focused individual who is strong spiritually, academically, and athletically.”