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Houghton Group Talks Business Development

For those unfamiliar with Houghton, a tour of the town would most likely take somewhere around thirty minutes, including stops such as the Houghton Inn, China Star, Subway, the post office, and the college campus among others. This small town persona has defined Houghton for some time.

Courtesy of houghton.edu
Courtesy of houghton.edu

However, with the new Kerr-Pegula Athletic Complex nearing completion, the college is expecting an influx of visitors coming to see events held there. With the arrival of large groups of people comes greater demand for food, housing, entertainment, etc. A question presents itself: can the small town of Houghton meet such demands?

Enter the Houghton Group, a committee currently comprised of twelve community members who are trying to prepare Houghton for the traffic it hopes to see when the Kerr-Pegula Complex is finished.

“We’re working off of the momentum provided by the Kerr-Pegula project… obviously, it’ll provide a big boost to our sports programs,” says Professor Kenneth Bates, chair of the business and economics department and one of the twelve members of the Houghton Group. “But it’s a wonderful facility in terms of providing venues and services to other people in the area. It will become the largest meeting place in the county. It’s going to be able to seat 6,000 people. We’re going to be able to host events here that we never have before.”

“Right now, there’s a couple places you can eat, a couple places you can stay,” says Ralph Kerr, another member of the Group, “But there isn’t anything else of any significance. So we asked ourselves, if we could dream a little bit, what would a new Houghton downtown look like? As we started taking about it, we put together a wish list, and we realized that we needed a group of people on this.”

What is on the wish list for a new and improved Rt. 19? Professor Bates did not give any names of the businesses being engaged, but he said that restaurants, retail shops, and an outfitters store are all on the radar. Also, improvements to the existing Leonard Park (next to Subway) as well as the creation of a whole new town park are being proposed, the latter complete with potential access to the Genesee River.

Phyllis Gaerte, Head of Community Relations for Houghton College and the chair of the Houghton Group, looks forward to the coming changes: “I believe with the hard work of this group, we are going to see a different and better Rt. 19 corridor running through the hamlet of Houghton in the very near future…. Most of all I am anxious to see what a positive impact this will have on Houghton College, our town, Allegany County and the Western New York region.”

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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.”

 

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Sports

Baseball Season Preview

Along with the rest of the spring sports, the baseball team’s pre-season training will be put to the test in two weeks. Their season will officially begin Friday, March 1 when the men play against St. John Fisher at a neutral site in New Jersey.

As last year was their opening season, the team struggled in the wins and losses column. There will be new starters at center field, second base, and right field due to graduating and injured players, but essentially the rest of the team is returning. With a year more of experience under their belts, the men have different goals for this season.

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

“I’ve seen tremendous improvement this year…Their camaraderie and brotherhood is just fantastic. I have coached baseball for 15 years and this is the most fun I’ve had coaching baseball,” said Coach Brian Reitnour. “I’m really pleased with the progress we’ve made and I just want to see them continue to strive for excellence in everything they do, not just baseball.”

“Goals, realistically, are definitely to do better than last year. We want to finish with a 500 record or greater,” said junior captain Ignacio Villalobos. “In preseason rankings we are last in our conference, so we want to prove that wrong. And at least be in the top four.”

“I want to make sure we aren’t going to be run over by teams, because we are good enough, we just have to finish, because that was a problem last year,” sophomore Michael Kerr said.

Not only has the team been practicing together for the past three weeks, but they have also been involved in service projects in the area. Last Friday night they volunteered at Houghton Wesleyan Church with the Valentine’s Dinner. They also help out with Little League in Fillmore.

Members of the team have highlighted the spiritual community they have built together. “Devotionals have helped us get closer knit as a team. Even the freshmen have been really involved, which has been really cool to see,” said Villalobos. “The guys [who] came back from last year have really found team chemistry from it; just focusing on the right thing: having the purpose of playing for Christ and the goal of being successful on the field.”

Kerr said, “We find joy in the hard work. Our team chemistry is better than it has ever been since we started the Bible study.”

“We are trying to be a team of grace and that is difficult within competitive athletics, because grace and competition in most people’s minds don’t mix. But I want to show them that they can; that it is not necessarily about reducing your opponent to an object, but allowing them to push you to become the best human being you can be,” said Reitnour. “It is about how can I make my brothers better, how can I be a witness, how can I use baseball as an act of worship?”

With all other athletic teams and intramurals sharing time in the gym, it is difficult for each team to get adequate training. The baseball team has made use of Burke Field when they can.
“Having the turf facility here is amazing,” said Reitnour. “Once we have the baseball field completed, that will be even better, because then we won’t have to compete with men’s and women’s lacrosse, or softball. But I’m pretty used to being in a gym at this time of year.”

The projection for the completion of the baseball field is sometime this summer, meaning the team will not be able to make use of it until preseason next fall. In the meantime, most of their home games will be played at Bolivar-Richford High School, a 45-minute drive south of Houghton. They will also have one game at Dwire Stadium in Batavia and play a four game series against Stevens Tech at St. Bonaventure.

“I know this year that will be tough with our games farther away, but I would really like this to be a place that people want to play because of the community,” said Reitnour. “I really hope we get some good support from the other teams and people [who] don’t even play on campus.”

 

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News

February Board of Trustees Meeting

The February meeting of Houghton College’s Board of Trustees took place last weekend, February 8-9, during which the key issues facing the college were addressed.

Courtesy of topchristiancolleges.com
Courtesy of topchristiancolleges.com

Among the subjects covered were the sale of the Willard J. Houghton foundation’s old property of Star Lake, the renovation of the Alumni House, a facilities audit, and most notably, the Kerr-Pegula project.

The Board also honored Professor Ron Oakerson, political science, for his work in Sierra Leone—recognizing his leadership of the Houghton partnership on the mango outdoors project there.

The finalized sale of Star Lake, previously owned by the Willard J. Houghton foundation, and formerly the site of Houghton’s now discontinued Adirondacks semester, was another topic approached. The property’s new owners have looked at the possibility of using the property for a Christian camp.

The sale of the property is, in a way, indicative of a larger move on the part of the foundation. The foundation was formed “to work with properties, and now the Willard J. Houghton foundation is moving away from community development toward building funds for endowment,” said President Mullen about the focus shift. “A lot of colleges have foundations that raise funds for the college, that have more flexibility in the kinds of gifts they can receive than a non-profit does…the focus is toward building the endowment for the college.”

An interesting effect of this old community development focus of the foundation is the fact many of the buildings along the Houghton main street, Route 19, are properties purchased at one time by the foundation.

Foundation focuses aside, the Board also addressed the renovations of the Alumni House, which will hopefully serve as “A place where people can connect with alumni and network,” President Mullen said.

The financial resources for the extensive renovations of the house are the not result of funds being extracted from students’ tuition, but instead from fund-raising specifically for the house, and in part, from undesignated estate gifts.

In addition, an audit of the Houghton College facilities is underway; Sodexo has been working with the chief business officer to develop a plan “[to help] us systematically plan for short-term and long-term care of our facilities,” Mullen explained. This way, when the facilities require repair and maintenance, the budget to take care of the facilities’ needs is already in place.

Courtesy of topchristiancolleges.com
Courtesy of topchristiancolleges.com

Perhaps the topic most interesting to students is the status of the Kerr-Pegula project.
“The board authorized the administration to seek contractor bids for the project, and to complete a funding plan that would include a fundraising component as well as financing component,”
Mullen said. “[This plan] will be presented on or around May 1st,” when further decisions about proceeding with the project will be made.