Tag: university

Categories
Stories In Focus

Impacts of AI on the Job Market

Industries exposed to AI graph - Courtesy of Goldman Sachs
By Christian Welker ('24)

“I am interviewing you, ChatGPT … about the effects of Artificial Intelligence on education and the future job market.”

“Certainly!” ChatGPT responded, “I’m happy to discuss the effects of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on education and the future job market. Reporter: How do you see AI impacting education? ChatGPT: AI has the potential to…”

Watching ChatGPT write and conduct an interview with itself left me with mixed emotions. On the one hand, it was ridiculous for the AI to believe that was what I wanted, but at the same time, it developed a line of questions in seconds that was scarily close to what I had just spent ten minutes thinking of before beginning the interview.

Interviewing an AI seems like something out of a science fiction movie, but with the Challenger Economics May 2023 report stating over 3,900 jobs were cut due to Artificial Intelligence in one month alone and Goldman Sachs estimating 300 million potential job cuts by 2030, it’s obvious many industries are taking this new tech and running with it. This trend of increasing use of AI threatens not only the current members of the workforce but also college students looking to join it after graduation. As college students are looking at a shifting job market, the question turns to how higher education should respond to the AI boom?

One area where AI affects the job market is journalism and media. Jonan Pilet, a writer for foodsafetynews.com, has been watching how Artificial Intelligence continues to change the journalism scene.

“The issue, I think, is that AI is … impacting the number of jobs because it’s taking a lot of what I would say is like the grunt work, the lower work,” Pilet said, “these are the kinds of stuff that AI can do really well because it’s like filling in a form.”

The journalism market has struggled with profitability over the past few years, with dozens of outlets laying off large percentages of their staff in attempts to reduce expenses and streamline their businesses. With the rise of Artificial Intelligence, these outlets are given the opportunity to further reduce expenses and make production more efficient by replacing workers with AI and further streamlining processes with the integration of AI tools.

“What might have taken three of us several hours to do, now one person could do in 30 minutes,” Pilet stated.

Rachel Wright, who works for Houghton University’s Office of Vocation and Calling, added, “There’s certainly going to be some things that can be done in a more automated way … that’s where I think it’s important to, for somebody who’s applying for jobs … to be able to very clearly articulate the value that they bring [to a job].”

In a shifting job market, staying up to date with the latest technology is essential. Artificial Intelligence is developing rapidly, with little sign of slowing down. How focused should colleges and universities be on integrating AI into the classroom?

Houghton Professor David Huth believes that higher education needs to do more to prepare students.

“I wish that every college and university professor could take … say, three semesters off and enroll at their institution in the world of AI so that they can actually understand what is actually happening.” Huth stated that “If I wanted to get educated in the age of AI, now, what would I be doing?”

Similarly, Pilet states that students need to learn how to use AI tools to become more efficient in the classroom and in future jobs.

“Transcribing used to take hours,” Pilet stated. “But [now] there’s transcribing tools that will save you a ton of time because it’ll do it in minutes.”

Pilet believes that in the future, the deciding factor between employees will be those who know how to use the tools to make their work faster and more efficient versus those who don’t.

“You have to use it because you have to keep up. It almost has become a nonnegotiable,” Pilet stated.

In Pilet’s opinion, it’s important for college classes to teach students how to use Artificial Intelligence and how people in their desired fields utilize AI tools. Otherwise, students risk falling behind and losing job opportunities to younger workers with more experience with the tools. However, it’s also essential that students learn the basics before they learn the tools.

“We have to avoid having the tool get in the way of learning the basics,” Pilet emphasized. “That’s the fear … if you’ve never written anything, how do you know that the AI is spitting it out well?”

Pilet ultimately stated that higher education should integrate AI into classrooms and teach students how to use the tools alongside their knowledge of the craft.

On the other hand, Huth believes that Artificial Intelligence will change the world as the internet did with its introduction. He sees learning how to use the tools as a temporary solution. In his view, colleges need to prepare for what might come next because if they are not prepared, AI could replace higher education in its entirety.

AI is rapidly advancing, and there are few signs of slowing down. As mentioned above, it is already affecting the job market and causing mass layoffs. Huth and Pilet believe that college students must be prepared to integrate AI into their workflow to remain competitive in an increasingly AI-focused world.

For what it’s worth, ChatGPT seems to agree. When asked how people should consider AI in the job market, the AI stated: “The dynamic nature of technology and the job market underscores the importance of lifelong learning. College graduates should be prepared to adapt and upskill throughout their careers to stay relevant in a changing landscape.”

As Artificial Intelligence continues to evolve and change the world around it, students entering the workforce need to be at least aware of the tools their potential jobs are using and how to utilize them to stay competitive. ★

Categories
Columns

The Green Mile (1999)

Written By: Caleb Tiedemann (’25)

“I’m tired, boss. Tired of bein’ on the road, lonely as a sparrow in the rain. Tired of not ever having me a buddy to be with, or tell me where we’s coming from or going to, or why. Mostly I’m tired of people being ugly to each other. I’m tired of all the pain I feel and hear in the world everyday. There’s too much of it.” – John Coffey

The Green Mile is the tale of Paul Edgecombe’s experience as a prison guard on death row. When a gentle giant John Coffey is sentenced to death, Paul and the other guards are confronted with Coffey’s mysterious healing power and do everything to stave off his execution. The Green Mile is one of those movies that leaves the viewer with so much to think about. It touches on themes of friendship, innocence, sadism, love, and guilt. Each character is so marvelously crafted to represent one of those themes throughout the movie. John Coffey represents innocence, Paul Edgecombe represents guilt, Brutal Howell represents friendship, Percy Wetmore represents sadism, and Eduard “Del” Delacroix represents love. All of these characters and all of these representations are wonderfully done with each actor giving their utmost in terms of performance. From a technical aspect, The Green Mile is in capable hands. Frank Darabont handles the camera with perfection, highlighting such visceral and raw emotional scenes. He manages to break brilliant performances from every actor. Percy is one of the vilest characters to ever exist in cinematic history and disgusts me in a way that can only be answered by throwing punches. I have to hand it to Doug Hutchinson for his performance because he gives one of the most despicable portrayals of a character. On the opposite side of the spectrum is John Coffey: a gentle giant with a very special gift. These characters are the foundation of what can be considered such a morally complex movie. Death Row is a hot topic in certain circles from the legal perspective and this movie does much to highlight the sadness and brutality of an organized death. The climactic ending is potent and seers itself into your heart and mind hitting every perfect emotional beat. The final walk on the Mile proves to be emotionally detrimental and morally convoluted. One of the themes that stuck out to me was the similarities between Christ’s crucifixion and Coffey’s death. Both were innocently convicted and killed men with special gifts of healing. Just some interesting food for thought. I cry over a lot of movies and this one was no exception. I do truly love film in a way that I can hardly explain until a movie, such as this, comes along and shows everything good about the movie-making industry. ★

Categories
Letter to the Editor Opinions

Letter To the Editor: Controversy?

To the Editors of the Star,

Last week, Hannah Smith wrote an excellent opinion about Metz, targeting students who claim that Metz is the sworn enemy of student satisfaction. And that has been the most controversial opinion in the Star this year. 

For contrast, find a copy of the Star from five or ten years ago and turn to the opinions. You’ll find thought-provoking responses to issues like immigration, carbon taxes, sexual education, the March for Life, the Republican primary, and Houghton’s handling of racism. Where are those issues in the Star today? 

We claim to be an institution that values hard conversations, yet we no longer represent those conversations in our student newspaper. Maybe those conversations happen privately; maybe we’re overly sensitive to others’ opinions; maybe we’re tragically apathetic. In any case, students do not engage with hard issues in a way that contributes to the common good. We cannot be the institution we claim to be when our public discourse is watered down by disengagement. 

We must be brave enough to use forums like the Star to broach those issues, learn from one another, and engage with the world beyond the Houghton Bubble. Surely, students have opinions that go deeper than the menu in the dining hall. I hope they will use the Star to share those opinions and contribute to our public discourse so we can be the institution we claim to be.

Cody Johnson ’24

Cody,

Thank you for your letter. The Opinions Section of the STAR has always been a place where students can freely express their thoughts in a public setting. While we cannot explain the shift away from controversial opinions over the last decade, we want to make it clear that we have never closed the door to these types of opinions. The STAR would love to publish articles on the topics you discussed if any student wished to work with us to publish them.

Our only requirement for Opinion pieces is that they do not unjustly attack an individual person or group. For example, “Christian is a terrible human being, and everyone should hate him” would not be accepted, but “I do not agree with Christian on X because he never considered Y” would be a perfectly valid response. As long as you are considerate of the other side, we are willing to publish your piece.

So, to the Students, Staff, and Faculty of Houghton, if you are willing to express your opinion on hot-button issues facing either Houghton or the world at large, we are willing to help you do exactly that. Please feel free to send either a Letter to the Editor or an Opinion Piece to either star@houghton.edu or Victoria.Arndt25@houghton.edu.

Thank you,

The STAR Editors★

Categories
Opinions

In Defense of Metz

By Hannah Smith

“Metz is terrible.”

We have all heard that one before. Metz has no options. Metz is nothing compared to home cooking. Metz is simply inedible.This comes up in conversations early in the morning, sometimes at lunch, and definitely at the dinner table. But I argue that there are more people in favor for Metz than we know. It’s too easy to get caught up in the rut of complaining and shortchange a good thing rather than appreciate what is there. 

According to a comment from senior Abigail Young, “It’s not a restaurant, but it’s not bad food.” If we really look at Metz with open eyes, we can see that the options are much more varied than the typical college fare. Bethany Smith from Eastern Nazarene has said that almost every night they have a fried food option: chicken tenders or pizza. There are no self-cook stations or fruit stations. The best that can be done is to go to the store yourself to get some strawberries.

Houghton has cooking stations, a sandwich bar, a fruit bar, a salad bar with dependable vegetables, and a pizza station. Pretty much any option for what you’re feeling or can make yourself. True, there’s not always a hit at the Main Plate section, and it may not be home cooking, but as Abigail previously said, it’s not bad.

Junior Brynn Dixon says part of her own attitude towards Metz is because “I think I get disappointed sometimes because I’m tired. We live in the middle of nowhere and I can’t just run out to Wendy’s and get my four piece chicken nugget meal.” It’s hard! Living in a space where the closest restaurant is the local Chinese restaurant and Dunkin Donuts is twenty minutes out is difficult! Especially when most of us come from areas much more urban than Houghton is.

I think wishful feelings about missing home cooking are felt by a large portion of Houghton students. Home is far away, along with the comfort of a homemade meal, and college food can feel subpar compared to it. But we don’t hate Metz. They do a fantastic job and we appreciate the effort they put into changing and addressing our needs. But there isn’t much they can really do to subdue this feeling of wishing from Houghton students. It is simply the way it is when living in such a rural space. And Three Bums Pizza is not exactly a great option to get away from dining hall food. 

Metz has done a lot to accommodate students in terms of changes to meals and food options. In past years we had limited access to fruit, but they heard our desire for fruit, and this year we have a fruit bar. There were a lot of complaints about Poblanos being all day-every day, and this year we have a weekly rotation on that station. They hired a professional dessert chef. There’s even an ‘Ask Us’ board up next to the coffee station. They make sure to respond promptly to comments students post and do the best they can to make the changes asked for. That’s a 10/10 in my book.

Metz will never be home cooking. It will never cater to our taste buds specifically. But they do their best with cooking for the university body. I think it’s important to remember to be grateful for the blessing of the people who work to make our lives easier. Metz is fun to complain about, but we should be careful not to convince ourselves that it really is terrible, because convincing ourselves that something is terrible is surprisingly easy. ★

Categories
Campus News

SPOT Returns!

SPOT 2024 Poster - Courtesy of CAB
By Joey Schunemann ('23)

In the Fall of 2021, SPOT was teetering on the edge. On a post-COVID campus that had grown weary of the campus wide spectacle even before the bi-annual variety show went remote, the chance of SPOT’s permanent cancellation was high. During the host auditions, AC Taylor told stories of previous acts gone awry and hosts who butted heads with the Campus Activities Board (CAB) at every turn. The list of auditionees to host a significant opportunity was low; one duo and one individual. The duo came in with a constrictive theme and a loose set of goals. The individual was Steve Harper. 

Harper, recent graduate with the Class of ‘22 had a vision of a renewed SPOT where the host was not awkward glue between the main event, but an act in and of itself with monologues, songs and games all driven by the charisma of a natural performer. In retrospect, Harper said that when he is an audience member, he wants to laugh more than once, like the host and feel that “when the show is over… to be surprised that two hours just passed.” Harper also said that hosting was not without its challenges, and that if he could have found a partner that would have fit his high expectations he would have rather not work alone. 

Harper said that he “had big plans that didn’t happen and [he] had to be OK with that because [he] was a solo host.” 

This was not the experience of this year’s SPOT 2024 hosts, Levi Webb (‘24) and Sam Carpenter (‘25).

Harper’s extremely high standards of excellence set the standard for spots to come, and the immediately following duo had big shoes to fill and an idea to make it happen. “Blockbuster movies, like the rental store not the concept” was what Luc Pereira (‘23) and Ansley Green (‘22) pitched to the same CAB staff as before, but with a new idea of what to be looking for. 

Pereira and Green brought the chemistry of a pre-existing friendship, not only key for stage dynamics but also the natural expectation for an event where hours of work are needed in preparation. Pereira and Green were on top of logistics and advertising in a way that showed the failings of a single host. While Harper poured all his effort into excellent skits and shaping the evening in a way that ensured highs and lows that would keep people on the edge of their seats, Pereira and Green could split up their manpower enough to start with the goal of getting people in the door. 

“I worked on silly skits and host dialogue while she took on a lot of the overarching logistical issues,” Pereira said. 

Recreations of old movie posters with photoshopped energetic hosts were plastered on walls all across campus. In addition to the advertising, SPOT band candidates were reached out to well in advance, and auditions ran smoothly. When the actual night came, the dual host power showed its merit, and cemented the formula that the last five shows have followed. They did not have to sacrifice quality for logistical mastery, they did not have to sacrifice as many great sketch ideas as Harper did. The night was tight, well planned, and well executed. 

This year so far has largely been a mystery. With a slew of duos auditioning with different plans, Webb and Carpenter had a theme that was creative, interesting and put lots of focus on live entertainment. This felt like an exciting change of pace, but was followed by a bit of radio silence. 

When auditions came, a kindly smiling Carpenter sat casually on the stage and gave encouragement to the groups there that “we believe that if you want to be in [SPOT], you can be in [SPOT], and we will just talk through what that might look like.” 

This was an inclusive change from the careful planning of Harper’s crafted narrative but one that could certainly yield more positive than negative. Without much more from them in terms of follow-up communications to the CAB team, there has been a sense of mysterious anticipation across campus. Will the show follow strongly in Harper’s footsteps of crafted skits with less of an emphasis on Pereira and Green’s advertisement skills? Have other commitments delayed planning for both impacting quality? Or are we on the verge of another revolution in the variety show on the ravines edge? The answer will be on stage Saturday, March 16 at 10 p.m. in the Wesley Chapel. ★

Categories
Stories In Focus

Feature: Jesse Sharpe

By Anna Catherman ('24)

Dr. Jesse Sharpe has had a fruitful year of teaching, researching, and speaking. Over the past few months, he spoke at conferences in Philadelphia, and Baton Rouge, La. 

“It’s been a particularly busy scholarly semester,” Sharpe noted. 

In early February, Sharpe had the opportunity to attend the John Donne Society convention. He spent a weekend with friends from across the world. The agenda includes both lectures and ample time to catch up. 

“Nobody sleeps for three days,” Sharpe claimed. 

This year’s trip was especially eventful as it overlapped with the Super Bowl and Mardi Gras. They held an impromptu party for the big game. Then the Louisiana State University campus lost power for five hours on Mardi Gras. While the lights were out, they all gathered in a hotel suite and talked until the issue was resolved.

The society recently finished a variorum of Donne’s work, a collection of every manuscript of every poem. It was a massive undertaking; there are more copies of Donne’s work than any other in the time period. 

Back in January, Sharpe presented on Donne’s Devotions at the Modern Language Association national convention in Philadelphia. And at the end of February, he spent his Spring Break in England conducting research.

In the classroom, Sharpe has been teaching two classes, Critical Evaluations of Literature and Contemporary World Literature, that he hasn’t taught since 2020. He also has two sections of Humanities 201.

In Contemporary World Literature, Sharpe tried something new: exclusively reading authors outside North America and Europe. This class’s conversations have been exceptional, and he really enjoys them. His favorite part of being a professor is “just being in a classroom and having discussions.” 

Sharpe’s home life has been busy as well. His sons are filling out a flurry of college applications, and he’s planning to spend the summer with them before they leave home. And the family cat, Nougat, has been doing her role in keeping life exciting.

Nougat recently got out of quarantine after eating a bat. The New York Department of Health ordered her isolation since her rabies vaccine had just expired. She ate the bat on a Sunday, and on Wednesday her next shot was scheduled.

She emerged from six months in the basement the same cat she was before. And Sharpe took her to get her rabies shot. 

“It’s nice to know there’s not rabies in the house,” Sharpe laughed, adding “[n]ow she can eat all the bats she wants.” ★

Categories
Columns

When you worry — Look to the Birds

Written by: Karl Schmidt

Luke 12:22-25 says, “Then Jesus said to his disciples; ‘therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the Ravens: they do not sow or reap, they have no storerooms or barns, yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life?’” We have many occasions in life to worry. What career path to take, who to be friends with, who to date, who to marry, etc., the list is never ending. Years ago, I had finished my bachelor’s degree and student teaching and was looking for a job. After a whole summer of interviews, I went back home to my parents’ house, with no job and a wife and baby. I had a great opportunity to worry. A month into the school year I was called for an interview, as a long-term sub, and finally got a job teaching history at Rushford Central School (Cuba-Rushford Central School) where I stayed for 30 years. I think all of us can look back at our lives and see how God sustained us and by doing so taught us not to worry.Besides my love for teaching, I’ve always had a love for birdwatching. I’ve been fascinated about the variety of ways birds find things to eat and what they eat: from a Belted Kingfisher or an Osprey diving from a great height into the lake to catch a fish, to Ruby Throated Hummingbirds drinking nectar from my bee balm flowers (they also eat a lot of spiders), or to Vultures that eat dead animals (they have special enzymes in their gut that can break down the most disgusting rotted meat that would probably kill us). Last summer I watched a little American Redstart, a bird in the Warbler family, like a miniature fighter pilot chase a moth, finally grabbing it with its beak and after struggling with it a little bit, swallowing it down. Once while out for a walk, I watched an enterprising Gray Catbird in front of a beehive picking off bees as they flew out. For those of you who visit Florida, you might know of the Anhinga, a bird that chases fish underwater and spears them with its beak; or the various species of herons that wait patiently to grab a fish in the shallows. Closer to home, while canoeing by a rocky island in the Adirondacks (Canada Island, Lake Lila), I watched a baby Spotted Sandpiper struggling with a dragonfly it had caught by the tail — perhaps the first meal of its life. Winter can be a particularly hard time for birds to find food. But again, God cares for His creation. Cedar Waxwings, Robins, Chickadees, and Bluebirds are sustained throughout the cold winter by eating berries left over from the Fall and the tops of Sumacs. We’ve all seen woodpeckers at suet feeders, but many times in the wild I have seen Downy Woodpeckers and Chickadees picking at the fat of a dead deer carcass. For one month in May thousands of songbirds flying north from Central America get to the shores of Lake Erie in Ohio and stop exhausted and hungry. But at that very time in early May, hundreds of thousands of Caddisflies hatch and provide the needed food for the birds to make it across the lake. The same scenario I’ve seen in birds that make it across Lake Erie at Point Pelee, a park in Ontario with a peninsula that stretches out into the lake, one of the first spots birds stop to find more to eat to replenish their supplies.Many of you may have witnessed God supplying birds with food in some way or another. The Creator of the universe has provided for His birds, sometimes specifically by how they were created, and sometimes by the impact of other parts of His creation like the Caddisfly hatch. God loves us so much, how much more will He provide for us.Karl Schmidt, Birdwatcher ☆

Categories
Opinions

Raising Up Christian Fathers

By President Wayne D. Lewis, Jr.

On my birthday, my father often reminds me that I was born the same night as Lionel, the fictional son of George and Louise Jefferson on the hit 1970s and 1980s sitcom, The Jefferson’s. I always thought that coincidence was amusing, particularly since I was such a fan of the show as a child. George Jefferson’s antics as a father, husband, neighbor, and businessman were comedic gold to me. In hindsight, George Jefferson was likely one of the first tv dads to in some way shape the way I saw fatherhood. He would not be the last.

The fictional Heathcliff Huxtable was the loving and affable father of the well-to-do Huxtable family in the 1980s and 1990s hit, The Cosby Show1. More than just Thursday night laughs, each episode provided sketches of loving and responsible fatherhood in an upper middle class African American family. I wanted to be a Cliff Huxtable kind of dad—a responsible provider and protector who loved and adored his family, and whose family loved and adored him back.

While these tv vignettes of fatherhood were without a doubt impactful on my evolving conceptualization of manhood and fatherhood, thankfully, I had much more to go on. My father was the most significant model of fatherhood in my formative years. Much more than what I could see in a tv episode, I was blessed to see and experience fatherhood daily. I had the added blessing of having grandfathers and uncles who also played prominent roles in modeling manhood and fatherhood for me.

Fatherhood certainly includes the moments sitcom episodes are built around, but truth be told, the questions and challenges that made for good Cosby Show episodes tend to be the easier part of fatherhood.  Much more than the advice I give when my daughter is working through a difficult situation or how I respond when she has broken something she shouldn’t have been touching, fatherhood is about the daily, really important but not exciting enough for tv things. Fatherhood is day-after-day, your kid knowing he can count on you to be there. Fatherhood is your kid knowing that even when she has made a big mistake and might have consequences to face, your love and affection is unfailing, and you will walk through it with her every step of the way.

Kids certainly want to travel to exciting places and be treated with surprises like toys and ice cream. But what ends up being much more important is being a consistent protector and provider, wiping tears, giving hugs, providing encouragement in the face of a disappointment or setback, and for Christian men, modeling Christian fatherhood. Whether a girl or a boy, children need to see Christian manhood modeled up close and personal. I understand that as my daughter watches me, she is getting a behind the scenes look at Christian manhood, and collecting data on marriage, fatherhood, friendships, and Christian living when no one else is watching. I know the way I live, the way I care for her and her mother, and the way I pray with and for them will be much more impactful on her life and her understanding of and relationship with men than any message I ever preach.

As Houghton’s president, I carry my passion for Christian manhood and fatherhood into my work. Personally, I strive to be one of the Christian men in our university community who models Christian fatherhood; not just the tv vignettes or fatherhood, but the behind the scenes, day-to-day, not-very-exciting stuff. At Houghton, we are blessed to have many men in our Houghton community who do just that, and who continually make themselves accessible to students to be dad-like figures while students are away from home.

I want Houghton to be known as a place that celebrates and takes the formation of Christian young men seriously. God formed us in His image, men and women, with purpose and intentionality. God’s purpose is for men and women, fathers and mothers, to complement each other, playing crucial and complementary roles in families and communities My prayer and intent is that Houghton will continue to play an important role in the spiritual, physical, mental, and emotional formation of young men who will boldly model Christian manhood and fearlessly love, provide, and protect as fathers and father figures in their homes and communities. ★

  1. Please note that I am referring to the fictional character, not the actor/comedian himself. ↩︎
Categories
Campus News

The 35th Annual Juried Student Show

35th Annual Juried Student Show poster - Courtesy of Linda Knapp
By Rebecca Dailey ('25)

The 35th Annual Juried Student Show Exhibition will open on March 8, 2024 in the Ortlip Gallery, housed in the Center for the Arts. The gallery reception opens at 6:30 p.m. and continues until 8:30 p.m.. Students of both art and non-art majors may participate in the exhibition, and have leeway in both the subject and art form of their works. However, they are limited to the number of works they can enter. The art featured in the exhibition will be a range of ceramics, sculptures, photos, drawings, and oil and watercolor paintings, among others. The exhibition judges will be accompanied by a guest juror, who decides the pieces that will appear in the show, as well as the pieces that will receive awards.

“The Student Juried Show provides a really neat opportunity for students to demonstrate their artistic abilities to their friends, family, and all of us in the Houghton Community,” Professor Linda Knapp, the Ortlip Gallery Director & University Art Collection Manager, stated. “My role as gallery director falls under the leadership of the Art Department. I work alongside our art faculty and help them to make the gallery function smoothly. It’s so much fun to see the different works that get submitted and then solve the puzzle of figuring out how to display them in a way that’s aesthetically and visually pleasing.” 

The Ortlip Gallery has previously featured works from professors of Houghton University and outside artists. 

“The Ortlip Gallery serves to further educate our art major students by exposing them to outside artists, as well allowing our students to have the hands-on experience of displaying their own work in a professional gallery,” Professor Knapp added.

Some of the students entered in the Juried Student Show are Savannah Stitt (‘24), Hannah Smith (‘24), Aubree Niles (‘24) and Aubrey Armes (‘25). 

This is the third year Stitt has displayed her work in the Gallery. She predominantly works with photography, but has submitted oil paintings in the past. 

“In my experience as an artist, I have come to realize two things. I am creative in ways I didn’t realize for a long time, and inspiration comes and goes in waves,” Stitt explained. “It’s important to grab hold of those ideas when they come because they’re not guaranteed to stay.”

Niles is also participating for the third year. Her main art form is oils, but she also works in watercolor, ceramics and photography. 

“Art has been a way for me to process difficult emotions and complex life events,” Niles stated. “My current body of work is especially evident of that. I focus the most on my use of color and brushstrokes to convey emotion.”

Professor Knapp would like to express her gratitude towards being able to open the Juried Student Show and playing a role in the Gallery’s exhibitions. “I love how the Gallery brings us all together into these sacred spaces and moments,” Professor Knapp said, “granting us pause to reflect on our lives and to understand each other better. It has been a real honor for me to be a part of such a successful Art Program here at Houghton, and I just want to send out a big thanks to all the students who have submitted their work for this upcoming show!” ★

Categories
Campus News

Hall Brawl 2024

Hall Brawl 2023 Photo
By Juliana Schmidt ('25)

Another year…another Hall Brawl! The week-long, Olympic-style friendly competition between Gillette, Lambein, Roth and the Townhouses will begin on March 11. There will be daily events for each hall to complete as well as Spirit Days. 

Monday, March 11 is the first day of Spirit Week and the theme is Pajama Day. Come out ready to support your hall in this fun and easy way to show some school spirit. Additionally, prizes will be offered to the first fifty winners of Monday’s first event called the Opening Ceremony Splosion. Look forward to tasting some yummy food on Wednesday for the Bake Off!

The Hunt takes place every day where each team will have to solve a clue, and the team who solves it first will win points for their team. 

“RA and CAB and other student leaders have been working really hard to put this event together. I worked on the Just Dance event happening on Thursday and it will be taking place in the CFA recital hall. It will be super fun!” Jenna Strahan (‘24) an Resident Assistant (RA) of Gillette shared. “Hall Brawl is a time for all of us to come together in the spring semester and compete against each other and have a bunch of fun!”

Alexa Binney (‘24) a member of the Campus Activities Board (CAB) said that although it is her first year involved in the planning process, it has been very cool to get a look at what goes into making the Hall Brawl 2024 happen. 

“All members of CAB and reslife teams get split into randomized teams, each gets assigned to one day of the week, and it’s been a fun experience getting to work with people outside my usual team,” Binney revealed. 

Unfortunately, the Townhouses have been going through a streak of bad luck with previous Hall Brawls and have not won in quite a while. To help prompt their residents into a more competitive spirit, Esther Tse (‘25) an RA of the Townhouses revealed a shocking surprise if they win. 

“I’m excited to see what Hall Brawl will look like,” Tse said, “and if the townhouses win Josh Bailey [Resident Director of the Townhouses] will shave his head.” 

The winner of Hall Brawl 2024 will be announced on Saturday, March 16, during SPOT! 

May the best hall win…and the odds be ever in your favor. ★