FIRST-YEAR
HOUGHTON STUDENTS SERVE COMMUNITY
HOUGHTON, N.Y.
— On Saturday over 250 first-year students, leaders and mentors at Houghton
College spent the day serving alongside staff of various organizations
throughout Allegany and Wyoming counties as part of their First-Year
Introduction (FYI) course.
FYI is a program
designed to assist in a student’s transition to college life at Houghton.
“What better way to begin to understand what it means to be a scholar-servant
while simultaneously becoming acquainted with one's surroundings than to
participate in a local service experience,” said Director of New Student
Programs Nancy Murphy.
Students raked,
scarped, shoveled, scrubbed, sorted clothing, mopped and even built a
climbing wall while working at 20 locations including: Houghton Academy, The
Waters of Houghton Nursing Home, B.O.C.E.S. After-School Program at Houghton,
Fillmore Powerhouse, Fillmore Little League Fields, Fillmore Wesleyan Church,
Friends of WNY Riverways (Buffalo), Angelica Bible Church, ACCORD, Corp.
(Belmont), Belfast United Methodist Church, Encompass Care Center (Belfast),
Angel Action (Perry), Camp Asbury (Perry), Camp Cherith (Hunt), Wyoming
County Community Action (Rochester), St. Gerards Catholic Church (Buffalo),
Fountain Arts Center (Belmont), Firehall pavilion (Fillmore), Town Museum
(Hume), and The King Center (Buffalo).
The First-Year
Service Day was inspired by the successful legacy of Houghton’s spring
semester’s MLK Service Day which includes faculty, staff and students
campus-wide. Each spring more than a third of the college’s student body
volunteers throughout Allegany County, Buffalo and Rochester to aid
organizations in whatever way they can.
“One hope is that
the seeds of connections that were planted this past Saturday will grow into
future relationships that mutually benefit the community and the development
of our students,” continued Murphy.
Houghton College
provides an academically challenging, Christ-centered education in the
liberal arts and sciences to students from diverse traditions and economic
backgrounds and equips them to lead and labor as scholar-servants in a
changing world.
