First Presbyterian Church of Potsdam, New York

A community gathering in Christ and ministering as God leads

42 Elm Street, Potsdam, NY 13676 • phone (315) 265-9434 • email p1presch@twcny.rr.com

Who We Are

College

Announcements

Next College Dinner

The next college dinner will be held at Bob and Betty Fraser's house (49 Bird Street) in Canton on Sunday, January 22 at 5:30pm. A car pool will gather at the church at 5:00. (Please be there on time if you need a ride.) Call the Frasers (379-9397) or e-mail them frasers@northnet.org to let them know you are coming so they can set a place for you. Do your homework ahead of time, as Bob is challenging all attending to a ping pong game after dinner.

News about some of our graduates

We have some recent news from some former local college students who were very active here when they were in Potsdam. Corrine Ortmeyer was here for worship on Christmas Day. She’s a homeowner in Endicott, NY and writes software for flight simulators. She’s in the Bell Choir at her church and on the Session, too. The Hopkes saw Ben Winkler briefly at a Clarkson hockey tournament game in Burlington, VT on New Year’s Eve. He lives in the Albany area and continues to work, very happily, for GE. Amanda Miller is in Fairfax, VA and is enjoying her job with Exxon Mobil very much, too. She’s active in a church there and working with the Senior High Sunday School class.

Activities for you

There are many ways you can get involved in the church life at Potsdam Presbyterian:

Join us for worship on Sundays, be a reader or greeter
Participate in any of our small groups - such as Bible Study, Book Group, Movie Group
Enjoy the fellowship of other college students at Sunday dinners with some of our church families
Volunteer to cook, serve, and clean up at one of the Community Dinners at the Church. (Join last year's returning students to do this on Sept.21 )
Volunteer to work with the Youth Group
Sing in the choir, join the bell choir, or play in the our Potsdam Philhymnonic Orchestra
Share in any or all of our activities and service projects

College News - December, 2005

With December came the end of another semester for our college students. But before their exams and vacation, a group of them offered to be the Advent Candle Lighters for the third Sunday of Advent and did a fine job.

To encourage the students in their exams we put together goody bags, which were delivered to them via Campus Mail.

Welcome Back College Students!

We are glad to see you! New students, please consider joining our church family. We cordially invite you, and all our returning college students, to dine with us at one of our college dinners with church families. The first dinner of the school year was held at Pam and Jim Whittet's house on the river on Sunday, August 28th. There will be more dinners, so if you missed this one, keep an eye out for other ones coming up.

...on the river at the Whittets'

Dinners for College Students

About once a month, during the school year, the college students at our church get an invitation to dinner or to a get-together, usually at the house of one of the church families. Contact Martin and Amy Walker or Eleanor Hopke or any of the previous hosts (listed below the picture).

On the left, a photo of the gathering on Easter Sunday 2005 at the Kreuzer home, where the students got to try their hand at making "Pysanky" (Ukrainian style Easter eggs).

2004-2005 dinner hosts were: Helen Brouwer; Kathy, Jim and Kevin Allott; Linda, Victor, David and Daniel Caamano; Mary Ellen and Art Frackenpohl; Betty and Bob Fraser; Eleanor Hopke; Ruth, Jerry and Jon Kreuzer; JoAnne and Dick Partch; Gail and Roy Schaberg; Laura and Ray Toland; Amy, Martin and Margaret Walker; Pam and Jim Whittet; and Connie and Joe Zelinski. THANKS!!

Thank you College Students!

In addition to being readers and choir members and Youth Group advisers and participating in the Adult Sunday School class and going to dinners offered in September by Eleanor Hopke and Amy and Martin Walker, college students have been busy with Mission projects during the September.

students working at Star Lake project Students organized the September Community Dinner on September 15th. They helped with the shopping and cooking, the setting up, serving and cleaning up and did a first class job. Student Norm Marshall went to Star Lake on the Rural Rehab Work Day on the 24th, too. (More Star Lake pictures and the full story...)

We are very fortunate to have these students with us during their time at SUNY Potsdam and Clarkson. We still have room for more hosts for student dinners during this school year. If you’d be willing to do this, put your name on the list on the bulletin board in the Center or talk to Eleanor Hopke or Amy and Martin Walker.

Honoring Graduates

Our congregation has been blessed to have college students become a part of our Church Family while they studied at our Clarkson University and SUNY Potsdam. They have worshiped with us. They and Pastor Rich are our Youth Group leaders. They sing in our choir, play in our bell choir and in our Potsdam Philhymnonic Orchestra. They have been readers, greeters and have participated in our Bible studies. On Sunday, May 1st, the following local college graduates were recognized during the worship service:

Kelly Weitz -- B.S. in Chemical Engineering and B.S. in History from Clarkson. Kelly is also receiving dual degrees in very different disciplines. Rather than doing it in just four years, though, Kelly has taken time off to get some real world work experience and has done two separate "co-ops" while at Clarkson. She plans to earn her living as a Field Engineer at GE Energy, Nuclear Division. The first year will be a training program, which will send her "all over the place," and she won't know where her home base will be until that is completed. Fortunately, Kelly likes to travel. Kelly came to Clarkson from the Seattle, WA area, and admits to being rather surprised at how far it is from here to NYC. While here with us, Kelly was active with the choir and bell choir.

Amanda Miller -- B.S. in Chemical Engineering with a minor in Mathematics from Clarkson. She will be working as a Process Engineer for ExxonMobil at their engineering and research facility in Fairfax, VA. Amanda came to Clarkson from Gilette, WY; she has relatives in New England and was looking for a technical school in the area. During her time with us, Amanda has been a very active leader with the Youth Group.

Kristi Rugg -- B.A. in Mathematics and B.A. in Music from SUNY Potsdam. It has been hectic, but she has completed these very different majors in four years. Kristi plans to go to graduate school for a Master of Arts in Teaching to become a Math teacher. Kristi came to Potsdam from Williamsville, NY. Although Kristi was not part of the group, her home church sent a Rural Rehab Work Group, which stayed in our church one summer. During her time with us, Kristi was a Youth Advisory Delegate to the General Assembly from her home Presbytery of Western New York and active in our choir and church
orchestra, playing the bassoon.

Chandan Ganwani (Chan) -- B.S. in Supply Chain Management with a minor in International and Cross Cultural Perspectives from Clarkson. He will be working in marketing for Red Bull (the sports drink). Chan came to Potsdam from Warsaw, Poland, having both Polish and Indian passports. A guidance counselor at the American school he attended in Warsaw, an alumnus of Clarkson, suggested that he look into coming here. While in Potsdam with us, Chan has also been very active as a leader with the Youth Group.

(We honored our own Church Family graduates from colleges & universities near and far on Sunday, June 26th.)