What’s up, everyone? I am Joe Covey, JoeCovey, Joseph Paul
Covington III, or whatever I was being called at the time. I will be acting as
a guest writer for this blog in an effort to provide my story of how life is
outside of Houghton. This is also an effort to keep in touch with a great group
of friends that I made at Houghton College.
Tribe was certainly a friend group I held near and dear to
my heart throughout my junior and senior (and super-senior semester) years of
college. I was brought into Tribe as an outsider by the one Chris Clark (who
was my dorm neighbor) and introduced to everyone. This was difficult because
before this, my ways of thinking and viewing the world were basically cemented
and unmoving. I grew up in (and moved back to) a small town in northeastern
Pennsylvania called Athens, where everyone has very conservative views and
isn’t accustomed to different cultures/religions/beliefs. At first I found it
difficult to fit in amongst this group but everyone around the dinner table
knew how to accept and love anyone that was brought to them. So, Tribe made me
more social and open-minded and I made some of the best friends a guy could ask
for.
Being accepted into this group meant I had to pass a
rigorous questionnaire filled with all sorts of extremely logical questions. I
also took a Tribal placement test, and I was given the role of Bard (I believe
by Jenny). I love music, writing poetry and merriment, and that title fit me
well. Also, during our City-State era, I was deemed Educator, due to being an
education major. I was thrilled to blend into another friend group at Houghton,
and I was truly blessed to have met Chrischrischris!, Jennyyyy, Anya!, Chadwick,
Jackieeeeeeee, May-UH (Maya), Gordo, K-Furmzzz (Katie), Laaaame (Lane), JosephChinn (Peace Be Upon Him), Erik teh
Bealz, and Natalie Gorff, as well as many other friends of Tribe. Yes, I misspelled almost everyone's name on purpose. I am thrilled
this blog will help me keep in touch with all of them.
Awesome photo of (almost) all of Tribe
...we're on a boat.
During Houghton, I was an Inclusive Childhood Education
(ICE) major, with a concentration in English Language Arts. I also ended up
having unexpected minors in psychology, writing and communication. I was also
involved with Houghton College Shakespeare Players (acted in 8 plays out of my
9 semesters at Houghton), Allegany County Outreach, Teachers of Today and
Tomorrow, Rothenbuhler Hall Leadership Council (Treasurer), and Salvation Army Student
Fellowship (SASF). Needless to say I was constantly busy, juggling all of my
coursework and steady jobs every semester.
During my first two years at Houghton, I was struggling
spiritually. My home church had gone through a massive split and I stopped
going home to visit on weekends. I did not want to be around any of the drama
back home so I decided to stay at Houghton. Everyone and everything I knew and
loved about my home had gone to shambles and I was angry at God for it. I still
stayed in the Word and listened to church services online, but I felt pretty
empty over all.
I hadn’t found a “college church” at all until I met Chris. One
Sunday he told me about his church denomination, the Salvation Army, which at
that point I thought was only a thrift shop and a food bank. I went one Sunday
and ended up loving it. After a few weeks, I joined the Praise Band and helped
out with a few other ministries. I was going on mission’s trips and having a
great time serving others and getting to know awesome people. SASF uplifted me
spiritually, and I even had the privilege of attending the mission’s trip to Pittsburgh
in March 2011 and in Ortley Beach, NJ in February/March of 2013 as an alumnus.
I gained more of a servant’s heart and attitude during my years with this
group, and I strive to complete acts of service in my daily life.
2010 Mission Trip to Philadelphia with SASF
NAPKIN ART WITH JENNY!
I have many favorite moments of Tribe, including mealtimes
(mainly dinners and expeditions to China Star), the Battle Royales/Brawls,
learning NOT to touch Jackie’s nose, making episodes of Wilson and Jeneen,
making “napkin art” with Jenny, celebrating my 21st, 22nd
and 23rd birthdays, moments on SASF trips (Jackie’n’Joey show, taking
NYC by storm, the Philly trip, constant laughter until 2 or 3 am, BAJA BLAST, etc.),
hugging Gordon, many trips to the Jube/DG (where we often dumpster dove), trips
to Charcoal Corral and the drive-in movies, MAYTERMS, agreeing that Natalie’s
people have, in fact, suffered enough, Chad’s hips never lying, stubbythumbs,
May-UH’s gray cake, creating my own personal FAILblogs, picking up stranded
Tribe members in the middle of the night halfway home from Buffalo (where Chris
showed me the ring he was going to use to propose to Jenny), driving the
“getaway car” when we decided to prank someone, making the long trip to see
Natalie get married and officially become a Gorff, swinging on the swings and
random dance parties with Katie, a few fourthmeal Taco Bell runs with Katie,
making videos for Erik’s classes (the Maya and Lane one was my favorite), many
good talks with JosephChinn (Peace Be Upon Him), dinners in the Tribe flat
(Jenny’s AWESOME chili), and SO much more that I could write down. I am sitting
here tearing up thinking about these amazing years of my life, and also hearing
echoes of Jackie and Maya calling me a pansy for getting all teary-eyed and
pinching/poking/punching/kicking me in the shins. Anywho…
After Houghton I went through many life changes. Since I was
a December graduate, I spent the next semester being a substitute teacher
searching for a full-time teaching job. I found one for the 2011-2012 school
year at a small, private Christian school in the county I lived. It was one of
the roughest experiences of my life being around supposed “Christian” people
who acted out and enjoyed causing stress in people’s lives. It was not what I
envisioned a Christian school to be, and I quickly learned that some
Christian schools ended up being worse than public schools. I ended up staying
there for two school years.
During my two years at this Christian school, I noticed
changes in myself emotionally. After completely falling apart during April/May
of 2013 (a few months after seeing the devastation in Ortley Beach, NJ—what
triggered it all), I had been given the label of having bipolar disorder. I had
seen patterns of it all throughout my adolescent years in high school and in
college as well, and I guess I had just been fighting it the whole time. I have
declined medication and I have found natural ways of handling these ups and
downs. I have turned to God more and have used music as my release. I have
taught myself to play piano and I have been playing every Sunday morning at my
home church leading others in worship. I have also turned to walking and
running and have been working on losing all the college weight (blah) to get
back down to where I was physically in high school. My friends and my family
have been supportive of me during this time and I have been working through the
tough times one step at a time.
I am currently working three jobs, from 8-5 every day with
weekends off. I am a reading teacher in the morning at my hometown school
district (a public school, where I am certainly called to be), a private
one-on-one tutor for a kid with high-functioning autism from 1-3 in the
afternoon and then I work at a daycare from 3-5 to round out my day. I am
involved in my church choir and worship teams and practice almost every evening
for these ministries. I am blessed with a lot of teaching and musical experience
and I hope this plays to my advantage in the coming years.
Since leaving Houghton, I have also received my M.Ed. in
Curriculum and Instruction: Elementary Reading from Grand Canyon University
online. I attended this program from June 2011 to November 2012. I finished with
high honors (a 4.0 GPA) and induction into Phi Lambda Theta Honors Society for
Educators. I am currently seeking a full-time teaching position and I am
willing to relocate to teach.
Other than rambling and reminiscing, I will most likely
contribute discussion on topics such as education and music to this blog. I
could also contribute editorial-like writings with some humorous anecdotes
thrown in here and there. I am looking forward to being a contributor to this
online community and keeping in touch with all members of Tribe!
Alas... the future of Tribe. Well, more than half of us...
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