The figuring begins in the sheepfold, where Jim Rittenhouse ’84 feeds his flock of Hampshire sheep each morning. There are 48 of them at the moment, including the lambs that began arriving in February; by early March, 17 of his 22 ewes, or 77 percent of them, had lambed – a proportion directly in line with his flock management goals. Ideally, these lambs will gain one pound of weight for every pound of feed they eat. Each ewe gets 1.5 pounds of feed per day. When lambing season gives way to shearing season sometime in April, he’ll hope to have realized an overall birthrate of 1.8 lambs per ewe, the optimal figure for the Hampshire breed.

At the gym there are more numbers to contend with. Rittenhouse spends 30 minutes on the treadmill with the incline set to 3, during which he hopes to cover 3 miles while burning through 600 calories.

Rittenhouse drives a hybrid Camry to Detweiler Hershey & Associates, P.C., an accounting firm in Souderton, Pennsylvania, where he’s worked since 1984 and been a partner since 1994. If he gets 37 mpg on the commute, he’ll feel good about it. He unlocks the door, hits the lights, checks his email to see what sorts of accounting emergencies have flared up overnight, and gets on with the day-to-day work of accounting, which “is about as dry as the Oakwood 3rd dormitory floor after a water battle.”

During lamb season, he spends his lunch break back on the farm to check up on the animals. The Rittenhouses have been on this farm in Montgomery County since 1852; Jim represents the seventh Rittenhouse generation working the place; his parents remain active there and help tend the sheep.

Lamb season coincides with tax season, a 115-day physical and emotional marathon. Crossroads’ visit to the Rittenhouse farm came on day 50, approaching the halfway mark (technically, about 43.5 percent of the way through). Under normal circumstances, keeping track of the days allows him to gauge progress on the tax returns due by April 15. Under current circumstances, with IRS approval of various tax forms delayed by last year’s fiscal cliff situation, there are some considerable uncertainties at work that complicate trying to figure out how things stand with regard to approaching deadlines.

Lamb and tax seasons are preceded by basketball season, which Rittenhouse spends as coach for the middle school girls’ team at Pennview Christian School. The numbers implicated here “can be less confusing than those required by the Securities Exchange Commission” but are still important. He runs the 2-3 zone defense, and wants his girls to shoot at least 50 percent from the free-throw line, and emphasizes the old-school fundamentals that were a big deal during his ’81-’84 career with the EMU Royals. He specialized in aggressive defense, and during his senior year, according to the record books, averaged 5.3 points and 4.6 rebounds per game while making 52 percent of his free-throws.

The Rittenhouse family has a streak going at EMU: Jim and Kendra Good ’85 Rittenhouse, plus their sons Steven ’11, Joel ’12 and Justin ’12 (all born within 15 months of one another, making for some interesting parental math). Emily is in the ninth grade and intends to make it a perfect 6-for-6 at EMU.

Numbers, numbers everywhere – the easy, black-and-white part of accounting. The people are the real challenge, and here, figures go out the window. Money can do strange things to us. Arguments crop up. Old resentments come roaring back when families sit down to divvy up their inheritances. Sometimes the very richest find themselves in intractable conflicts over trifling things, camels stuck at the eye of the needle.

Rittenhouse finds himself playing the role of the mediator sometimes, helping clients explore the feelings that have led to conflicts, helping them figure out what they want, and why. The minor he earned at EMU has been every bit as valuable as the degree, and even better was the way his mind widened and opened at EMU. — Andrew Jenner ’04

“He was visibly frustrated with his math homework. We worked with it together, and I helped him see he misunderstood just a small part of the assignment,” says Rittenhouse.

“Once he understood and felt much better, I encouraged him to go a little further by asking him if he wanted to create his own octagonal pyramid. He agreed, and we had a great time simply using some paper, a compass, and a ruler to create a completely hand-made octagonal pyramid that he could take home to show his parents.”

The boy’s pride in his work “secured for me the excitement I have for helping young minds succeed and have self-confidence,” adds Rittenhouse, now a math teacher at THMS.

Rittenhouse’s success has benefited from two characteristics of EMU’s .

One involves sending future teachers into classrooms early. When he arrived at EMU in 2007 from Franconia, Pa., with no major selected, an advisor suggested he enroll in the “Exploring Teaching” course. It put Rittenhouse into a classroom during his first semester of college, allowing him to discover a vocation he loved.

Another characteristic is “reflective practice,” which Rittenhouse notes is woven into all the education classes at EMU.

“In my own classroom I am constantly reflecting on what just happened yesterday, the last class period, and even the last five minutes. Reflective practice allows me to be receptive to new ways of teaching and new ways of working with ever-changing middle school students.”

Education professor ’88, whose influence Rittenhouse singles out, says that Steven proved to be “the type of teacher that EMU hopes to nurture and shape.”

Rittenhouse is equally complimentary of Leaman. Through role playing, she “empowered us as future teachers to experiment and practice in class.”

Leaman explains that role play, which she implemented for the “Needs of Diverse Learners” course, requires not only writing a lesson plan, but acting out the lesson with peers in each possible role. It allows a professor to “press the ‘pause’ button at a teachable moment to dissect what just happened, not only from an academic perspective, but from a relational perspective,” she says.

“Believe it or not, college students are not only up for the ‘risk’; they embrace it. Throughout the semester, as students rotate through the roles of teacher, general education student, student with a disability, and peer teacher, they make it a goal to reach all students, not just teach a subject.”

Leaman remembers watching Rittenhouse become “one of our exemplary reflective practitioners.”

He planned to teach high school until his third year at EMU, when a course in middle-school teaching “showed me a different side to middle school than my own experience,” with realization that was “where I should be.”

Hired at THMS following his 2011 graduation, he meets five groups of students daily for classes in Math 7, pre-algebra (which combines content for grades 7 and 8), and “math support” (for students needing extra help).

“My students come from many different backgrounds and family styles,” says Rittenhouse. “I have to think about differentiating a lesson” to meet their diverse needs, but the diversity is also “a blessing” because “I can learn many things from my students, and they can learn from me and each other.”

Rittenhouse, who has lived in Harrisonburg since entering EMU, also enjoys baking, photography, electronics, learning new languages, fish-keeping, time with friends, and family visits.

Nineteen EMU students who spent three months studying and traveling in Spain and Morocco, led by Dr. Moira Rogers, professor of Spanish in the language and literature department, shared their experiences through personal journal reflections, skits, music and a slide show. Listen to the podcast!

The group spent their first month living with host families in Cadiz, Spain, in intense Spanish language study and exposure to the country’s history and culture. After some time in Tangier, North Africa, and some free time for travel, students spent five weeks in Fez, Morocco. Read the program description for this cross-cultural.

Some group members were already well-versed in Spanish, while others hardly knew a word, making it difficult to communicate with host families and understanding concepts in the intense, daily language study. “It was especially difficult to say goodbye to our host families when we were just starting to improve our communication skills,” said Nicole Yoder, a junior social work major from Harrisonburg.

In a skit during their chapel program, students use their “siesta” as an opportunity to talk themselves into postponing work on an assignment. Photo by Jon Styer

“Experiencing a sense of community across cultures with host families” proved the highlight of the program for many group members.

Students shared journal entries describing the amazing sights and sounds of the cities and towns they lived in and did a humorous skit on the aggressive, yet friendly street merchants who kept offering them “really good prices” on merchandise.

“Especially in Morocco we had to go everywhere in pairs for the entire time,” said Sarah Harder, a junior communication major from Mountain Lake, Minn. “I’ll never take my independence for granted again.”

The group shared the travails of “learning to “squat” in various locales when nature called and finding no toilet paper available.

EMU junior theater major Sarah Gant tries to explain to her fellow cross-cultural group members that certain Spanish words can mean the same thing. Photo by Jon Styer

“Our host families would constantly give us more food than we could possibly eat,” said Jasmine Brubaker, a junior social work major from Lancaster, Pa. ” I won’t forget the many times and places we sipped tea and ate sweets” (in Morocco). Even complete strangers made us feel welcome.”

The students left Morocco and returned to Spain for more intensive study and field trips that reinforced what they learned in classes.

This time, the group all lived under one roof, which, Steven Rittenhouse noted, “helps you really get to know others intimately and despite our differing personalities we felt a strong unity as a group.” Rittenhouse is a sophomore mathematics and secondary education major from Green Lane, Pa.

“The opportunities for interfaith dialog between Christians and Muslims” stood out for Abigail Spurrier, a junior culture, religion and mission and Spanish major from Pennsylvania Furnace, Pa. “God’s love really came through despite differing beliefs.”