Clarkson students have church all starry-eyed

POTSDAM — The First Presbyterian Church's star is rising again.

The 16-foot-wide lighted star once again made its trek up the church's steeple Tuesday, after it broke last year. A group of students from Clarkson University welded a star last month, so the quarter-century tradition could continue.

Last year, the rope holding the star to the top of the church steeple snapped, leaving it hanging at an angle over the churchyard.

"That had the star leaning at a very unsafe angle, as most of the community noticed," said Richard E. Partch, moderator of the deacons at the church. "It got over to a group of students. They had a look at it and they said, 'Well, we could fix this, but we'd really rather build you a new one.'"

Six members of Clarkson's bridge team took less than a week to design the new star and weld it together. In contrast to their usual project — designing a bridge in a national competition — the star was simple, according to the club's adviser.

"This was kind of like a filler project to keep the students interested," said Robert J. Davis, director of student engineering projects. "The biggest thing we had to do was convince Dr. Partch to let us use steel rather than aluminum. He was concerned about the weight."

The star shines every night from the beginning of Advent until the end of the Christmas season from about 4 to 11 p.m., according to Mr. Partch, who is also a chemistry professor at Clarkson. The new frame will be lit for the first time Sunday.

The star first was hung in 1972 after lightning struck and burned the church's steeple the year before. When the steeple was being rebuilt, a member suggested adding a hook so a star could be hung. The same aluminum frame with lights taped to it has been hung every year since.

When the star came down last year, because the top rope was not attached to it, it came crashing down the steeple's 150 feet to the ground, Mr. Partch said.

The steel frame the Clarkson students built should last at least as long as the old one; it has additional support in each of the five points of the star.

"It's a much more professional frame than we've ever had," Mr. Partch said. "It should do us in good stead for quite a while."