General Editor, ESPN the Magazine

I'm a General Editor at ESPN the Magazine in New York City. That includes a lot of fun stuff, such as editing, writing, assigning and just generally doing all kinds of things.

Prior to this, I was the editor of a regional sports publication out of Chicago, and contributed reporting to the New York Times, Seattle Times,
ESPN, and some others.

I quickly learned at Hillsdale that to distinguish yourself you have to be willing to draw your own conclusions. That said, they need to have some merit. This was more prevalent in my major, where an enjoyment of research and a debater’s mentality tend to mesh into something of an idealized approach as one learns rhetoric and the nuances of speech. Hillsdale also seems to relish and pass on some form of an underdog mentality. I think regardless of the level of success you gain post graduation, a dogged persistence and profound need to prove yourself and your ideas pervades. Perhaps I had some of that coming in, but such a mindset was reinforced.

Regardless of where a student decides to attend school, I would recommend that they choose the major they find most compelling (or tolerable) and go with it, regardless of their post-graduation plans. I see resumes all the time for applicants, and I care little what they got a degree in. College students have a job: to learn and to learn how to learn. I had an inclination that I’d be in the field I am, but that didn’t make me want to learn journalism ad nauseum in the classroom. Journalism is learned best in the field. Writers learn to write by writing and reading, failing once and again, and ultimately succeeding. Learn what you want to learn, and what you love to learn. You’re paying for it. You’d be surprised how little it will bear on your career.

I chose to attend because of the simplicity that Hillsdale maintains in the classroom, and the relationships that this can foster. Call it antiquated, but you learn through the debate of the ideas; but most of all, you learn to think on your own. Sitting in a room with 500 others, listening to a confused TA, afraid to raise your hand...how does this promote thinking if you forget 90 percent of what’s on the exam the next day anyway? Hillsdale is also a good place for students that have a good idea of who they are. Hillsdale taught me some things, but also reinforced some things I believed. I also played a sport the College has since dismissed—soccer—which was a big reason I attended.

Nothing adequately prepares you for life after graduation. Despite what people say, all colleges are a social incubator far more than they are an arena for professional development. That said, I learned the potency of ideas, and that to get anywhere, one must stick their neck out. I’ve taken professional risks because I’m an idealist, which is one part confidence (maybe some arrogance) and ten parts humility. Those traits were reinforced at Hillsdale. At a school so small, I felt I could be a part of anything, and even in the market I’m in now, I take the same initiative.

As I said, college is far more a social bubble than it is an academic one. Fortunately, at a school of this size, some of that social aptitude is gained with the people teaching you, which is a rarity on larger campuses. Most of all, however, you’ll take friendships from college, and my time playing soccer, getting into and staying out of trouble with friends and studying—I’ll remember well. Not all the knowledge retention lasts. The friendships often do.