French

I was born in Waterloo, Iowa, and, after a few years, my family moved to several different states before settling in Wisconsin, where I spent most of my childhood. I was home-schooled through the third grade, but then began attending a private school in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin, for fourth through sixth grade. At the age of 13, my family moved to Stevens Point, Wisconsin, where I began attending public school and did so for the rest of high school. I graduated as a valedictorian from the largest tenth through twelfth grade high school in Wisconsin, with a graduating class of 630 students. I have been on three international missions trips in the last five years, and I love traveling. I am also a certified scuba diver and I enjoy all water sports, especially water skiing and swimming. I have a love for logic and the law, and I hope to become an attorney after graduating from Hillsdale and attending a prestigious law school.

I chose Hillsdale for its small campus environment and the fact that it fits perfectly with my core values and beliefs. There are many like-minded intelligent people here, and I truly believe that being here will help foster and grow my beliefs as well as give me a better understanding of why I believe what I believe at the most basic and fundamental level.

I attended a scholarship competition at Hillsdale, and I loved how friendly the students were and I was amazed at the openness and kindness of all of the professors that I was able to meet. I met with the pre-law advisor, Dr. Schlueter, and that meeting strengthened my belief that Hillsdale is the place for me. He was well informed and helpful, and I was very interested to attend more classes led by professors like him.

After graduation I plan to attend law school and continue on as an attorney.

The most unique experience I have had at Hillsdale occurred at the very beginning of my freshman year. One of the clubs on campus put on an event in which two teams came together and built boats out of cardboard, plastic bags and duct tape. After working for a few hours on our fleet of ships, each team came to the pond in the Arboretum where we put our boats in the water and had a game of capture the flag. Both teams tried to get across to the other side in their boats and capture the other team's mascot. It was a lot of fun, and a truly unique experience. This semester, the most unique experience that I have had is my experience of joining a fraternity, Delta Tau Delta. Everything from the rush process to pick-up day was exciting, interesting and fun. Since joining the Delts, I have enjoyed many great activities, and I look forward to the unique opportunities that I will have with them in the future.

My favorite experience thus far with a professor is not a single specific instance, but rather a story of the way that a professor opened my mind to see things I hadn't before. In Dr. Jackson's Rhetoric and Great Books class, we discussed the book of Genesis from the Bible. During the discussion, Dr. Jackson presented ideas that I had never really thought about, nor had I ever even heard of. I had never heard of Genesis being interpreted in the way he was presenting it. Using stories, analogies and personal experiences, Dr. Jackson presented the ideas within the book in an understandable, clear and revolutionary (to me at least) way.

Hillsdale's core has given me a new appreciation for every aspect of education. Were it not for the core, I may have never taken a basic history course and I would have missed one of my favorite professors at Hillsdale, Dr. Gamble. Thanks to the core, I am currently in a wonderful philosophy class that has piqued my interest in a way that I could have never foreseen. The core has given me an appreciation for subjects that I may have never even taken at other schools.

cwestbrook@hillsdale.edu