Latin

I grew up on a farm 17 miles from the nearest town in very rural Nebraska. My wonderful family of five instilled in me a love for my Creator and a keen desire to understand in His world. After homeschooling through grade school and junior high, I attended the small public high school in my area. I am thankful to have experienced both home and public education, having grown in different ways in each. My parents cultivated in me a delight for great literature and a passion for learning from the time that I was very small. Consequently, great books and engaging discussions are two of my absolute favorite things. At Hillsdale, I serve as a resident assistant at McIntyre dorm and as a student ambassador for the College. I volunteer with the Music in the Community GOAL program, and am a part of the Honors Program and the Classics honorary, Eta Sigma Phi.

Hillsdale's commitment to the classical liberal arts education and the Western tradition primarily attracted me to the College. Visiting the campus as a senior in high school, I quickly realized that Hillsdale's mission was not just something printed on brochures or displayed on a plaque. I was astonished at the genuine thirst for knowledge that I encountered among the students. They had not chosen Hillsdale simply for a degree, nor did they attend class as if it were a chore. They conversed about their studies over the dinner table; they dreamed about their prospective schedules for the following semester. Professors, as I saw, took interest in the lives of their students, mingling with them outside on the quad between classes, holding open office hours for discussion, or even joining a student team in a soccer tournament. In a word, Hillsdale was genuine: it meant its mission.

The people. It is difficult to live at Hillsdale and be lonely or friendless. The College attracts students of good minds and hearts, whose warmth and care lend campus an inviting and comfortable atmosphere. I can hardly walk from one building to another without meeting several cheerful greetings and at least one door opened for me. I never lock my door or worry about unattended belongings. Even those not close to me demonstrate an interest in my life. Students, in general, share a common set of values and expectations that enable this close-knit community. I can’t imagine it elsewhere.

I plan to attend graduate school for classics or theology.

Hillsdale has radically challenged me in my habits of heart and mind, always compelling me to strive toward something better. I have learned (and am still in the process of learning) how to think, so that I might know what to think. My friendships have sharpened me as iron, and I know will continue to do so long after I graduate. Involvement in various activities and Bible studies has refined me spiritually and socially. A signed certificate or resume could never express these experiences.

While studying the Civil War in my freshman American Heritage course, Dr. Birzer led us outside to the memorial dedicated to Union soldiers sent from Hillsdale's campus. Of all the colleges in the North, Hillsdale sent the greatest percentage of its students to serve. He spoke to us about our heritage as fellow students of these brave men, who risked their lives defending the principles on which our country was founded. Not even he, being a professor, could share in this legacy. We students left class, if not all in tears as I was, at least deeply moved, and inspired to live in such a way that deserved that heritage.

The Great Books and Heritage courses have fundamentally altered the way that I think about the world. I now realize that in order to be fully human, there are certain critical questions about virtue, truth, and the human soul that must be explored and their answers pursued. I expect that I will examine these questions for the rest of my life. The classes also have evoked a historical perspective for me. Coming to Hillsdale I knew very little history, and although I still have much to learn, I now have a basic appreciation for the string of ideas that fashioned our modern world. With such knowledge, I better understand my identity as an American and as an inheritor of the Western tradition.

kblock@hillsdale.edu