Latin

The oldest of six children, I was homeschooled by my loving, incredibly hard-working parents. The education I received instilled in me a passion for reading — growing up, I was one of the few people I knew who actually liked Charles Dickens. In eighth grade, my mom made me audition for a children’s musical production of Annie. I got hooked, performing and working backstage all through high school and eventually producing and directing my own shows with a friend. Since coming to college, I have become heavily involved in the student newspaper, the Collegian. Here at Hillsdale, I am challenged and blessed every day by my professors, my friends, and, most importantly, my Lord.

Hillsdale had been vaguely on my radar for several years, but a prospective student weekend in the spring of my senior year really sold me. These people were excited about the liberal arts, they were in love with knowledge and wisdom, and they believed that truth and beauty and goodness existed — not just as subjective fantasies in the mind of each person, but really existed.

The community. This place is all about iron sharpening iron. You show up on campus as a freshman and realize, “Wow, everyone here is smarter and more mature than me.” So you grow – you’re forced to, and everyone around you lifts you up and encourages you. It’s hard and sometimes painful, but in the end, it’s amazing.

I would like to be a journalist. I want to travel. I hope to be a good man, husband, and father.

Talking to Dr. Whalen for 45 minutes late on a Friday afternoon about a paper; 3:00 a.m. breakfast at the local truck-stop diner with friends; hearing my name called across the quad because everyone knows everyone here; late nights in the newspaper office fueled by coffee, loud music, jokes, and the occasional smack with a broken plastic baseball bat; walking through the graveyard at night and looking at the stars; and praying with my closest friends.

When I think about my professors here, what comes to mind is not so much one story but all the times that I have sat in their offices talking, sometimes about what we were studying, but sometimes just about life. They care about their students, not just as bodies in a classroom, but as real people.

I am honestly not sure that any class I take here will make a bigger impression on me than Western Heritage first semester and Rhetoric and the Great Books II second semester freshman year. There were so many days when I didn’t want class to end because the professors and the material were both so fascinating. Not that it was easy; beliefs I had taken for granted were challenged for the first time and continue to be challenged. The longer I’m here, the more I realize the superficiality of my knowledge. It has all been incredibly rewarding, and I have learned to rejoice in the pursuit of truth and love even more what little I do know.

ptimmis@hillsdale.edu