Life in my native Texas taught me to value the beautiful things, such as God, family, Mavericks basketball, and good Tex-Mex. I am blessed with parents whose own examples have provided my most valuable education. Two of my other favorite people are my older sister and younger brother. My traditional education took place at private schools, where I enjoyed playing sports, analyzing junior high politics, and generally being a bookworm. After high school, I spent time working and taking classes at a local college before transferring to Hillsdale.

Researching colleges, I found (within a few broad categories) an assortment of essentially cookie-cutter institutions. Before strategically narrowing the pool based on weather conditions and nearby attractions, I discovered Hillsdale via a copy of Imprimis. I hoped to attend a small, out-of-state college. Hillsdale overqualified on both counts and demonstrated a refreshing lack of intellectual clutter. The College unapologetically promotes the values and ideas which have historically empowered our country to thrive. I also appreciated the beautiful campus and the variety of impressive speakers Hillsdale hosts on a regular basis.

I value the challenge and the community. Hillsdale could not espouse a more fitting motto than “virtus tentamine gaudet,” translated “strength rejoices in the challenge.” This does not imply that the College admits students of preternatural ability, ready and eager to face whatever academic punishment may come; rather, it presents an invitation to struggle and to rejoice in discovering that, with each new challenge, new courage rises to meet it. The college community ensures you do not struggle alone. On the whole, a natural camaraderie exists among the students as well as the faculty, and more significantly between the two. One who looks can always find others willing to share knowledge, conversation, or caffeine.

In the immediate future, I will be exploring opportunities in the political arena, ideally in an area where I can engage my interest in marketing. Beyond that, I will be looking for further opportunities to hone my writing skills. My plans ultimately depend upon God’s plans for me.

I’ve especially enjoyed the Michigan fall season, and with it Hillsdale’s charming county fair. Many unique opportunities have arisen from my interest in politics. With the College Republicans, I visited Mackinac Island to volunteer on a Senate campaign at the Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference. With Students for Life, I travelled to Washington, D.C., to participate in the annual March for Life. I also spent a semester studying in our nation’s capital through the Washington-Hillsdale Internship Program. As a full-time intern at The Heritage Foundation, I witnessed the inner workings of one of the largest conservative think tanks in the world. I also attended numerous lectures by friends of Heritage such as former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Sen. Marco Rubio, Rep. Paul Ryan, author Jonah Goldberg, and Hillsdale’s own Dr. Burt Folsom. We WHIP students continued our first-class education with classes at Hillsdale’s Kirby Center for Constitutional Studies in D.C. WHIP also integrates cultural experiences such as visiting George Washington’s beautiful home at Mount Vernon and the Gettysburg Battlefield. The D.C. atmosphere—so different from that of Hillsdale—provided unique opportunities to develop personally and professionally.

I’ve passed many happy class hours with Hillsdale’s remarkable faculty, but a personal favorite involves Mark Steyn, a visiting lecturer who spends his free time as a brilliant international bestselling author, syndicated columnist, recording artist, and human rights activist. This being a journalism seminar, we each submitted an article for a final grade. In our last session, Mr. Steyn announced we would discuss several of the pieces together and selected one from the stack, cheerily calling out a name alarmingly like my own. Reading aloud the designated portion (of seemingly Tolstoyan length, but in reality about four paragraphs), I anticipated the breathtaking wit, incisiveness, and sophistication this wordsmith would employ in deconstructing my scribbles. And then, he complimented my writing! Particularly at Hillsdale, such things don’t happen every day.

I found the core studies simultaneously humbling and empowering. Their panoramic view of the liberal arts reveals how much one has yet to learn; however, it also offers invaluable insight into the disciplines and the ways they complement one another. The courses provided a foundational education that helped me put my major studies in proper perspective.

ereagan@hillsdale.edu