Jonathan Ashbach, Josh Brown, Hannah Andrews, and Marie Landskroener.

Hillsdale’s Unlikely Friendships

How the Liberal Arts Fosters Extraordinary Friendship

Written by Katie Kortepeter

With its diverse range of extra-curricular activities, religious groups, and required core classes, it’s no surprise that Hillsdale College brings folks together who might not otherwise be best friends.

I caught up with three pairs of unlikely friends at Hillsdale and asked them what makes their relationships tick. These “odd couples” explained how Hillsdale’s unique environment helped to bring out and foster their out-of-the-ordinary connections.

Hannah Andrews and Marie Landskroener

Seniors Hannah and Marie met on the first day of freshman year at a Collegiate Scholars ice-cream social. They are both musicians but play very different instruments: violin and French horn.

“Orchestra stereotypes dictate that string instruments and brass instruments do not associate too much,” Hannah, who is still in orchestra, told me. It’s an unspoken yet unbroken rule.

“Violins and French horns are very different beasts,” Marie echoed. “String players don’t typically associate with brass players. I came from a band background, much more rough-and-tumble than Hannah’s orchestra experience.”

Nevertheless, the pair connected through their participation in the music department as well as Collegiate Scholars. And as they spent time together, they discovered shared interests in cuisine as well. (Both girls love ice cream, chocolate, and wine.)

Today Hannah and Marie share an off-campus house and enjoy playing loud recordings of their favorite symphonies, which tends to annoy their housemates.

“We make faces at each other across the room, enjoy orchestra jokes together, and sympathize with the other’s unique instrumental challenges,” Hannah said.

Jonathan Ashbach and Josh Brown

Jonathan and Josh got to know each other on a trip to Israel in 2016 with forty other Hillsdale students. Josh is a sophomore and Catholic. Jonathan is a grad student and Protestant.

“We were packed into a tour bus, and about day three or four we discovered that we both love arguing theology,” Jonathan said.

“We each discovered that the other has a great love of intense friendly debate,” said Josh, “particularly arguing about theology, and we spent a good deal of time during bus rides going at it hammer and tongs.”

Hillsdale attracts students who are not only religiously diverse but love to discuss life’s deepest questions. According to Jonathan, “It’s not every campus that mixes solid Christians of many denominational stripes together and encourages discussion between them.”

Jonathan and Josh bonded through both the religious discussion so prevalent on campus as well as through similar political views and a shared love of C.S. Lewis.  Josh described the unique foundation of their friendship:

“While conflict is the downfall of many friendships, it is one of the bulwarks of ours, both contributing to it and stemming from it. I don’t have a relationship quite like this with anyone else, which makes it that much more special.”

Dr. David Murphy and Dr. Lorraine Murphy

Drs. David and Lorraine Murphy met as Hillsdale professors. He teaches math, and she teaches English.

“You might consider the marriage of a math professor and an English professor as a case of ‘opposites attract,’” said Dr. Lorraine Murphy. But the couple sees their marriage as much more than the embodiment of a cliché. They credit not only a supportive Hillsdale community for bringing them together, but also a shared love of stories.

“Whether it’s a classical myth, a nineteenth-century novel, or a proof in Euclidian geometry, we both enjoy following a path from a starting point to its conclusion, from a question or conflict to resolution,” said Dr. Lorraine Murphy. Her explanation of their connection fits well with Hillsdale’s liberal arts philosophy, which encourages understanding and discussion between all subjects.

As Dr. David Murphy put it: “At Hillsdale I find a sense of community among the faculty that crosses departmental and divisional lines.  Here we are joined by our common mission in pursuit of lifelong learning, whether that learning is about math, literature, theology, or faith and love.”


Katie KortepeterHailing from Indianapolis, Katie Kortepeter, ’17, is an English and French major. She frequently swing dances, speed reads Tolstoy, and practices her Chinese as a bubble tea waitress.