Why I Chose Hillsdale: Friendships and Contracts
Written by Nate Trainor
At my Freshman Convocation, Dr. Arnn spoke of college not only as an institution of learning to foster wisdom and encourage virtue, but also as a contract. He explained that the word collegium, the Latin root word for “college,” was occasionally used in Roman culture similarly to the way we use the word “contract,” highlighting the nature of the relationship between student and teacher. A college, he argued, shouldn’t treat its students like a mother doting over her child just because we pay the tuition; rather, both parties should treat it like a gift earned by those who have the humility to receive it.
My Hillsdale story begins long before Convocation. During my junior year of high school, my parents saw a special flyer in Imprimis about a Hillsdale study-abroad program that took high-school students through the English countryside to learn about British literature and history. I imagined walking through the castle courtyards of my history books and exploring a foreign land. As an aspiring history major, this sounded like a done-deal to me.
But the trip came with some stipulations.There were rules, codes of conduct. We would be representatives of both the college and our country; as such, we had to be on our best behavior. It was a contract.
When I arrived on Hillsdale’s campus for a few pre-trip lectures, I got a glimpse in advance of the contractual relationship that I would hear Dr. Arnn speak of later during Convocation. I didn’t find a rigid, iron-gated college where students upheld the Honor Code out of fear, but rather a cheerful campus with a vibrant student body with the self-governing attitude where students willfully kept within this code of conduct. The students were diligent in their work and respectful towards their professors. Professors were likewise amiable and patient in their genuine efforts to help students learn.
Now as a sophomore, I am happy to count many of my fellow students and professors as friends. I see students helping each other out, upperclassmen guiding freshmen and offering rides, with no one keeping tally of favors owed, but rather with the desire to build strong bonds of real friendship. As for my relationship with the college itself, I hope one day to be able to give back to Hillsdale what it has given to me, not because of a contract, but out of friendship.
A sophomore studying history, Nate Trainor, ’18 has a special interest in film, writing, and things arranged in neat rows. You might find him arranging and rearranging books on his roommate’s bookshelf.