Why I Chose Hillsdale: Charlie Kacal

I found Hillsdale in a great conference center, among college fair tables. There were forty-four of them, to be exact, and they all claimed to be colleges that “change lives.” I dare say all of them are.

As I walked along, scanning the literature for beautiful campuses and a reprieve from the heat of a Houston summer, I spoke with admissions counselors about my proposed architectural design major. I loved art, and always had a knack for math. Architecture was a no-brainer, I thought, and I went on to apply to three schools with this in mind. My fourth school was the exception. The small liberal arts college in southern Michigan had no architecture program, but it promised a core curriculum pursuing truth, goodness, and beauty, and the kind of challenge that would make of me a “self-governing” individual. Something deep within my soul resonated with this, though I would not then have been able to articulate why. My family and I flew into Chicago over spring break, and as highways faded to cornfields outside my window, March snow and a sign on the edge of town boasting “It’s the People” welcomed me to Hillsdale.

It was, in fact, the people. The professor of the economics class I sat in on showed such passion in his teaching that I sat wide-eyed, riveted to subject matter I had never loved before. I watched students listen intently, converse earnestly, and for the first time, I witnessed what a true love of learning looks like. Over the course of the following summer, what could only have been the grace of God slowly started dismantling my preconceived ideas about picking a school based solely upon my prospective major, and I began to realize the value in a classical liberal arts curriculum, and the unique experience Hillsdale would offer me. Subconsciously, Hillsdale began to separate itself in my mind from the other three schools on my list.

Wrapping the foyer of Hillsdale’s Heritage Room in the Mossey Library like literate crown molding reads the gilded inscription: “Because ideas have consequences.” I have read those words hundreds of times now, and each time I am struck anew by their significance. For me, as a prospective student of Hillsdale, they held the answer to the big question: “Why does it matter which school I attend?” I realized while standing in that hallway that all colleges are colleges that change lives, insofar as they discuss ideas, because ideas shape the way we understand ourselves and how we ought to act as free persons. Whether the consequences of those ideas are positive or negative—whether a certain university is going to change your life for the better or for the worse—depends greatly upon the character of the school itself.

Hillsdale’s motto reads, “Strength rejoices in the challenge.” There have been moments where I have not felt strong. In fact, in the throes of my sophomore-year research papers, with finals looming, I admit the thought of transferring schools crossed my mind. I recalled my high school years, in which grades came easy and effort was light. I thought back to my adolescent imaginings of the “college experience,” and some weak part of me longed to leave this place of trial and find a “better fit.” And then I remembered what education means. It means to lead forth. Human beings are made for movement, for growth—they are not static. If education leads one forth to freedom and self-government, prolonged comfort is enslavement. I chose—and I still choose, daily—the only college that would teach me what enslavement was, and in doing so, free me.

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Charlie Kacal comes to Hillsdale a native Houstonian. He majors in English, with minors in classical education and German. When he’s not training with the soccer club, Charlie enjoys late-night conversations, playing guitar, and reading up on theology.