Student Honoraries and Dedication to a Craft
Written by Victoria Nuñez
Hillsdale is home to more than twenty-eight honoraries—organized groups that recognize excellence and dedication to their craft. These vary anywhere from music or literature to marketing or physics.
Several years ago, some Hillsdale students realized there was no art honorary, and so they made one: Alpha Rho Tau. Alumna Madison Whitney describes the honorary as, “a community of art students striving to excel in their abilities, develop community, and encourage one another in the arts.”
Being in an honorary gives students the space to share and spur one another on in their pursuit of their passions. Whitney continues, “Alpha Rho Tau wasn’t separate from the Hillsdale experience. In fact, it only added to it. Art contributes beauty to my liberal arts education, and being part of Alpha Rho Tau helped me to grow and see that beauty in everything I study.”
Honorary membership also presents opportunities for events that both develop students’ skills and bring enjoyment. For art, this can look like trips to the Detroit Institute of Arts. For music fraternities, this can look like seasonal concerts. For example, Phi Mu Alpha music fraternity hosts a wildly popular event called Battle of the Bands every fall. This is a chance for student bands to compete against one another while raising money. The winning band chooses what charity half of the proceeds go to.
“It’s really special, the ability to perform music with people that I care about,” senior Spencer Bohlinger says. “Friendship around a shared passion is something that’s pretty unique at Phi Mu Alpha.”
These honoraries embody the idea that college is full of structures for collaboration. In fact, it is the very thing that makes us successful. Visit Hillsdale honoraries for more information.
Victoria Nuñez, ’22, has a deep love for connecting people to people and is always up for an adventure. She writes because she has to, but she enjoys it more than she lets on. In her free time, you can catch her laughing, dancing, or people watching.
Published in November 2019