English Archives

Why I Chose Hillsdale: Ellen Sweet

There is a depth to Hillsdale that I could not have imagined as a senior in high school. During freshman orientation, Dr. David Whalen gave a lecture in which he warned me and my fellow freshmen that college is dangerous—that, in fact, Hillsdale would change our souls.

Taking the Hillsdale Conversation to the Real World

Hillsdale College approaches education differently than other institutions. Provost Dr. David Whalen says it best when he says: we’re in a different conversation from most other colleges.

From Struggling Writer to English Major

Like the rest of Hillsdale, Matt took his two Great Books core English classes, and like so many Hillsdale students, he struggled to write good papers at first. “Failing to produce a clear reading of a text on Great Books made me really want to see what it was like to know what was going on in a book and be able to express it,” Matt says.

Pursuing Artistry In Literature And Dance

At first glance, dancing and book editing have very little in common, but sophomore Rachel Watson has found a connection. Rachel has been dancing since she was five and is pursuing Hillsdale’s dance minor, but she is also studying English and minoring in Greek, as she aspires to be an editor for young-adult books.

The Artwork on the Walls of Our Minds

Some people may think it’s crazy to expect high school students to memorize and recite a 280 line poem. Dr. Ellen Condict thinks otherwise.

Demystifying Writing with PEN Award Winner Mark Richard

This fall, the Visiting Writers Program brought PEN (Poets, Essayists, and Novelists) Hemingway award winning author Mark Richard to campus. The fiction workshop he taught at Hillsdale brought the abstract concept of storytelling into tangible focus for all who attended. He used the power of simple metaphor to demystify the writing process. Here are a few tips he gave us for writing a story.

A Conversation with Writer Mark Richard

In our interview, Mr. Richard told a story about his own time as an undergraduate learning from a visiting writer.

Visiting Writers: Authors and Friends

Dr. John Somerville, associate professor of English and director of the Visiting Writers Program, summarizes the goal of this program: “The Visiting Writers Program is meant to introduce authors and introduce our campus and students to them.”

A Shady Thesis: Rachelle Ferguson Explores Virgil’s Eclogues

Written by Katie Kortepeter A classics and English double-major, Rachelle Ferguson, ’17, is already a published playwright. Next January, her classics side will take the stage as she presents a […]

Why I Chose Hillsdale: Katie Kortepeter

I love my grandpa. When I was a freshman in high school, he was already scheming to get me into an Ivy League school. “Brown or Harvard would be great,” I remember him saying. “Or you could go to Canada! The healthcare there is terrific.” One day, when I was fifteen, he made me sit on his lap and firmly explained why the one school I must never, ever apply to was Hillsdale College.

Biblical Narrative: The Summer Session to Take

Studying biblical narrative requires particular focus because of its unique challenges. As LaRae Ferguson explains, “I feel like we have to unlearn more things when studying the Bible than with other texts. We come to the Bible with many assumptions, primarily that it’s holy literature. We have to temporarily set those assumptions aside before we can bring them back and gain a richer understanding of the text.”