CLT: Thank you for talking with us, Blake! How did you decide to study at Hillsdale? Tell us about your first year!

BS: I chose Hillsdale College because I was wanting to find a school with world-class teachers, a rigorous classical education, and an intellectual and supportive student body. Hillsdale was the college that I found that had all three of these qualities!

I have become involved in my college in many ways. I am president of Hillsdale’s College Quizbowl Club, and I am gathering a group of students to go competitive next year to face off against Ivy League schools such as Harvard and Yale. I am vice president of Hillsdale’s YAF chapter, the treasurer for Hillsdale’s Alexander Hamilton Society chapter, the secretary of the chess club, a puzzle writer for the Hillsdale newspaper (the Collegian), a competitor for Hillsdale College’s Fencing Club, and more! I hope to help bolster the culture of the college by helping grow Hillsdale’s extracurricular offerings.

CLT: And how did taking the CLT10/CLT prepare you for college?

BS: The CLT and CLT10 helped me prepare for going to a four-year liberal arts college by making sure I had a good solid framework of literary analysis, deductive reasoning, and proofreading. In order to get an A in any Hillsdale class, you must be able to be a good textual critic of the reading assignments, a thorough editor of your work, and an analyst of the arguments and ideas mentioned in class discussion. The CLT and CLT10 helps train and test students for all of those fields!

CLT: And how did your CLT10 Scholarship benefit you as a first-year student?

BS: Thanks to the CLT10 Scholarship, I was able to study at Hillsdale College completely tuition-free and with room and board costs significantly reduced. This in turn has allowed me to fully commit myself to Hillsdale’s classes, extracurriculars, and community!

CLT: In your first year, what was the most impactful college class you took?

BS: The most impactful class is really hard to pin down. Hillsdale has so many amazing teachers and each class has caused a paradigm shift in who I am as a person. My History of Art: Renaissance to Modern class and my Ancient Greek City class both have been the most impactful. This art class showed me how much the worldview, politics, and religion of each society is expressed in painting and sculpture, and it has made me pursue art history to better understand politics and economics. The Ancient Greek City class showed me how Western Civilization formed from the ancient Greek city-state, and it opened my eyes to how the ancient Greeks saw the world!

CLT: Lastly, what advice would you give to other CLT10 or CLT test-takers planning ahead for college?

BS: Find many current students/alumni and ask them about their experience at the college! Work ahead on your classes, and dive into as many extracurriculars as possible. Most importantly, work on your soul, cultivate virtue, and prepare to help others at college. If you are not a wise, just, and good person, education will only be a hindrance.