Collegian 02.27.2025

Meet Hillsdale’s three White House correspondents

heard “gasps” when Leavitt made the announcement, which

nalists travel with the president and report in venues too small

is drinking more coffee.

How many cups per day?

“My mother might read this,” Wegmann deflects. “I can’t tell you.”

Wegmann is one of three Hillsdale graduates covering the White House who say the new Trump administration is more energetic than the last. Wegmann began covering the White House in 2019, Reagan Reese Gensiejewski ’22 joined him for

the briefing room. “Everybody kind of viewed the Biden presidency as a lame duck presidency,” Reese said. “There was really no energy in the room. But now, under the Trump administration, I’ve never seen so many people in the briefing room before.”

All three alumni attended the White House press briefing this past Tuesday. Wegmann was seated five rows back with

Churchill scholar leaves legacy of words

By Jillian Parks Editor-in-Chief

A top scholar of Winston S. Churchill died Feb. 20 at the age of 83. Richard Langworth was a senior fellow of the Hillsdale College Churchill Project, and he left behind thousands of words from blog posts to books as a testament to his commitment and passion for knowledge.

“Richard’s knowledge of Churchill grew out of deep and abiding admiration of him,” College President Larry Arnn said in an email.

“He liked to know every detail, but he did not miss the big themes: freedom, honor, patriotism, justice. He knew very much about how Churchill, a man of immense practical wisdom, served those causes under the most difficult circumstances.”

Research Assistant to the President Andrew Pierce ’20 worked on the Churchill Project with Langworth, but said he never had the chance to meet him face to face. He said over phone and email he came to understand Langworth as a man of deep

knowledge, drive, and decency.

“Like Churchill, until the very end, Richard’s zeal and wit never flagged,” Pierce said. “His is an immense loss, but I have no doubt that he will live on in memory and in the many words he left behind to teach and to guide those who follow in his footsteps.”

In addition to hundreds of blog posts, Langworth contributed to dozens of books. He was the author of “Winston Churchill, Myth and Reality: What He Actually Did and Said” and the editor of “Churchill in His Own Words.” He also wrote, co-wrote, or published 54 books and 2,000 articles on automotive history — American, English and European, according to his website.

“Richard Langworth had two obsessions: automobiles and Winston Churchill,” Professor of History Paul Rahe said. “He knew more about both than any of his contemporaries, and he will be much missed, especially by me.”

See Churchill A3

The makeup of the White House press corps is changing, too. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced the White House press office would begin choosing which reporters would be in the smaller, rotating “press pool.” Since the 1950s, the White House Correspondents’ Association, not the president’s press office, selected reporters for the press pool.

Reese said on X that she

“Now there’s definitely an administration that’s willing to play ball with The Daily Caller,” Reese said. “We are able to break the news of what executive orders the president is going to sign or the introduction of the new West Wing press office. I’m also putting a lot more stock in the White House briefings and opportunities of asking president Trump questions.”

Restoration

By David Bellet Collegian Freelancer

Hillsdale’s Victory Bell has left its spot near Central Hall and travelled to the Verdin Bell Company in Cincinnati for restoration.

“The bell had a small crack and some other minor issues,” Chief Administrative Officer Rich Péwé said. “It will go into the tower of the Grewcock Student Union when it is rebuilt. The Grewcock tower will be complete by December 2025, and the bell will be installed and working by then. The bell will have clappers and will be rung on special occasions.”

The Victory Bell, hung in Central Hall in 1875, was cast with Civil War bullets and weighed in at 2,551 pounds. This weight was too great for the Central Hall tower and compromised its structural integrity. In an effort to save the tower, the bell was lowered to the side of Central Hall in 1956, according to Hillsdale’s historical records. Electronic bell sounds still carry on the sound of the Victory Bell every 15 minutes.

The Verdin Bell Company is renowned for casting the highest quality bells in the United States, according to its website.

Among these bells is the World Peace Bell, hung in Kentucky, which is the largest swinging bell in the world, weighing in at 66,000 pounds, according to the Verdin website. Tim Verdin, a sixth-generation leader of the family business, explained the company’s full restoration process.

“We’re going to bead blast it to get the patina off and then we would just use a brush to polish it up a little bit,” Verdin said. “The bead blasting opens the pores of the bronze and so we use a brush to close those pores, but it will be a satin fin ish when it’s done.”

Bead blasting uses high pres sure air to shoot small spherical glass beads at metal to carefully remove unwanted layers of the surface. After the surface of the bell is renewed, Verdin plans to install cast iron accessories after coming up with a design.

“All of the new ringing and support equipment — we still have to design that. Once those drawings are done, it typically takes us 60 days to get the bell ready,” Verdin said.

Sophomore Michael Bogu mill said he has missed the presence of the bell, which he walked by after his daily science classes.

“Every time I would walk by

By Catherine Maxwell News Editor

Cases of norovirus and influenza have declined this week, according to Brock Lutz, director of Health Services.

“We are not overly concerned about the current state of things,” Lutz said. “We just want people to be mindful of taking care of themselves and to think of others, so this can run its course as quickly as possible.”

Lutz sent an email last week to students, faculty, and staff alerting them of the increase in norovirus and influenza cases and providing information about prevention and treatment.

While he said he hopes the number of cases continues to decrease, Lutz said students should still monitor symptoms, rest, and stay home if sick.

The recent spike in norovirus and influenza cases has been county-wide, according to staff nurse Kirsten Mapes.

“We are not overwhelmed,” Lutz said. “Our staff is really great at getting people seen quickly and efficiently. The college has been very gracious with providing medical staff to match our student and staff need.”

The maintenance and custodial staffs have been working to disinfect common areas, according to Superintendent of Custodial Services Kirk Wright. For the past two weeks, maintenance has cleaned campus buildings with Clorox Total 360 Spray-

ers, which the college purchased during COVID-19.

“We would go every night and disinfect with this machine,” Wright said. “We’ve been trying to disinfect a lot more.”

Wright said cleaning crews are targeting the buildings with the highest student traffic: the Grewcock Student Union, Mossey Library, the George Roche Sports Complex, and the classroom buildings. Although housekeeping is trying to avoid getting sick from students, Wright said they are still trying to clean residence halls as much as possible.

“We’re staying out the best we can,” Wright said. “But we’re still going in and disinfecting all the bathrooms and the showers.”

JoAnn Arendt, house director of Galloway Residence, said 20 men have fallen sick in the dorm in February. Arendt said housekeeping designated one “under the weather” bathroom stall and shower on the third and fourth floors. There is also an empty room where roommates of sick students can sleep to avoid germs.

“I put Gatorade, water, soup, and crackers in a bag and hang it on the student’s door in the morning or when I find out they are sick, and then RAs take another bag of soup, Gatorade, water, and crackers up to them at check-in time,” Arendt said in an email. Arendt said she communi-

it, it just felt like eternity, because time stops when you get to walk by the Victory Bell,” Bogumill said.

In addition to its sentimental value, Bogumill said he mourns the loss of the bell in the statue golf game often played by Hillsdale students. In the game, students hit foam balls with golf wedges in hopes of striking the statues around campus, remembering the importance of each statue along the way, according to Bogumill.

“I hit a 200-foot drive with

my nine iron with a foam ball, and I hit a hole-in-one, and it rang across campus, signifying my hole in one,” Bogumill said. No matter how long it takes for the bell to return to campus, Bogumill said he still feels a connection to the bell that he passed everyday.

“I personally would love to preserve the connection that many students felt while walking by the Victory Bell and the freedom and pride that they took into college,” Bogumill said.

Left to right: Reagan Reese Gensiejewski ’22, Philip Wegmann ’15, and Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell ’24 are White House correspondents.

Courtesy | Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell

By Michaela Estruth Senior Editor

Estonian ambassador visits Hillsdale Freshmen debate pairs tie for

Europe and America must continue their interdependent alliances because of their shared history and heritage, Estonian ambassador Kristjan Prikk said in his talk, “The Future of Europe: Why Should It Matter to America,” hosted by the Center for Military History and Strategy in Plaster Auditorium Feb. 25.

“If we really take a look back far, no closer overlap culturally, economically, politically exists than that of Europe and the U.S.,” Prikk said. “We would both benefit by sticking together.”

Prikk argued America and Europe share the religious, political, and economic heritage of the West, which determine their ideas, policies, and alliances. Prikk traced the history of his native country, Estonia, to demonstrate these shared values. Estonia did not become an independent state until 1918 when World War I ended and four empires of Europe crumbled — Germany, Ottoman, Austria-Hungary, and Russia, according to Prikk.

Estonia soon had to defend her independence in a 14-month war against Soviet Russia, which ended with a peace treaty in February of 1920, Prikk said. Twenty years later, however, the Soviet Union claimed Estonia.

Throughout World War II and the Cold War, the U.S. never recognized Estonia as a legal part of the Soviet Union, Prikk said. Estonia gained official independence with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and declared its motto, “never alone again,” to credit the U.S. alliance that supported the small country during the 50-year occupation. Estonia joined both NATO and the European Union in 2004, which Prikk said provide economic stability and national security, respectively.

“Estonia will only succeed if it sticks together with countries who share our religious and cultural roots,” Prikk said. These historical alliances ground the need for present-day and future ones, according to Prikk.

Associate Professor of History and Department Chair Korey Maas said Prikk’s pre-

sentation of Estonian history is an important context for American and European relations.

“I appreciated that he spent a fair bit of time first orienting the audience to some basic facts about Estonia and its history,” Maas said. “That struck me as an admirably humble thing to do — to implicitly acknowledge that, ‘Hey, Estonia’s a small place on the fringe of Europe, so I understand that you probably don’t really know anything about it.’”

Prikk said more than 60% of European investments impact the U.S. and vice versa.

“If there is a serious crisis in Europe, if Europe goes under, there will be an effect in the pensions and savings of every American,” Prikk said. “The mutual dependencies, the positive dependences, these dependencies have been built because Europe and America have always been a trusted place to invest.”

Senior Alexander Vietor said he appreciated Prikk’s perspective but thinks many Americans may disagree.

“The ambassador was quite sincere and happy to be here,”

Vietor said. “He expressed a desire for continued US political, military, and economic cooperation with Europe. However, I don’t think many Americans share his level of commitment at the present time.”

Maas said he appreciated Prikk graciously answering direct questions after his presentation. After meeting several alumni in Washington D.C., Prikk contacted Hillsdale for the opportunity to speak, and the Center for Military History and Strategy was a logical host, Maas said.

Maas said hearing Prikk discuss history from a personal, lived experience was engaging.

“The personal anecdotes stood out,” Maas said. “For American students today, the Cold War can seem like ancient history, but of course it was nightly — and local— news during his own childhood.”

CCA IV to cover historical films

By Catherine Maxwell News Editor

Hillsdale’s fourth 20242025 Center for Constructive Alternatives will cover History on Film.

The CCA will run March 2-6 and will explore movies based on historical events from the 1920s to the Cold War. The CCA will show films in the afternoon followed by lectures from speakers such as former NASA engineer and author Homer Hickam, historian Victor Davis Hanson, and American Cinema Foundation Executive Director Titus Techera.

Assistant Professor of Physics Michael Tripepi, who will participate in the faculty roundtable, said he is looking forward to the showing of the 1999 film “October Sky” and the following talk by Homer Hickam.

“Maybe it’s just the physicist in me, but the story is inspiring,” Tripepi said. “October Sky” is based on Hickam’s memoir “Rocket Boys.” The story follows Hickam, a coal miner’s son, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, as the launch of the Sputnik satellite inspires him to pursue rocketry against his father’s wishes.

“Next week’s CCA features several movies regarded as classics by older generations,” Tripepi said. “I’d encourage students to come out to see the films at the very least so that they can connect better with their elders.”

Junior Ava-Marie Papillon said she is excited to learn more about films as art.

“Films are a form of art that I often take for granted,” Papillon said. “I am very excited for the lecture on ‘October Sky,’ ‘NASA and the Movies.’ I have two brothers that love building and launching rockets, so ‘October Sky’ has always been

By Megan Li Assistant Editor

a favorite at my home.”

Associate Professor of History Darryl Hart is also participating in the faculty roundtable.

“Hollywood has been the great mythmaker of American history,” Hart said. “Sometimes movies get history wrong. But even errors reveal the nation’s importance to contemporary viewers.”

Collegian Freelancer Faith Senne contributed to this article.

InterVarsity to host spring break mission trip

By Ameera Wilson Collegian Reporter

Students will have the opportunity to serve the local community through InterVarsity’s annual mission trip during spring break, March 7-13.

“The goal of the trip is to encourage students in their faith and serve our community,” InterVarsity Campus Staff Carly Boerema ’23 said. “It is important for the college to connect with the broader Hillsdale area, and this is a wonderful way to build bridges and lasting connections. We hope to share the gospel as we serve, sharing the love of Christ through both our words and actions.”

cates with the deans and encourages sick students to call Health Services.

“I send the men of Galloway emails and encourage them to study well, go to class, eat well, drink lots of water, have some fun, make good choices, get your rest, and wash your hands,” Arendt said.

Professor of Biology Francis Steiner said the norovirus is “interesting” because the particle is small and easily transmissible.

“It easily gets into aerosols, and so it can be easily spread,” Steiner said. “It only takes about 10 virus particles to make a person sick — it has a very low infective dose.”

Steiner said his classes have averaged two missing students

The trip this year will be entirely local and will work with about 10 ministries in the area, as well as studying the Bible with local pastors, according to Boerema. Housing, meals, and transportation will be provided. The cost for the week is $30.

Junior Eden Ryan, who has attended the mission trip for the past two years, said the trip is an opportunity to grow in faith and friendships while serving the community.

“The spring break mission trip was a whole week where we dedicated our minds to always be thinking about how to share Christ with others,” Ryan said. “I developed strong, God-centered friend-

each day over the past two weeks.

“In biology, we had one student actually vomit in the laboratory, but it wasn’t my class,” Steiner said.

Students have been good about not coming to class or office hours sick, Steiner said.

Steiner said norovirus cannot be cultured or tested like other viruses.

“You identify it by symptoms and eliminating other things, and then you can confirm it with molecular tests,” Steiner said. “It can get out of hand on cruise ships and things like that.”

Assistant Professor of Medieval History Charles Yost said his classes have seen large absences.

“It’s amazing how many stu-

How to: Advertise with The Collegian To advertise in The Collegian, please contact Nathan Stanish at nstanish@hillsdale.edu.

ships and got to enjoy God’s gift of fellowship. Serving alongside girls and sharing testimonies, praying together for God’s kingdom to be advanced drew us together so much more than anything up to that point.”

Boerema said the trip is open to all denominations and is meant to teach students about the Gospel, as well as to proudly share it.

“Our theme verse for the week is Romans 1:16-17: ‘For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith,

dents have been emailing me,” Yost said. “Sometimes they go into detail, like, ‘I’m vomiting, I’m other things, I can’t come to class,’ as if they need to convince me. I don’t need details. You don’t have to come, that’s alright.”

Yost said his American Heritage classes have been “skeleton crews.”

“The good thing about this is it seems that when somebody gets it, they get through it quickly,” Yost said.

Associate Professor of Philosophy Lee Cole said he has had consistent absences in his classes.

“I expect absences this time of year, although it does seem to be a bit later in the winter to be going through this,” Cole said. He said most of his students

as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith,’” Boerema said. “Sharing the Gospel is not always easy, but as Paul states, we are not ashamed, as it is the power of salvation for all who believe.”

Students can sign up through a link in both the Student Activities Office and InterVarsity newsletters.

“Take this free week you have to join in the work Christ has called us to,” Ryan said.

“Work alongside your brothers and sisters. Put your hand to the plow and don’t look back.”

have been good about staying home if sick.

“I’m of the view that if you’re contagious with something that’s more than a cold, you certainly shouldn’t be coming to class, or especially not to office hours,” Cole said.

Cole said he has seven kids. The oldest is a current Hillsdale student and the other six are still at home. Although his daughter, who lives in Benzing Residence, caught norovirus, Cole said the rest of his family has avoided it.

“I would appreciate that passing over our home,” Cole said. “If it takes blood on the lintel, I’m not beyond doing that.”

Freshmen Kate Klein and Ewan McNamara tied for first place with freshmen Jonathan Evans and Noah Woo in the junior varsity league of the University of Puget Sound Logger Card Tournament Feb. 22.

Five Hillsdale teams, including two junior varsity teams and three varsity teams, competed online against seven other schools in the tournament.

With a 4-1 record in the junior varsity league, Klein and McNamara got their second first-place win in the books.

“Their season record is two first-place tournament places and a second place tournament place. That’s really strong,” said Kirstin Kiledal, debate coach and professor of rhetoric and public address.

Evans and Woo maintained a perfect record of 5-0, losing zero ballots throughout the preliminary rounds. Evans said he hadn’t debated for a year and a half before coming to Hillsdale, so the first place win was satisfying for him.

“It’s nice to be able to get back into it and start to refind those skills that I’ve been developing so long ago, and know that I still got it, and I can start building from there,” Evans said. “It’s good to just have that under my belt to know I was able to do that.”

In the 20-team varsity league, junior Ben Brown and sophomore Ryan Rodell finished third place with a 4-1 record.

Five Hillsdale students came out of the tournament with speaker awards — Woo earned second place, Evans placed fourth, Klein placed tenth, and McNamara placed twelfth.

The teams debated the spring 2025 Collegiate Advocacy Research and Debate resolution: “The United States federal government should adopt one of the following: a carbon tax, an emissions trading scheme, or removal of fossil fuel subsidies.” Klein said their loss in the final round in the Mukai tournament was due to the opposing team’s argument of degrowth that Klein and McNamara had not prepared to counter. But the Puget Sound tournament offered them another chance.

“We were able to go against the same team again in our final round, and we beat them — absolutely demolished them on the last part of degrowth,” Klein said. This tournament was Evans and Woo’s second tournament with Hillsdale College. Although the pair said they had debate experience coming into college, competing against other schools at the college level still took some getting used to.

“Stepping into this, there’s just a different set of assumptions. So not only are there some stylistic differences, but I feel like the biggest difference is different shared understandings,” Woo said. “There’s an assumption that communism would solve a lot of problems, and so you can’t really challenge assumptions directly. It’s more like, ‘Hey, is communism actually fast enough to solve the climate crisis?’”

Evans and Woo’s first tournament was Western Washington Debate, where they competed in the varsity league.

“That was a good learning experience,” Woo said. “I definitely appreciated going down to junior varsity for this tournament. It’s a slower pace. It’s more like what we’re used to, where you can kind of explain your arguments, and it’s not as technical and fast, but we were able to definitely leverage our experience from varsity, for sure.” Evans said the fourth round of the tournament was his favorite. Their opponents, while having an interesting counter plan, used some muddled arguments that were not explained very well, according to Evans.

“They were pretty good speakers,” Evans said. “But midway through Noah’s first speech, we figured out our course of attack — we executed really well, and brought that back, even though we didn’t understand it at first, and we ended up winning the route I’d say pretty handily.” Woo said the win is really validating for the pair and makes him excited for future tournaments.

“It’s nice to know that we can actually do okay in this league,” Woo said. “It also makes me want to do better so that we can actually have a win and not share that.”

Virus from A1

Freshmen Jonathan Evans and Noah Woo tied for first place. Courtesy | Rebekah George

Siblings will launch boba tea business in Penny’s next week

By Jamie Parsons Collegian Reporter

Junior Alex Cho and se -

nior Kayla Cho will officially launch their boba tea business, Choba Boba, at Penny’s Coffee Shop March 2.

The Cho siblings started Choba Boba in the fall semester of 2024 to bring boba and cultural diversity to Hillsdale. With the help of the Kehoe Family Initiative for Entrepreneurship Excellence fellowship and Jennifer Lutz, marketing manager and entrepreneurship coordinator for Hillsdale’s Career Services, the Chos are moving their business from Kayla Cho’s off-campus apartment to Penny’s.

“Boba is casual, fun, and tastes good,” Alex Cho said. “If people want to explore different foods and cultures, boba is a good starting point because it’s not too exotic or esoteric.”

Starting Sunday, Choba Boba will be open at Penny’s once a week, either on Saturday or Sunday, according to the Chos. Students can use Charger Change to purchase drinks.

“I recommend trying the Mango Green Fresh Tea,” Alex Cho said. “Especially when the weather gets better, it is very refreshing. It is not thick and creamy like the milk teas, it is just fruit juice.”

Choba Boba debuted at Penny’s Feb. 23 as a test run, advertising new drinks on the menu such as strawberry black tea, strawberry green tea, mango black tea and mango green tea, according to the Chos. The Chos sold 83 drinks, more than double the amount they would sell on average last semester.

The Chos said the soft launch of Choba Boba this past Saturday gave them the confidence to pursue the business long-term and better understand which type of drinks students are interested in.

“I say the classic milk tea boba is obviously a given, and the Thai and mango milk tea too,” Alex Cho said.

Junior Maggie McGee said her favorite Choba Boba drink is the classic milk tea

with brown sugar boba. McGee also said she is excited to have a boba shop at Hillsdale because it gives her more drink options to choose from in town.

“Sometimes you want something else that you wouldn’t normally find at a traditional coffee shop,” McGee said.

The Chos said they are considering adding new items to the menu such as popping boba, taro milk tea, and matcha milk tea.

“There are a lot of options for expansion,” Kayla Cho said.

The Chos have been working on perfecting dairy-free boba drinks for students since the summer after receiving positive feedback from friends about their business idea.

“We spent the last week of summer testing out drinks with ingredients we got,” Kayla Cho said. “We took note of the time it took to brew each tea and the measurements and ratios for the tea, sugar, and creamer.”

Kayla Cho said she and her brother ran more taste tests at Hillsdale before they started to sell them from her Townhouse apartment in the fall semester.

“There were a lot of experimental stages, but it eventually worked out in the end,” Alex Cho said.

Since opening, Choba Boba has catered boba at three school events: International Club movie night, Delta Tau Delta fraternity Delt Days, and Chi Omega Sorority Wish Week.

The Chos encourage students, especially those unfamiliar with boba, to stop by Penny’s on Sunday to support boba tea in Hillsdale county and student businesses. The Chos said they believe boba tea is a tasty way to bring culture to Hillsdale and want students to give it a chance.

“Hillsdale is a very closed circle,” Alex Cho said. “In the area, the closest boba shop is an hour away. People need to be a little bit more adventurous, and I think boba is a really good first step in doing that.”

‘Boys

Only’ trapped in WRFH

The fire department rescued the podcasters after three hours

By Grace Brennan Collegian Reporter

The Hillsdale Fire Department rescued three students locked in a recording studio at the Radio Free Hillsdale WRFH station on the night of Feb. 14.

That night, sophomores Storm Drexler and Nate Gallagher welcomed sophomore Gabe Beckwith onto their podcast “Boys Only.”

“Quick adventure – 20 minutes tops. Light work,” Drexler said he told Beckwith before the podcast.

But it took campus security, maintenance, and the Hillsdale Fire Department three hours to rescue Beckwith, Drexler, and Gallagher. According to Drexler and Gallagher, the door to the recording room was always difficult to open and close. Gallagher said when they finished recording after about 25 minutes, they weren’t too concerned that the door wouldn’t open with the first try.

“My initial thought was, ‘Uh-oh, the door is stuck,’ because this door was classically hard to close and open,” Gallagher said.

Beckwith said after a few shakes of the metal doorknob, they realized they were stuck, and with no one outside, there would be no way to get out.

“Sometimes it doesn’t catch the first time. It didn’t catch the fifth time,” Beckwith said. “It was obviously broken, and

we soon realized that the pin was not responding to the door. It was jammed into the door frame and even a little bit bent.”

At the realization that they were stuck and going to miss their Valentine’s Day dates, Beckwith said he immediately called campus security to help them, not accepting the fact that he might miss the premiere of the Film and Production Club’s short film “Shall We” with his girlfriend.

“My girlfriend was stranded, so I called dispatch,” Beckwith said. “I work with security and it was two officers I know, and I asked them, ‘Would you be willing to come rescue us, see if you can get the door open?’”

According to Scot Bertram, general manager of Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM and director of the Hillsdale College Podcast Network, this was the first time anyone has been stuck in the recording room.

“They handled things the right way by calling security and getting people involved who could help them get out of the room,” Bertram said. “I do wonder if they had considered climbing up through the ceiling. I’m glad that they didn’t do that.”

Drexler said he did try to get out of the room through the ceiling.

“I looked at all four corners and quickly discerned that concrete goes up half a foot and across, covering every -

thing in all ways,” Drexler said.

According to Beckwith, after 30 minutes of security and maintenance trying to help, the Hillsdale Fire Department came and eventually managed to open the door.

“We had the Hillsdale Fire Department large engine show up and they were there with their equipment to disassemble the door piece by piece,” Beckwith said.

According to Drexler and Beckwith, there was nothing except a pen in the room that would help them open or dismantle the door. Beckwith said he managed to help a little from the inside.

“I was able to take off the cover for our doorknob and try to take it apart,” he said.

Gallagher said he realized the recording was still going, so the group decided to record an extra segment of their podcast since they had nothing better to do.

Beckwith said it was good that they accepted what had happened and made the most of it.

“It was one of those stoic moments where there’s nothing I can do to get myself outside of the room, and so we’re just going to make the most of it, and this will at least be an exciting story to tell friends,” Beckwith said.

According to Bertram, once the men got out of the room, the bottom of the door was cut down and the doorknob was completely taken out as a

precaution for future recording. Bertram said the door can now open and close but not latch shut. A new door handle is on its way.

“The studio is still usable,” Bertram said. “It didn’t slow us down in any way.”

While the situation threw a wrench in Beckwith’s Valentine’s Day plans, he said his experience as a guest on the podcast was enjoyable.

“Of all the things to be stuck doing, being on a podcast with Nate and Storm was fun, and I was able to get right back into it, and it was enjoyable to record more,” Beckwith said.

Drexler and Gallagher said they will continue to have guests on their show. According to Drexler, they have increased their show’s run time to about 40 minutes, for after having been stuck together for three hours, they realized that they have more to say.

“We learned that we have more in us,” Drexler said. “We can go further, talk about more, and keep the conversation flowing naturally which is a lot of fun.”

To those who have never been in a stuck situation before, Gallagher recommends that they relax and enjoy their time.

“Don’t panic; stop, drop, and roll; get sturdy; lock in; and listen to Boys Only,” Gallagher said.

InterVarsity to host trip to Dutch Uncle Chi O to make pancakes for charity

By Gemma Flores Collegian Reporter

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship will host a casual doughnut night Feb. 28 after weekly worship night Soma at one of Coldwater’s most popular establishments: Dutch Uncle Donuts, known by many Hillsdale students as Duncle.

The event was inspired by the longstanding tradition of Duncle runs among the Hillsdale student body, according to sophomore Grace Canlas, an InterVarsity Events Team member.

“We have a lot of the seniors and juniors on our events committee and a couple of them had mentioned that they had never been to Duncle before,” Canlas said, “Our leader Carly was like, ‘What? Everybody needs to go on a Duncle run when they’re at Hillsdale.’” Canlas said she is excited about the event as she has never been on a Duncle run.

Carly Boerema ’23, campus staff of Hillsdale’s InterVarsity chapter, said the event will be very informal.

“There will be some trans-

portation available, and students will be responsible for purchasing their own doughnuts,” Boerema said.

Boerema said she hopes the event will foster community among regular attendees of InterVarsity events and newer faces to the club.

“We hope that through this fun outing, students will encounter the love of Christ through the kindness and joy of their neighbors,” Boerema said. “Also, doughnuts are tasty, and we all need a little break from the daily grind sometimes.”

Canlas and Boerema said all are welcome at InterVarsity’s events, regardless of past attendance.

“Whether or not you’ve had any involvement with InterVarsity or not, you’re welcome here,” Boerema said. “We want to welcome you into our community, and this is a very easy way to get connected.”

By Austin Gergens Collegian Freelancer

The Chi Omega Sorority will open its doors from 9 a.m. to noon for the annual pancake breakfast during this spring Parents Weekend March 1.

“All the proceeds from the event will go to Make-a-Wish to provide a wish for a child with a critical illness,” sophomore Ellie Carson, director of community services for Chi Omega, said in an email.

“These wishes are proven to help relieve the trauma of living with such an illness.”

Dottie Roland, a senior in

Churchill from A1

Langworth published his final blog post, a Q&A titled “Churchill’s Philosophy of Life and Living,” Feb. 15, in which he gave book recommendations to an anonymous emailer who inquired about the subject. It was a re-sharing of a blog post he had published on the Churchill Project website on Oct. 24, 2024. One of the books he recommended was “Churchill’s Trial: Win-

Chi Omega, said the event fosters community within the sorority and campus.

“It is an event run almost entirely on a volunteer basis,” Roland said in an email.

“Everyone wants to be there, helping serve food, welcome people inside, or flag cars down on the street. We all want to be a part of something good and fun.”

Roland also said the menu for the event will include pancakes and coffee, donated by local coffee shop Overflowing Cups and Cones.

“Don’t be afraid to stop by, even just to grab some coffee for your morning,” Ro-

ston Churchill and the Salvation of Free Government” by Larry P. Arnn.

“It was said of Churchill that he would not tell a ‘dinner lie,’” Arnn said. “Honest to a fault, Richard was painstaking and even-handed in revealing whatever he perceived to be a fault in Churchill, but he kept them in proportion to the greatness that Churchill was and that Churchill achieved.”

In 2003, Langworth and his wife, Barbara, built a house in

land said. “We will be serving pancakes — regular, chocolate chip, and gluten free — sausages, and refreshments.”

The event is open to all campus, as well as visiting parents and family members.

“We invite students, professors, their families, staff, friends,” Roland said. “We intentionally host over Parents Weekend so that you can bring your family for breakfast.”

Junior Maggie McGee said community service is one of sorority’s highest priorities.

“We have a Community Service cabinet, which is dedicated to raising money

Eleuthera, Bahamas, where the two spent four months a year “writing, playing, and editing our local property owners association newsletter, The Rainbow Times,” according to his website. Langworth is survived by his wife; his son, Ian and his wife Emily; and his grandchildren, Michael and Aiden.

After his father’s death, Ian Langworth wrote an article to commemorate his life.

“I will always remember

for Make-a-Wish and ensuring that every Chi Omega completes a certain amount of community service hours every semester,” McGee said in an email. “Community Service brings Chi Omega together and reminds us that we have a responsibility to give back to our community.” Students can purchase presale tickets this week in the student union for $4, according to McGee, and tickets will be $6 at the door.

my father in his true habitat: in an office, hunched over a keyboard, typing with profuse concentration and surrounded by the hundreds of books, magazines, and other memorabilia that inspired and helped define him,” Ian Langworth wrote. “His office wasn’t messy, just crammed full of meticulously organized knowledge with every reference at his fingertips.”

Left to right: Nate Gallagher, Gabe Beckwith, and Storm Drexler were trapped in a WRFH recording studio. Courtesy | Gabe Beckwith

Opinions

The

Collegian Weekly

The opinion of the Collegian editorial staff

College is the last of childhood: enjoy

it

Editor-in-Chief | Jillian Parks

Managing Editor | Isaac Green

Senior Editor | Michaela Estruth

Outreach Director | Olivia Pero

Design Editor | Ally Hall

News

Opinions

Sports

College is the awkward bridge between teenage years and “real” adulthood. We write 20-page research papers but still rely on our parents to do our taxes. We’re not children, but we don’t cook our own food every night either.

It’s easy to forget that we’re living the lives our 10-year-old selves dreamed of. We spend hours every day studying, but also have daily sleepovers with our best friends, often wake up to fresh snow on the ground, and have an ice cream machine in the cafeteria. Yet we are so often unphased by these things.

As students, we are continually bogged down by our never-ending studies. While these are good and important aspects of our lives, we have to

Embrace grief

By Caroline Kurt Opinions Editor

Our four years at Hillsdale teach us transcendental truths, but something’s missing if we graduate without having learned to love our friends in their suffering. Clare Ansberry wrote that, as a nation, “we aren’t very good at dealing with grief. In fact, we might be getting worse at it.”

In the Feb. 16 article for the Wall Street Journal, “Why We are Getting Worse at Grieving,” Ansberry identified our national failures to grieve well with aversion to death, loss of religious ritual, and our desire to “move on” and get over a loss.

Even at Hillsdale, we don’t know what to do with grief. Surrounded by other bright, young high achievers from comfortable backgrounds, we can start to see real suffering as an alien concept, jumping into icy lakes or taking hard classes just to feel something approximating pain.

Yet no environment can, or should, insulate us from a broken world. Every year, Hillsdale students bury parents, siblings, or best friends. Every year, Hillsdale students suffer devastating mental or physical health crises. Every year, Hillsdale students endure divorce or serious family discord.

And if they’re bold enough to share the struggles, they most often receive pity or polite silence: two poor substitutes for real empathy.

We can do better. In a largely Christian environment, we have the tools and tradition at our disposal to better accompany those teammates, classmates, and friends who are grieving. First, though, we must open our hearts.

Some of our shyness around grief comes from the assumption that the sufferer must not want to talk about it. Usually, that’s wrong. Loneliness in a loss compounds the suffering exponentially — I know, be-

cause to this day most people are surprised to learn I lost my mom at 18. Talking about her is something I love, not avoid.

There are situations in which you ought not to bring up sensitive subjects: don’t ask someone you’ve met twice to open up about their best friend’s overdose. But if a good friend’s sibling is diagnosed with an eating disorder, ask that friend how she’s taking the news. If a teammate’s father dies, ask him what his dad was like. If a housemate is going through a breakup, sit down and help her process the loss.

Scared of making your friend cry? Confining him to suffer alone is far worse. In times of loss, give your friend the gift of suffering together: don’t look down on him with pity, but choose to bear his burdens with him.

Opening your heart enough to look someone’s tragedy in the face will never be easy. Resist the temptation to hurry the process along to ease your discomfort, and instead accept that grief takes decades to process and never completely goes away. Check the impulse to compare one loss to another — no, your friend losing her brother was not like you losing your dog. Instead, listen, for as long as it takes. Take risks for love. The first response to someone’s loss should always, for believers, be one of prayer. But we all need to get better at accompanying our peers and loved ones in the thorny throes of suffering. Whatever you give will be returned to you a hundredfold.

We aren’t very good at dealing with grief. Now’s the time to learn.

Caroline Kurt is a junior studying English.

remember that this is the last time in our lives we can be both adults and juveniles. In reality, we’re just kids who haven’t been released to the real world yet. And it would be a shame to use these four years in limbo worrying about the future or concentrating on the past.

We don’t bear the full weight of adulthood responsibilities, nor should we want to. As tempting as it is to stare far into the future, we should instead focus on what is right in front of us. In 10 years, we’ll look back on our college days and want some of that time and carelessness back.

Let’s enjoy the fact that we’re 20-somethings with few responsibilities and relatively fast metabolisms: eat the ice cream,

wander through the snow, and be willing to stay up later than the bedtime you set for your-

self. Your college days, and last remaining bit of childhood, are all too quickly disappearing.

Losing the cent makes lots of sense

By Grace Novak Collegian Reporter

President Donald Trump is working to erase national debt, but it comes with a price: Children will no longer make wishes and toss pennies into public fountains. President Trump declared during the Feb. 9 Super Bowl that the United States will stop minting pennies.

With all of the changes Trump is bringing — from renaming the Gulf of America to a long list of budget cuts by the Department of Government Efficiency — most people haven’t had the time to consider the effects of continuing to mint pennies. With the consistent devaluing of our coins and the massive changes required to resurrect our economy, however, we can be confident that discontinuing pennies is the right decision for America.

“For far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents,” Trump said in a Truth Social post. “This is so wasteful! I have instructed my secretary of the U.S. Treasury to stop producing new pennies. Let’s rip the waste out of our great nation’s budget, even if it’s a penny at a time.”

Each year, the costs of penny minting and circulation increase.

According to PBS, in the last fiscal year, the U.S. Mint lost $85 million purely on pennies. Each

penny costs 3.7 cents to mint — 370% of its value.

Trump’s penny-cut is a logical decision that many other countries have also made. Canada stopped minting its least valuable coin in 2012, according to CBS, and America got rid of the halfcent coin in 1857. Australia, Sweden, and New Zealand have all also eliminated their least valuable coins. Even Barack Obama expressed support for eliminating pennies in a 2013 interview with John Green.

From a financial perspective, it’s clear that we need a change in our coin market. While we have yet to see how this will develop, pennies are the first step in the right direction. A penny saved is literally 3.7 pennies earned, yet nickels cost a whopping 13.8 cents to mint — 276% of their value. Removing pennies will make nickels the least valuable coin. According to NPR, eliminating pennies could lead to prices rounding up to the nearest five cents, increasing nickel production, which would cost even more than it would to continue making pennies. Dimes still cost only 5.2 cents to mint, but the price of materials continues to go up.

Kimberly Amadeo from The Balance Money pointed out that, as of today, earning one cent by stopping to pick up a penny on the sidewalk is actually a waste of time if you take longer than 5 seconds, as a minimum wage

job pays one cent every 5 seconds. Penny circulation in general has greatly subsided as the coin’s value fades with inflation.

This consistent devaluing of our coins is becoming apparent as virtual transactions become more common.

AP News pointed out that Trump may not even have the power to completely eliminate pennies if he wanted to. The president can technically order the Treasury Department to stop minting them, but only an act of Congress can officially cut pennies from circulation by declaring them no longer legal tender.

Since Trump is merely attempting to stop the production of pennies rather than halting their circulation altogether, the impact will not be as negative as naysayers claim. Instead, this is a necessary next step towards fixing our economy.

The positive effects of eliminating the penny outweigh the cons. Citizens have suggested that virtually useless coins like pennies are bothersome and time-consuming to pay with.

The loss of inconvenient pennies could reinvigorate cash transactions.

For far too long, America has been bogged down by administration and red tape, awaiting a president who will finally take real action. Trump is making the best decision he can with the information he has available right now.

Losing pennies does not mean we are losing our national identity, either. Lincoln won’t disappear from our history books just because his face isn’t around on copper. Trump is attacking reality head-on with this decision. Yet, I do sympathize with the reluctant sentimentalist. Pennies have been a staple of my life. My brother and I have amassed an expansive pressed penny collection from the countless places we’ve been. A core memory of my childhood was paying one cent to ride Sandy: the iconic brown electronic horse that is a staple of every Meijer store. But looking forward, if paying for my future children to ride Sandy with Apple Pay instead of a penny means that they will grow up in a nation with less national debt, I’ll happily make that sacrifice.

Rather than looking at the pennies as a loss of nostalgia, choose to focus on the positives. Your half-finished penny collection from fourth grade? Way more valuable now. Your kitchen junk drawer? A copper mine of national sentiment. The bottom of your purse? A museum of artifacts. Hold on to your pennies while you can. Trump isn’t forcing us into the future. He’s preparing us for the current reality, one penny at a time.

Grace Novak is a freshman studying the liberal arts.

Give contemporary art a chance

Hannah Foster Collegian Freelancer

The inability to separate artistic style from a work’s quality creates unfair criticism of contemporary art. Conservative critics often belittle abstract art and deplore its increasing popularity in the contemporary world. Abstract art may be a difficult style to understand, but that does not necessarily mean the quality of the art is bad.

Those who claim all abstract art is bad make a hasty generalization which is often based on preference. Think about it: the claim is as lazy as stating all coffee is bad simply because you don’t appreciate coffee.

Each artist has his or her own stylistic preference, and each style requires mastery. Just as it is possible for an impressionist artist to make excellent artwork through a deep understanding of the impressionist style, so an abstract artist can create beautiful abstract artwork.

Associate Professor of Art Anthony Frudakis explained how the abstract movement builds on the classical realist movement — a revelation which might be surprising to those who love to hate on contemporary art.

“Ever since prehistoric times, there’s evidence in the cave paint, not only of the bison and the deer and the horse, but also abstract characterizations of human figures,” Frudakis said.

Abstract art, which rose to popularity in the 20th and 21st centuries, is also present in other forms of art as well, such as cinema, literature, music, or theater.

“Written language itself is an abstraction,” Frudakis said. “Ever since our origins, as we move towards civilization, there’s been these two great streams of the abstract and the more realistic.” Frudakis said even his own art, which is more traditionally classical, contains abstract elements.

“As a young sculptor growing up in the midst of the popularity of abstract sculpture at the time, I never felt threatened by it,” Frudakis said. “I actually felt a certain kinship because I was not trying to create exact copies of specific models, but I was trying to create a visualizing concept that I had, which was born of imagination.”

Frudakis said famous artists, such as Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and Francesco Laurana, employed abstract elements.

Even during the Renaissance, abstract art played a pivotal role, Frudakis said.

“Francesco Laurana, an Italian Renaissance sculptor, did some beautiful female portraits carved out of Italian stone,” Frudakis said. “You can see those simple geometric shapes and yet you would recognize the person at the same time. That balancing act between nature and the abstract is what classical art sculpture is about.”

People often criticize abstract pieces because interpreting abstract art is harder

than analyzing realistic art. Just because it is difficult to understand something, however, does not mean it is bad.

Chairman and Associate Professor of Art Julio Suarez presents a vision of how an artist can achieve this balance. An artist must first master realism, and by recreating the scenes of nature, the artist learns to create good art, according to Suarez. Suarez said many modern artists skip this essential formation. As a result, many abstract artists do not create good quality art. Suarez said if modern artists master the art of the past, contemporary and abstract art will benefit.

Don’t dismiss abstract art — or contemporary art more broadly — without first understanding that it can be done well: Look for excellence in modern art before writing it off.

Hannah Foster is a freshman studying the liberal arts.

You never outgrow story time

By Brennan Berryhill Collegian Freelancer

Read a book to your teenager. Future parents might gawk at that sentence. Isn’t a teenager too old for something as childish as his parents reading to him? Current parents might blanch as well, believing they’ve done their time. Shouldn’t fighting a decade in the trenches of the ABC’s and children’s literature be enough to set a kid on the right track? Reading to children is a great first step in their education: Studies confirm that children whose parents read books to them frequently have much better literacy and educational outcomes. There is no reason to stop this trend in the teenage years, however. Nobody is too old to have a book read to them.

Take it from a teenager who is grateful that his parents did this.

For years, my dad read the Harry Potter series to my brother and me. We began the first book when I was 9 and my brother was 11, the same age as Harry, and we continued each year as we grew up with the protagonist. The series remains one of my favorites to this day. More important to me than the words

on the page, though, are the memories with my brother and dad. At the age when parents are desperately looking for ways to stay in touch with their children, bonding with parents over books is fantastic quality time for teenagers. It also creates common ground. While there is a natural divide between generations, shared experience can bridge that gap. In the same way that social media and meme culture cultivate a shared identity among teenagers, stories form a common vocabulary among readers.

Do you grok?

No, I’m not talking about Elon Musk’s attempt at creating an AI overlord; I’m referencing Robert Heinlein’s “Stranger in a Strange Land” — a classic I wouldn’t have picked up if not for my dad. Renowned novels like Frank Herbert’s “Dune,” Isaac Asimov’s “Foundation,” and Tom Clancy’s “The Hunt for Red October” became part of my repertoire because my dad had a wealth of book knowledge he wanted to share. As a young teen, I never would have pulled these titles off the shelf on my own. Even if I had, I wouldn’t have possessed the stamina to finish them. Since my dad kept us disciplined, I finished nu -

merous classics that I’m so grateful to have encountered, and I strengthened my reading muscles to take on dense and difficult books. Reading to teenagers grows their literary horizons, exposes them to new ideas, and gives them a sense of accomplishment.

As important as the reading time is, what the reading replaces is just as important.

Psychology Today says teenagers aged 13-18 spend 8.5 hours a day on screen-based media on average. That’s more than half their waking lives. Half an hour with a dusty paperback novel is a great way to break teenagers’ phone-induced fugue state. If they can’t wrench themselves away from screens for even a moment, there’s always Kindle. Parents reading to their teenagers makes the time consistent as well. A kid may pick up a book on his or her own every now and then, but parents can make it a habit. That means time purposefully set aside to build the intellect and imagination. My dad read to me nearly every night, whether it was a book I enjoyed or disliked. Reading together is consistent family time.

The kids aren’t the only ones who reap benefits. For parents, reading to teenagers is an opportunity to pick up

a favorite read they haven’t had the time or occasion to reopen. Reading “Go Dog Go” to a demanding fouryear-old might get tiresome quickly, but timeless works like “To Kill a Mockingbird” age as well as Tom Cruise. My dad loved the opportunity to relive classic stories with me and my brother as we experienced the twists and turns of his favorite novels for the first time.

Among the foremost debts I owe my parents are the nights I spent listening to my dad read stories — from my first tottering steps to the day I left for Hillsdale College. Without that investment, I wouldn’t have all of the smiles, inside jokes, and memories with my family which those nights of reading aloud created. I’m a reader: that’s important to my identity, and I owe it to my parents, who never stopped being readers themselves.

I plan to read books to my future kids for as long as they are under my roof. You should consider doing the same.

Work for change in public schools

By Skye Graham Collegian Reporter

The Nation’s report card, also known as the National Assessment of Educational Progress, shows a decline in reading scores among children in America. Between 2022 and 2024, not a single state saw improvement in reading scores.

As literacy rates continue to decline in the United States, young people are struggling to complete their education, get jobs, and meaningfully contribute to society. The literacy crisis in America is only becoming worse, and it’s time that all Americans — Christians and conservatives included — begin to invest time and energy into revitalizing the public school system.

It’s easy to look at the state of education, conclude public education is broken beyond repair, and retreat into the world of homeschooling,

private, or charter schools. Over 80% of children in the United States are in the public education system, however, and those children deserve a chance at high-quality education just as much as everyone else.

If Christians and conservatives continue to retreat from public education without attempting to help those still in the system, we risk producing a generation of children raised by public schools with declining literacy rates and lack of guidance. There are still millions of children attending public schools: The question of whether they can read has a major impact on everyone, no matter the school system.

The solution to declining literacy is not to send more students into the public education system. Yet reform is possible. For the good of future generations, we should resist the urge to hide in a private or

homeschool bubble.

As much as conservatives complain about kids being ruined by the public education system, what are we actually doing about it? In each community, citizens can attend and speak at school board meetings or tutor at local schools. Helping to solve the literacy crisis in the United States could be as easy as researching candidates for school board and being informed when you show up to vote.

Everyone has different talents, skill sets, and abilities that they can contribute to help improve public education in their own community. For some, helping solve the literacy crisis might look like going into the public education system as a career rather than teaching at a school that aligns with their values. For others, it may look like volunteering, or simply acknowledging the

harsh odds that many students in America are dealing with.

As college students in a place like Hillsdale, many of us were raised with the privilege of attending schools that gave us the headstart we needed to learn how to read and write well and supplied us with the tools we needed to succeed here. We should appreciate the opportunities we’ve been given, but also recognize that we are immensely lucky to have gotten to the place we are.

We don’t have to volunteer at the local schools every week to care about the declining literacy rates in this country, but deeming public education a useless cause is one way to increase the gaps in literacy rates, and is no solution to the education crisis this country is facing.

Skye Graham is a sophomore studying history.

Physical media keeps us human

By Charlotte Knobloch Collegian Freelancer

Rather than helping people through increased media exposure, digitized media robs us of deep experiences. Yet omnipresent as digital media is, it will never usurp physical, tangible media.

Surprising though it may seem at first, generations with no memory of a pre-digital world value owning physical media as much as older generations. This signals that physical media’s presence is still valuable in and of itself.

Annotating in a novel’s margins is meaningful. Leaving fingerprints on a record sleeve is beautiful. Putting a piece of yourself and your art into the same space creates a deep connection.

Ethan Stoneman, chairman and associate professor of rhetoric and media, affirmed physical media’s importance in the 21st century. Rather than being outdated, he said physical media is irreplaceable.

“Material engagement anchors memory and knowledge and does so in a way that digital formats simply cannot match,” Stoneman said.

Stoneman explained that engaging with a personal copy of a physical medium allows greater privacy and autonomy free from an algorithm’s manipulation. What we view online is carefully curated to display the content the server wants us to see. The Top 10 featured Netflix films are there to keep you binge-watching. Using physical media gives you control and focus.

“One of the most relevant forms of physical media today is the book,” Stoneman said. “A printed book carries marks of use — creases, annotations, a distinct history, et cetera, that an e-book can’t replicate. The tactility of books is no small thing. It allows us to foster deeper engagements with the text, from the act of turning pages and marking passages to physically handling the book. That all works to create a unique, embodied experience.”

Physical media also gives you a level of sensory engagement unavailable with digital versions. Humans spend hours organizing DVD cabinets and CD collections. They drive to stores to peruse books on sale. The visual memory of starting a DVD or

holding a book aids memory.

Ownership of physical media is growing, possibly because younger generations view the act of collecting as a hobby. Because physical media isn’t the only option, many people have taken up using it as a hobby. Vinyl record fanatics search through bins of 25 cent vinyl. Cassette fans start collecting, even before they have a tape recorder. And some people still hold onto their sleeves of early 2000s CDs. Collecting media connects us to the art more completely than digital media.

Freshman Ross Phelps makes the conscious decision to use tangible media, despite the higher utility of digital alternatives. He’s often clacking on an old typewriter, pushing through the inefficiency to retain the physical experience.

“I believe digital media is an addition, not a replacement,” Phelps said. “I am a fan of physical media, whether that be a hardcover book over a Kindle read, vinyl or cassettes over Spotify, or in my unusual case, using typewriters over computers.” Ross said physical media offers something entirely different from anything digitized. Physical media can be impractical. It is often fragile, untidy, and difficult to use.

“But that’s what I believe people underestimate,” Ross said. “There is a connection that you have now between these activities that you would miss entirely had you not gone for the physical alternative. This, in my opinion, is the reason why I am very careful about choosing utility over everything else. Because that ‘everything else’ is often what makes that activity human.” Physical media keeps us connected to our history. While digital alternatives are helpful, innovation has its limits. When given the opportunity to buy the hard copy, use the disc, or take notes on paper, do it. Scrapbook rather than using digital photo albums. Send physical love letters instead of lengthy texts. It makes you more human.

Enough about aviation crashes: End the blame game

By Lewis Thune Collegian Reporter

Anyone paying attention to the news the past couple of weeks has probably concluded that there’s “something going on” with aviation right now. This year has already seen two high-profile wrecks in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., and a miraculously non-fatal accident in Toronto. The same people who’ve caught a whiff of “something going on” have seen a series of potential culprits crop up: Boeing, diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, the Department of Government Efficiency, and the Federal Aviation Administration, to name a few. Simply put, however, these are bad-faith scapegoats: something is not going on. What no one seems to observe is that strapping into an oversized metal straw and hurtling through the stratosphere doesn’t require malicious conspiracy or criminal negligence to be dangerous. One need only look at American pop culture to see the havoc aviation accidents have wreaked over the decades: Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, Jim Croce, Aaliyah, Roberto Clemente, Kobe Bry-

ant, Roy Halladay, and John F. Kennedy Jr. all died in aviation wrecks. Flying is dangerous for a species that can’t fly. There are certainly problems in American aviation, and they should be fixed. The FAA must function more efficiently. Boeing must impose rigorous quality control. DEI initiatives shouldn’t apply to pilot selection. None of these, however, can make flying safe. Much like cars, planes will continue to crash so long as we use them. It’s a risk passengers knowingly take.

The real “something going on” has less to do with

aviation and more to do with the American willingness to play an increasingly tone-deaf blame game. It blew this whole plane crash problem out of proportion in hours. Before the bodies from the Washington, D.C., collision were out of the Potomac River and identified, high-profile social media accounts on the left (Dreamleaf) and right (DC Draino) began debating whether it was President Donald Trump who was to blame for the ordeal or DEI policies.

The too-common reaction of self-flagellatory public grandstanding has also got to

go. There were 67 victims of the Washington, D.C., collision, and none among them were white pilots DEI-ed out of a job, or recently-fired FAA airport safety personnel. Members of the chronically online commentariat class perpetually insinuate otherwise during their performative sackcloth-and-ashes routines about Elon Musk or women in the military. It’s an insult to those who perished when spectators immediately begin jockeying for the position atop their graves to deliver an emotionally-charged policy debate. According to the National

Transportation Safety Board database, the United States sees more than 1,000 aviation accidents every year, and with 99 in two months, we’ve actually had fewer than expected at this point in the year, albeit with increased fatalities. To be precise, the degree of “something going on” is fewer planes crashing — in fact, the fewest ever fatal crashes on record — but with higher than average total deaths due to the 67 fatalities from the DC passenger airliner. While these are tragedies, the fact that planes crash and that plane crashes can kill varying amounts of people is not shock-

ing. It is a particularly ugly reminder that a mildly dangerous activity is, in fact, mildly dangerous, but it shouldn’t be enough to whip the socialverse into a panic about flying. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what this ordeal is: panic. So long as it leverages tragedies to shame people who have nothing to do with the wreck, it’s not a particularly moral panic, either. Don’t fall for this panic. Support FAA reforms, better quality control, and cuts to counter-productive programs. Have policy debates at the proper time in the proper place. But recognize that nothing you can do will ever make flying safe. On our end, the real answer is to step away from the blame game and grandstanding. Instead, opt for sorrow and mourn the lives lost and families broken. If we can’t give the victims that, we’ve got a bigger tragedy on our hands.

Charlotte Knobloch is a freshman studying the liberal arts.

Lewis Thune is a junior studying politics.

Illustrated by Maggie O’Connor.

Brennan Berryhill is a sophomore studying English.

City News

St. Joe’s expands menu, starts sourdough service

The pizza shop now offers counter-service lunch and subscriptions for fresh bread

By Sarah Katherine Sisk & Kamden Mulder Senior Reporter & Features Editor

Local pizza restaurant St. Joe’s Café has expanded its menu and hours, as well as introduced a sourdough bread subscription service after a successful first couple of months, according to owners Joshua and Hannah Mincio.

The expanded menu now offers lunch service in addition to dinner, which was previously the only option since the restaurant’s late October opening.

“When we first opened, it was just for dinner, and so I think a lot of people saw it as a dinner restaurant,” Joshua Mincio said. “Our lunch is a lot more casual. It’s a lot faster than our dinner. It’s quick counter service.”

The counter-service lunch offers Roman-style pizza — a thick ciabatta crust with American toppings such as pepperoni and sausage — as well as salads and Italian street sandwiches.

“We designed it to be more in tune with the rhythm of people’s days, because not eve-

ryone can just blow an hour on lunch,” Hannah Mincio said. “As nice as it would be to live in a world like that, we need to make something that’s quick, easy, really inexpensive, and you won’t be sleepy after you eat it.”

The Mincios said St. Joe’s has become a hub for local workers on their lunch break in Hillsdale.

John Biscaro ’22 and wine director for Dante’s, said he frequents St. Joe’s on his lunch hour.

“They do a really good job,” Biscaro said. “They have really

awesome prices for lunch, especially. All of this stuff is made from scratch, and it’s really refreshing.”

St. Joe’s offers two lunch specials — the “One Slice Special” and “Two Slice Special” — which include Roman-style pizza, a side salad, and a drink or dessert.

Upon introducing the lunch menu, St. Joe’s also expanded its hours to include lunchtime Tuesday through Saturday, as well as temporarily extended dinner hours for the upcoming Hillsdale College Parents’ Weekend.

“Our first Parents’ Weekend was crazy. We felt bad because we had to turn away a lot of people,” Hannah Mincio said. “That’s the most heartbreaking feeling.”

St. Joe’s will be open from 4:30-10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday this week, an hour and a half longer than usual, to accommodate larger crowds.

“We’re gonna stay open later and open a little bit earlier because we’ve already had a lot of people asking, ‘I’m coming to visit my daughter, can I have a reservation?’” Hannah Mincio said. “Hopefully, we can see more people.”

In addition to lunch and dinner, St. Joe’s introduced a sourdough bread subscription, allowing patrons to pick up a loaf of traditional sourdough for $6 each week.

Hillsdale grad lifts new Michigan Republican Party chair to victory

By Thomas McKenna City News Editor

An endorsement from Hillsdale alumnus Joseph Cella ’91 lifted State Sen. Jim Runestad to victory at the Michigan Republican Party convention contest for chairman Feb. 22 in Detroit.

“He values the importance of being a bridge-builder and a sense of unity,” Cella told The Collegian. “He will focus on raising the money and getting the candidates elected in a laser-like fashion, and I cannot say the same at all for our former opponent.”

Former party co-chair Meshawn Maddock was endorsed by President Donald Trump in a Truth Social post the day before the convention. But after Cella earned 23% of the vote in the first round, he dropped out and endorsed Runestad, RWhite Lake, who received 46%. With Cella’s support, Runestad won the next round of voting with 63% of the delegates. Maddock garnered 37%.

“Unfortunately, President

“The heart behind the bread subscription program is that we wanted good bread to be accessible. Right now, from a financial and practical perspective, a lot of people are too busy to make their own bread,” Hannah Mincio said.

“The good thing about having a commercial kitchen is you can make a lot of bread at once.

That means you can sell it at a lower price and hopefully fill that need.”

Biscaro said he participates in the sourdough service and picks up his loaf every week.

nominee for ambassador to Canada — to block a Chinabased company’s construction of an electric vehicle battery plant in Big Rapids, Michigan, which the two former ambassadors said posed a national security threat.

Cella received a Distinguished Alumnus Award from Hillsdale College in 2023 for Outstanding Professional Achievement in American Diplomacy. His eldest daughter is a sophomore at the college, and another will attend in the fall.

The party’s leadership and finances were in shambles a little over a year ago after lackluster fundraising by party chairwoman Kristina Karamo left the state party strapped for cash and deep in debt, according to the Detroit News.

Trump has been getting bad advice in Michigan in recent years,” Cella said in a Facebook post. “This is certainly another case of that.”

current Michigan Republican Chairman Pete Hoekstra

“He values the importance of being a bridge-builder and a sense of unity.”

— a former ambassador to the Netherlands and Trump’s

Cella said he may serve in an informal advisory role for the party. As Runestad takes over, Cella said he hopes his leadership would help the party overcome past infighting.

“It is one step further past that highly-visible, highlycharged tumult, chaos, and drama that I hope and pray does not return,” Cella said.

Hillsdale County Republican chairman Brent Leininger said last week most Hillsdale delegates would support Cella, and College President Larry Arnn endorsed Cella for chairman.

“Joe Cella is a splendid man, citizen, husband, father, and Republican,” Arnn said in a statement. “He will be a faithful and effective state chairman. Michigan needs him. I urge you to support him.”

After serving as ambassador to Fiji in the first Trump administration, Cella returned to Michigan and worked with

“With the bread subscription, your loaf is the loaf you’re gonna get. And then you save a little bit of money, too.”

The Mincios said they are grateful for the patience the community has shown as they continue to grow.

“It’s been nice because people have been pretty patient with the fact that we didn’t have appetizers for the first couple of months,” Hannah said. “It’s getting to feel like a more well-rounded restaurant as time goes on.”

“A lot of times we sell out of bread, and then people come in and they’re so sad because we don’t have any bread to give them,” Hannah Mincio said.

Council raises rates for Dial-a-Ride

By Isabella Doer Senior Reporter

The Hillsdale City Council approved a fare increase for its Dial-A-Ride service as city officials strive to cover a funding gap caused by inflation and a drop in money from the Michigan Department of Transportation.

Dial-A-Ride has provided subsidized transportation for Hillsdale residents for decades, Ward 4 Councilman Robert Socha said. But over the past three years, declining state contributions have forced the city to cover the shortfall through its general fund. To ease this financial strain and make the service more self-sustaining, the city is hiking fares.

City Manager David Mackie said fare rates are typically reviewed as part of the city’s annual budget process.

“The City of Hillsdale has the authority to set Dial-ARide fare rates based on local needs and considerations,” Mackie said. “When setting fares, the city considers the operational needs of Dial-ARide alongside the funding it receives from state and federal sources to help offset service costs for Hillsdale residents. In recent years, state funding for this service has declined significantly.”

Under the new schedule, in-town fares for adults will rise from $3.50 to $5, and fares for children, students, seniors, and individuals with disabilities will climb from $2 to $2.50. For trips to or from designated out-oftown locations, adult fares will move from $5 to $6 with corresponding increases for other riders.

While Hillsdale sets its Dial-A-Ride rates locally, Mackie also said certain exceptions — such as Michigan Department of Transportation caps on peak-hour fares for seniors and individuals with disabilities — still apply.

The proposal for the fare increase was set in motion

when Acting Mayor Joshua Paladino sought to lower the city’s general fund contribution to the upcoming fiscal year Dial-A-Ride budget.

“The City Council referred the proposal to both the Dial-A-Ride Local Advisory Committee and the council’s standing Public Services Committee for further discussion,” Mackie said. “After deliberation, both committees recommended a fare increase, effective July 1, 2025. City Council subsequently approved the increase at Monday’s meeting.” Ward 3 Councilman Gary Wolfram said the council carefully considered the adjustments.

“I agreed with the recommendation as we are trying to keep the city in strong fiscal shape, and the fare increases are not substantial,” Wolfram said. “As both of the committees that studied the issue recommended the increase, I voted to approve.” He also said that if advertising revenue meets expectations, future rate hikes may not be necessary.

Fare revenues currently account for approximately $58,000 of the service’s overall income, making up about 14% of the total budget, with a reliance on a general fund allocation of $112,623 for the fiscal year.

In addition to the fare adjustments, an advertising initiative on Dial-A-Ride bus windows is expected to generate $36,000 in supplemental revenue over the next year, according to city documents.

“This unfortunate set of events has given the Public Services Committee much to discuss and bring before the full board to help DialA-Ride become less of a burden to the general fund and hopefully self-sustaining in the future,” Socha said.

Joel and his mother, Neelam Lewis, dine in November. Christina Lewis | Collegian

Jonah Swartz pulls a pizza from the oven.

Sarah Katherine Sisk | Collegian

Cella made his case at the convention last weekend. Courtesy | Tom Nemek

Joseph Cella ’91 and his running mate, Jessica Barefield, earned 23% of delegates. Courtesy | Mindi Tietz

Council hikes airport hangar fees

By Isaac Green Managing Editor

Tenants at the Hillsdale Municipal Airport will pay 50% more to rent hangars starting this summer.

The Hillsdale City Council approved the increase in a 6-2 vote at a Feb. 3 meeting as Acting Mayor Joshua Paladino seeks to move the airport toward financial self-sufficiency. Once the change goes into effect, T-hangars will cost $150 per month to rent while the corporate hangar will cost $800 per month.

“The people of Hillsdale already pay for the airport through their state and federal taxes; they shouldn’t also have to subsidize the airport through their property taxes, especially when Hillsdale has a failing infrastructure system,” Paladino told The Collegian.

“Other airports in our classification — Coldwater, Adrian, Sturgis, Marshall — are also charging between $90 and $150/month for a T-hangar with sliding doors and a concrete slab surrounded by dirt,” Moore said.

With the added income from the new rates, the airport repairs should pay for themselves in about eight years, according to Paladino.

While he voted in favor of the 50% increase, Paladino said he originally hoped to pass a steeper rent hike, which would have set the price of T-hangars at $200 per month and corpo-

profitable, taxpayer money put toward the airport is wellspent, according to Moore. After returning from a Michigan Association of Airport Executives convention in Lansing last week, she said all of the managers she spoke with operate airports that take money from general funds.

“The community needs to know that the Hillsdale Municipal Airport is the ‘front door’ to our town and makes a very good first impression on those wanting to do business here,” Moore said. Even if you personally do not use the airport, you may be profiting by businesses who have invested in the town.”

“The rental rates hadn’t changed for some time, despite inflation, and the hangars have been upgraded.”

The move comes weeks after the council approved $105,000 in repairs to the airport’s Thangars, a factor that Ward 2 Councilman William Morrisey said played a role in the decision.

“The rental rates hadn’t changed for some time, despite inflation, and the hangars have been upgraded, so an increase was justified,” Morrisey said.

Hillsdale Municipal Airport Manager Ginger Moore said she thinks the rent hike will be a fair price once the repairs are completed.

rate hangars at $900 per month.

The proposal would have covered the cost of the hangar repairs in three to four years, according to Paladino.

“I believe the higher rates are viable because both the airport manager and the city manager conceded that, one, there’s a waiting list for airport hangars, and two, hangar tenants keep their leases for years after securing a hangar,” Paladino said. “This indicates a market demand that exceeds supply.”

While the goal should be to make the airport efficient and

‘At

Paladino said his goal is for the airport to become “revenue neutral,” sustaining itself like a private business.

“If the airport were selfsustaining, then Hillsdale’s citizens wouldn’t have to contribute any money to support it,” Paladino said.

“The airport will still get all the benefits of being publicly owned — tax-exempt status and massive state and federal grants.”

Even with this goal in mind, Paladino said he is willing to be flexible.

“The airport might lose money in a year,” Paladino said. “That’s fine, but it’s commonsense public policy that we should strive to have publicly owned businesses take as little from the taxpayers as possible.”

Local student heading to West Point

By Daniel Johnson Collegian Reporter

A local high school student was accepted to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, after receiving a call from his U.S. representative Jan. 6. Miles Brown, a senior at Hillsdale High School, checked his phone to find a voicemail from Rep. Tim Walberg, RMichigan, who said Brown had been accepted.

“Just listening to that message, a sense of relief came to me,” Brown said. “The work I put in had finally made its way back.”

Getting into West Point marked the achievement of a life-long dream, he said.

“I’ve always wanted to be an ‘Army man,’ just like my dad and my grandfather,” Brown said. “I’ve carried this passion throughout my life; carefully planning my future to accomplish this goal of being in the Army.”

According to Brown’s mother, Sabrina Brown, this passion for military discipline was evident from a young age.

“In elementary school, he was never one who had to be told to do school work before playing because he would just come home and do it,” Sabrina Brown said. “He was very organized and liked to have structure, which is why I believe he’s always gravitated toward the

idea of being in the military.”

John Petersen, a friend of Brown’s since second grade, said joining the Army has been Brown’s longtime goal.

“Ever since I’ve known him, he’s been dead set on joining the military,” Petersen said. “He’s always been a hard worker, which really came to light when he started wrestling his sophomore year. He had never done it before, and yet he persevered through every tough practice.”

According to Brown, his choice to apply to West Point naturally arose from his military goals and mindset.

“It just made sense for me to try to get into USMA because I was gonna go into the military anyways,” Brown said. “That and the requirements needed to be a competitive applicant, I made it my goal to get in.”

The application process was challenging and extensive, according to Brown. Part of the process required earning a nomination from a national-level political leader.

Brown said West Point will allow him to aid a greater mission.

“The academy is also an opportunity to be part of something much bigger than myself, by incorporating me into a long standing tradition and alumni network known as the long gray line,” Brown said. “‘Duty, honor, and country’ is

the motto at West Point.”

According to Petersen, Brown’s acceptance made a lot of sense.

“When Miles got accepted into West Point, it really came at no surprise to me because of how hard he works and how determined he has been for such a long time,” Petersen said. “He deserves the acceptance, and West Point is lucky to have a hard-working American like Miles.”

Sabrina Brown said she is proud of her son for accomplishing his life-long goal.

“As he entered high school and the military academy became a very big part of his future plans, I was so impressed with him and his determination to work toward his future goals, and now all his hard work has paid off,” she said. “I am so overjoyed and I couldn’t be more proud.”

Brown said his participation in this tradition will help him become a better man as he learns to be a strong leader.

“Overall, the academy will challenge me to become the best version of myself, through selfless commitment to not only a school and career, but also to a longstanding heritage of soldiers, leaders, and individuals in this country,” Brown said. “It answers my long-awaited ambition to be an Army man.”

Citizen petition fails to stop Barry Street road repairs

The council will hold a hearing March 3

By Christina Lewis Assistant Editor

The Hillsdale City Council rejected a petition last week from Barry Street homeowners to opt out of the city‘s road repair program because they submitted a single document rather than a set of individual letters.

The City of Hillsdale uses SADs to fund road repairs by requiring homeowners on the designated street to pay up to $5,000 for the construction unless more than half of the residents on the street ask to opt out. One Barry Street homeowner, Timothy Polelle

‘19, gathered signatures from a majority of his neighbors, but the city council said each resident must submit their own letter to make the rejection valid.

Since the petition was considered invalid, a majority of Barry Street residents would need to write individual letters to reject the proposal before the city council‘s March 3 public hearing on the Barry Street SAD. Even if enough residents write in opposition, the council can still override the rejection with a 7-1 vote.

Acting Mayor Joshua Paladino said the city’s charter does not allow for a group petition.

“The charter says the owners ‘shall object in writing,’ and city staff is interpreting that to mean that homeowners must send individual letters objecting to the assessment,” Paladino told The Collegian last week. “A petition, in their view, doesn’t meet the charter’s objection for a valid objection.” Paladino said only property owners, not tenants, can object to the proposal in writing or in person.

“So if anyone from Barry Street is listening, the petition is not valid,” Paladino said at the Feb. 17 City Council meeting.

Repair shops see winter jump in battery issues, advise regular driving

By Francesca Cella Collegian Reporter

Students should drive their cars more often to prevent battery failure in the winter, according to Robert Schuman, owner of Glory to God Auto Repair.

With February’s temperatures hitting as low as 2 below zero, Hillsdale auto repair shop employees said they have noticed an uptick in weatherrelated repairs, often connected with car battery failure. Students who keep vehicles on campus and drive infrequently in the winter are more prone to have car issues.

“Just activating that battery and getting a little bit more charge back into it would definitely help,” Schuman said. “That way when they want to leave for the weekend, or some break coming up, they’re ready to go.”

Other mechanics also said they saw more battery issues in the cold weather.

“With winter time we’re certainly seeing a lot of battery replacements,” said Chelsi Dryer, owner of Parney’s Car Care. “The harsh cold is really tough on those batteries. This is the time of year that you’ll do more battery replacements, a lot of wiper blades, and tires.”

When vehicles don’t start in low temperatures, it’s generally because of a battery issue, according to Mathew McLain, manager at Phat Jaxx Automotive LLC.

“When everything is cold, it takes more juice, more amperage to get it to start,” McLain said. “So if the battery’s subpar to begin with and it gets real cold, then it won’t start.”

Aside from weather-related maintenance, winter also brings in more inconsistent business for auto repair shops.

“The only time business is different is from mid-No-

vember to the first of the year just because of the holidays,” McLain said. “And it’s not always real slow or real busy, it’s just kind of up and down for that six weeks or so.”

Schuman said he sees a dip in business post-Christmas, with clients reluctant to bring a car in for repairs unless absolutely necessary.

“People spend all their money on Christmas, so sometimes they don’t want to get their car fixed in January,” Schuman said. “If their car breaks, they don’t really have an option, they have to get it fixed, but if there’s something they can put off for a while, we see that happen a lot.”

Business fluctuates for Parney’s throughout the year, according to Dryer.

“The animal of the auto repair industry is that it truly does ebb and flow,” Dryer said.

“It’s really hard to hit any sort of pattern because cars just don’t break certain things based on weather, and maintenance needs come at a mileage interval, not at a season interval.”

Since COVID-19, Schuman said he’s seen a delay in the arrival of car parts that used to be available overnight, but now take an extra day to arrive.

“I’m not exactly sure what the cause is, but my opinion would be just a lack of workforce slows things down,” Schuman said. “It’s better than it was then, obviously, because nobody was working, but it just hasn’t regained the level it was before.”

Slower supply does not affect repair shops much, other than the inconvenience it causes to customers, according to Schuman.

Although electric vehicles are slowly becoming more common, repair shops say they

have not seen many come in for repairs. Schuman said he will fix tires and brakes on electric vehicles, but he sends electrical repairs back to the dealer because of the technicality and high voltage involved.

While most car batteries contain roughly 12 volts of power, electric vehicles can carry up to 800 volts.

“You have to take a lot of precautions,” Schuman said. “If they have to go into an electric vehicle, they have to rope off two service bays to keep people out and to keep just one guy working.”

Auto repair shops are also concerned about an issue classified under the Right to Repair Act, involving repair shops’ abilities to access information necessary for completing repairs.

“The auto manufacturers would like for us not to be able to repair their vehicles,” McLain said. “And that wouldn’t just mean me as a locally owned and operated business, but the purchaser who owns this.” McLain said manufacturers have been increasingly restricting their access to software, requiring a dealership to complete repairs as simple as a brake job. As spring approaches, so does Michigan pothole season, often increasing suspension and brake work in repair shops, according to Dryer.

“Suspension, brake components, that wear happens mile by mile,” Dryer said. “They cannot be avoided, but they can certainly be postponed by driving your vehicle a little bit more gingerly and not beating the crumb out of it.”

last’: A new Aldi store, located across from Meijer at Moore Road and West Carleton Road, will open March 13. Christina Lewis | Collegian

Hillsdale High School senior Miles Brown will attend West Point. Courtesy | Facebook

Chargers sweep on the road

By Tayte Christensen

Assistant Editor

Charger women’s tennis

beat both the Purdue University Northwest Lions and the University of Illinois-Springfield Prairie Stars on the road Feb. 22 and 23, winning 5-2 and 4-1, respectively.

Sophomore Ané Dannhauser won Great Midwest Athletic Conference women’s Tennis Player of the Week after going undefeated over the weekend.

“I was not expecting to be player of the week, but it was such a nice way to end the weekend,” Dannhauser said.

The Chargers won every doubles match against Purdue Northwest on Saturday.

No. 1 doubles pair Dannhauser and senior Courtney Rittel beat out the Lions 6-4. No. 3 pair juniors Megan Hackman and Bella Spinazze followed suit.

“Megan and I played classic, textbook doubles,” Spinazze said. “We took over the net and dominated the match. I am so proud of her and our whole team.”

In No. 2 doubles, senior Libby McGivern and fresh-

Games

Battleships

Difficulty:

There are four ships of length

1 (. ), three ships of length 2 (◀ ▶), two ships of length 3 (◀ ■ ▶), and one ship of length 4 (◀ ■ ■ ▶). Each ship is surrounded by empty water on all sides, including diagonally; no two ships touch or intersect. The numbers along the border indicate how many ship pieces appear in that row or column.

Minidoku

Difficulty:

Each row, column, and bolded 3×2 region contains one each of 1–6.

man Briana Rees managed a narrow 7-6 win.

In singles against the Lions, the Chargers won four sets and lost two.

In No. 1 singles, Dannhauser fought for a 6-0, 6-4 victory.

“Singles was also very tough, but I really enjoyed the fight,” Dannhauser said.

“I thought I was in trouble in the first set, but then everything just clicked, and it was an amazing match.”

No. 2 McGivern and No. 3 Rees also pulled off close wins, going 6-4, 6-4 and 6-3, 6-4, respectively. In No. 5 singles, freshman Julia Zlateva added to the Chargers’ singles victories with a 6-2, 6-4 finish.

Rittel and Hackman fell short in singles play, with Rittel losing 5-7, 3-6, while Hackman fell in the only singles match of the weekend to go to three sets, losing 2-6, 7-6, 1-10.

The Chargers swept in doubles against the Prairie Stars on Sunday, with No. 2 pair McGivern and Rees taking a 7-5 win and No. 1 doubles team Dannhauser and Rittel winning 6-3, extending

their undefeated streak this season.

“Ané and I played probably the best doubles that we have all semester,” Rittel said. “Ané’s incredible shots at the baseline and my ability to pick off volleys let us beat both teams.”

In singles, the Chargers quickly earned the wins needed to seal their victory over the Prairie Stars with Dannhauser cruising to a 7-5, 6-3 victory and Rees taking a 6-3, 6-0 win. McGivern fell 2-6, 3-6 but Hackman’s default win at No. 6 singles earned the win for the Chargers.

“This weekend went better than we ever could have hoped for,” Dannhauser said. “Hopefully we can keep building on this performance.”

The Chargers now sit at 5-3 on the season and will face the No. 14 Wayne State University Warriors at the Margot V. Biermann Athletic Center Feb. 28.

Sports Feature

Kirner is Coach of the Year

By Ty Ruddy Assistant Editor

Head swim coach Kurt

Kirner won his fifth Great Midwest Athletic Conference Coach of the Year award in seven years on Feb. 15. On the podium, alongside his assistant coach, Alissa Lufkin, ‘16, he pointed to his team across the pool.

“When I get a coach of the year award, a lot of it really has to do with how my team presents themselves,” Kirner said. “I don’t know if I’m doing that much differently than a lot of coaches out there, but it’s great when these things happen.”

The Chargers placed second in the G-MAC Championship with strong performances from seniors Elise Mason and Megan Clifford. Mason credited Kirner for his willingness to develop his athletes as people.

“Coach has worked with me over the past four years to be a better swimmer, but most importantly he wants each member of the team to grow in character and to represent Hillsdale well,” Mason said.

Kirner began his career as a swim coach in 1975 at his local swim club in Wisconsin when he was just 15 years old. He said he worked for free.

“Back in those days if it was something you loved doing, you did it,” Kirner said. “Now it’s my 50th year

of coaching.”

Even after having coached for so long, he tries his best to keep in contact with his athletes. He said he likes to see where his swimmers end up and always appreciates their interest in his career as well.

“When I won last weekend I posted on Facebook. The first comment was from a former athlete that said ‘you’ll always be coach to us,’” Kirner said. “Just this week I wished one of my athletes a happy 57th birthday. So it’s been a remarkable journey.”

Kirner’s collegiate coaching career began at Lawrence University in 1991 in his home state of Wisconsin. He coached 16 seasons for the Vikings. Although he liked Lawrence, by 2006 he knew it was time for something different. He moved to Hillsdale in 2007 to take over the program for the Chargers.

During the same year, John Tharp, who now serves as the director of athletics at Hillsdale College, moved from Lawrence University and became the men’s basketball head coach at Hillsdale. The two have remained good friends.

“Kurt is an amazing guy and a great coach, too. He cares about people, he cares about his swimmers and so he’s been a great colleague these past 31 years,” Tharp said. “This award is the sort of thing you like to see: good

things happening to good people.”

In addition to coaching, Kirner also keeps a full load of classes each semester. He teaches sports psychology and said he’s able to put awards like this one into perspective with his experience.

“Coach of the Year breaks down into two components: how well can I motivate my athletes, and how well can I build the character of my athletes,” Kirner said. “Our opponents always notice how well the team carries itself and they appreciate the tenacity in the pool.”

Kirner said he tries to keep the program centered on faith and focused on the swimmers. As a sports psychologist, he is able to meet his swimmers where they are and implement strategies for success in and out of the pool.

“Positive psychology is set around the growth mindset, asking ‘how can I make people better,’” Kirner said. “From day one we try to build that into our image and our practice.” Ultimately, Kirner said, Coach of the Year is about the swimmers and the college.

“Swimming is about competing with one another, not necessarily against one another, and it’s about building each other up in the process,” Kirner said. “The athletes have as much to do with that as I do.”

Hillsdale begins season at home with clean sweep

By Alex Deimel Senior Reporter

The Hillsdale shotgun team opened its spring season by beating Ferris State University, Grace College, and Michigan State University at the Hillsdale College Shotgun Invitational Feb. 22.

The top five Chargers in each event shot a total of 1,061 targets between singles trap, doubles trap, doubles skeet, and 5-stand events, beating out second place Grace College by 142 targets. Hillsdale won trap doubles by 61 targets, trap singles by 17, skeet by 40, and 5-stand by 23 total targets, beating second place overall Grace College in each category.

Senior Josh Corbin took first place overall, hitting 216 total targets. Corbin won the trap doubles event outright, hitting 97/100 targets, and took second place overall in both 5-stand and skeet.

“This shoot is always our first spring event,” senior Gavin Drill said. “It’s important for us to get comfortable with competition again and it helps us identify what we need to work on for our upcoming shoots.”

Senior Jonathan Calabrese and junior Jordan

Sapp tied for second place overall, each hitting 210 total targets. Calabrese took second in both singles and doubles trap, hitting 94/100 targets in doubles and 49/50 in singles.

“The competition at this shoot is a good starting point, but I’m very much looking forward to the competition we will face this weekend,” Calabrese said. “It will be a great test for us to face some of the best teams in the country and get fully prepared for nationals in March.”

Sapp took first place in 5-stand with a perfect 25/25 score, with Corbin and Calabrese taking second and third, respectively. Senior Leif Andersen took first overall in singles trap with a perfect 50/50. The Charger men took first, second, and third place in every event except for singles trap, where two Grace College shooters tied for third overall.

Also competing for the Chargers on the men’s side were sophomores Alex Hoffman and Luke Johnson, as well as junior Davis Hay and senior Kyle Fleck. Hay finished in first in doubles skeet, hitting 49/50 total targets, and finished in fourth overall between all four events with 205 total.

“It was a pretty good showing this weekend,” Hay said. “We won just about every event. Personally, I could have done better but it gave me some things I can improve on going into regionals.”

The Chargers also took the top three positions for the women overall, with senior Jessica Strasser taking first with 200 total targets shot, while sophomores Madeline Corbin and Ava Downs took second and third, respectively. Strasser and freshman Marin McKinney tied for first overall among the women in singles trap, each hitting 49/50 targets, while freshman Taylor Dale finished right behind them with a score of 48/50, which was good for third place.

The Chargers will begin their first road trip of 2025 this weekend, heading to Sparta, Illinois, for the ACUI/SCTP Program Spring Central Midwest Conference Championship, running from Feb. 28-March 2. Hillsdale will then head to the ACUI/SCTP National Championship in San Antonio, Texas from March 1523, where the Chargers will look to repeat as national champions.

Math Maze

Sudoku

Assistant coach Alissa Lufkin and head coach Kurt Kirner accept the G-MAC coach's award. COURTESY | Hillsdale College Swim Instagram

Softball

Hillsdale drops three on the road

By Ellie Fromm Assistant Editor

Charger softball went 2-3 over the weekend at the Lewis Dome Invite in Rosemont, Illinois. The Chargers now have an overall record of 6-7.

The Chargers beat the Minnesota State University-Moorhead Dragons 7-5 and lost to the University of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs 7-4 on Feb. 21. They then fell to the Bemidji State University Beavers 9-1, playing only six innings, on Saturday. On Sunday, they beat the Roosevelt University Lakers 5-1 and lost to the Truman State University Bulldogs 12-0, playing only five innings.

Typically the Lewis Dome Invite is a rough weekend for the Chargers, according to head coach Kyle Gross.

“Our struggles have continued there,” Gross said. “With the miscues and things like that, unfortunately, the theme for a lot of the years that we’ve been there continued.”

Senior pitcher Joni Russell returned to normal play last weekend after recovering from a shoulder injury. She was named Great Midwest Athletic Conference Softball Athlete of the Week.

“Playing again was like a breath of fresh air,” Russell said. “There was a time last fall where we thought I wouldn’t be back for the season, so every inning I get to pitch is truly a blessing.”

Gross said that, though

Track & Field

the Chargers made it on base, they were unable to capitalize and bring their runners home.

“In most of the games, we put a lot of runners on this weekend, even in the games that we lost by a lot of runs and just couldn't score,” Gross said. “We didn't execute or hit very well with two outs and those games will be lost.”

Hillsdale softball next plays in Florida over spring break. They will play a total of 10 games in Clermont, Lakeland, and Daytona Beach March 9-15.

Junior Mackenzi Maxson said she is looking forward to the games in Florida and the opportunity for the team to train with a focus.

“Everyone on our team is athletic,” Maxson said. “So if we’re able to tap all the way into that during these next two weeks and reach our athletic potential, we’ll have all parts of the game under control and working for us.”

Gross said he is excited to play in Florida and will be working on the team’s defensive skills in the time leading up to these games.

“We are committed to getting back to a more solid defense,” Gross said. “You know, every game can't be a one-hitter. Our pitcher is striking out 10, so our defense has just got to get a little stronger.”

Patriotism embodied in the rivalry of the Canada-United States games

By Elaine Kutas Collegian Reporter

Right before the puck dropped in the inaugural 4 Nations Face-Off Championship game last week, millions of television view ers were shown a scene from the movie “Miracle,” in which legendary coach Herb Brooks (Kurt Russell) gives his famous lock er-room speech to the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team: “Tonight, we are the greatest hockey team in the world.”

In the Olympic game, the Americans went on to defeat the Soviet Union in one of the greatest upsets in sports history, and at one of the most tense moments of the Cold War.

Today, the political pla cidity between the United States and Canada is heat ing up recently, painting the scene for a hockey match reminiscent of the legendary game in the 1980 Olympic games. Although nowhere near the level of 1980s political tensions, President Donald Trump’s remarks about Canada as the 51st state of the United States of America and the current debates surrounding tariff changes have caused friction in the generally peaceful relationship between the U.S. and Canada. These claims have caused Amer-

icans and Canadians alike to respond with support for their countries, support that hasn’t been seen culturally in recent years. The pinnacle of these tensions was seen, or heard,

timately lost the championship game 3-2 in overtime. The players’ dedication to their teams expresses a broader trend in the current culture: the rise of patriotism back

Montre al at Bell Centre. When the “Star Spangled Banner” began to play, boos from the Canadian fans tried to drown out the sound of their opponent's national anthem. As the puck dropped to start the game, so did USA forward Matthew Tkachuk’s gloves. The first nine seconds of the match saw three fights break out, and a message sent by the Team USA players-it was their turn to win.

The United States beat the Canadians 3-1, but ul -

“You can’t take our country — and you can’t take our game,” Trudeau posted. During the final game, held in Boston on Feb. 20, fans chanted “USA, USA,” regardless of who controlled the puck. In a pregame interview, even Tkachuk commented on the game's importance.

“This is an opportunity of a lifetime for us. I’ve played in some really big games. And this is the biggest one,” Tka -

Despite the loss for America, the display of patriotism by the players through their efforts to play hard and to fight for their country should inspire Americans to feel pride about the great nation they live in. Remembering the great victory over the Soviets in 1980 and recognizing team USA’s determination in the 4 Nations Face-Off illustrates that having pride in one’s country is important. Patriotism is truly on the rise in America.

America. The current trend and rise of patriotism in America was seen on full display through this tournament. The trend toward a more patriotic culture has been in full force since the beginning of the election campaigns and peaked this past summer in fashion with American flag sweaters sold out everywhere. But even post-election, a Trump America is showing continued support for patriotic sentiments. Canada’s defeat of the U.S. for the win prompted Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to comment on the result on X, displaying Canadians are also embracing the patriotic spirit.

Chargers dominate local schools at Hillsdale Tune-Up meet

By Joshua Mistry Collegian Reporter

The Chargers won 18 events and earned three provisional qualifying marks at the Hillsdale Tune-Up Meet on Feb 21, competing against athletes from the Albion College, Trine University, and University of Olivet.

On the track, junior Emil Schlueter won the 5,000-meter race with a time of 15:50.51.

"The home environment is always fun. It takes off a lot of the little stressors that come with traveling, and even though it was a smaller meet we had a lot of people show up to support," Schlueter said.

Sophomore Rhys Wood-

ard won the 800-meter run with a time of 2:06.36, with freshman Charlie Hipkins taking second with a time of 2:07.83. Freshman Will Winsor placed second in the 800-meter run with a personal best time of 15:55.32.

Sam Jones won the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.80.

"As we've been getting closer to conference the emphasis has been on peaking our performance by tapering our training," Jones said. "We're working hard and running fast, but making an effort to keep our legs fresh— something I, as a short sprinter, am very happy with."

Junior Anna Lamoreaux took first in both the 60-me-

ter and 200-meter dashes with personal best times of 8.02 seconds and 25.95 seconds respectively. Freshman Baelyn Zitzmann won the 60-meter hurdles with a personal best of 9.24 seconds.

Junior Francesca Federici placed second in the 200-meter dash with a time of 25.97, and junior Ameera Wilson won the 800-meter run with a time of 2:33.12.

Freshman Evelyn Overlease won the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:01.50.

"We are in one of the most competitive conferences for our division, so it will be exciting to see how it all shakes out," Overlease said.

Senior Ben Haas won both the weight throw and the shot

put with provisional qualifying marks of 21.52 meters and 17.38 meters respectively. Freshman John Heyden took third in the shot put with a throw of 13.74 meters. Senior Cass Dobrowolski won the high jump for the Chargers with a provisional mark of 2.05 meters, while freshman Zealand Tarrant took runner-up in the event with a personal best clearance of 1.70 meters.

Junior Christian Hinrichs won the long jump for the Chargers with a mark of 6.09 meters, and took second in the triple jump with a personal best mark of 13.11 meters. Senior Alfonso Garcia won the triple jump with a mark of 13.45 meters. Junior

Connor McCormick won the pole vault with a mark of 4.56 meters.

Sophomore Olivia Newsome placed third in the weight throw with a mark of 17.32 meters. Freshman Katie Kennedy won the long jump with a mark of 5.21 meters, and freshman Gianna Lodice placed second with a mark of 5.05 meters. Zitzmann won the high jump with a mark of 1.67 meters, followed by senior Reagan Dahlquist who placed second with a mark of 1.62 meters.

Senior Katie Sayles placed second in the weight throw with a mark of 17.47 meters, and third in the shot put with a mark of 13.05 meters. Junior Tara Townsend won the pole

vault with a mark of 3.87 meters, followed by senior Katie Clifford who placed second with a mark of 3.47 meters. Senior Grace Chen won the triple jump with a mark of 10.75 meters, and Kennedy placed second with a mark of 10.69 meters.

The Chargers will compete next in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Championship at Ashland University Feb 28-Mar 1.

Charger chatter

Joe ReuteR, BasketBall

What was your favorite Super Bowl advertisement from this year? Bear Fight Whiskey (because of Harvey Specter).

As a Wisconsinite, what’s your favorite kind of cheese?

Pepper Jack — a smooth cheese with a decadent kick of spice.

Compiled by Tayte Christensen

How many pairs of shoes do you own?

About 25 in total (includes casual, dress, and an overwhelmingly absurd amount of unwearable basketball shoes).

Who is your favorite Disney character?

Steve Rogers (Captain America).

Courtesy | Hillsdale College Athletic Department

Charger Sports

Women's Basketball

Ursuline and Findlay fall to red-hot Charger women

By Cassandra DeVries Collegian Reporter

The Hillsdale women’s basketball team defeated Ursuline College 74-60 at the Dawn Tibbitts Potter Arena Saturday Feb. 22 and the University of Findlay 68-57 Thursday Feb. 20.

The Chargers celebrated senior night during the game against Ursuline, presenting each of the team’s six graduating seniors with flowers and a framed jersey.

“It was very surreal,” senior Caitlin Splain said. “I've been here so long, and I've watched everyone else in front of me go through their senior days, and finally, mine was here.”

Head coach Brianna Brennan called the night bittersweet, but said the team’s season is far from over as it continues to compete in the conference tournament.

“The seniors especially just show what kind of teammates we want to be toward each other so that when times do get tough, we're able to be resilient and just have each other's back through it all,” Brennan said.

Splain said the Chargers expected to win against Ursuline.

“They were a really scrappy team and put up a good fight,” Splain said.

Sophomore Annalise Pietrzyk opened the game strong for the Chargers, hitting four 3-pointers early on.

The Chargers never lost the lead and finished with 23 points to Ursuline’s 15 in the final quarter.

Pietrzyk and Splain led the team with 17 points each. Pietrzyk also had four assists and Splain added six rebounds.

Senior Marilyn Popplewell scored 12 points and grabbed

Goda wins it all in final match

By Jamie Parsons Collegian Reporter

Freshman Rintaro Goda

led the men’s tennis team to a 4-3 victory against Goshen College Maple Leafs after securing the winning point of the match at No. 6 singles Feb. 22 in Indiana. The Chargers kept up their success on the road with a 4-3 win against the University of Illinois-Springfield Prairie Stars Feb. 23.

On Saturday, the Chargers fell behind the Maple Leafs early in the match, losing two of three doubles matches and the doubles point. Sophomore Ellis Klanduch and freshman Ryan Papazov won the only doubles match for Hillsdale with a 6-2 victory at No. 2 doubles.

At singles play, Klanduch secured a 6-2, 6-0, victory at No.1 singles, freshman Eddie Bergelin secured a 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, victory at No. 4 singles and freshman Sam Plys secured a 7-5, 2-6, 6-2, victory at No. 5 singles to tie up the match.

Hillsdale’s chance of gaining its second win of the season rested on Goda at No. 6 singles as he was the last Charger left playing. He beat his opponent 8-6 in a tiebreaker at the third set, finishing the match with a 6-3, 0-6, 7-6 victory.

“There was a ton of pressure especially in the tie-

breaker after I wasn’t able to convert a few match points,” Goda said. “But at the end I was telling myself to be confident with my shots and whatever happens, happens.”

Head coach Keith Turner said he is impressed with Goda's performances in tense situations.

“The biggest thing with Rin is how well he's handling pressure situations with very limited experience,” Turner said. “He shows no signs of nerves.”

On Sunday, the Chargers were tough competitors on the court in both the doubles and singles play, winning the doubles point and three of six singles to trump the Prairie Stars.

At doubles play, Bergelin and Plys secured a 7-5 victory at No. 1 doubles, and Klanduch and Papazov secured a 6-1 victory at No. 2 doubles to win Hillsdale the doubles point.

“It felt amazing winning the doubles point, especially since this was the first doubles point we had won this season,” Plys said. “It gave the team the will to play more confident singles and find a way to keep the foot on the gas.”

The Chargers are on the road again this weekend, playing against Indiana Institute of Technology Feb. 28 and Wayne State University March 1.

six rebounds, and senior Lauren McDonald added 11 points, five rebounds, eight assists, and two steals.

The Chargers also defeated their long-standing rival, the University of Findlay, on the road.

“Playing at Findlay is really hard because it was their senior night and they had a lot of people there,” Splain said.

Findlay took command of the game early, according to Splain, and it felt like they did not miss a single shot in the first quarter.

“We had to make a lot of defensive adjustments to guard against that,” Splain said.

In the first quarter, Findlay doubled the Chargers, taking a 24-12 lead.

“Unfortunately, that has been a common theme for us — getting down and having to climb our way back out of

Baseball

the hole, but we managed to flip it in the second quarter,” Brennan said.

Entering the final quarter down 50-47, the Chargers finished with a 68-57 win that Brennan attributed largely to an outstanding defensive performance.

Hillsdale beat Findlay on the boards 14-4 in the final quarter and 39-32 overall.

Splain led the team offensively and scored a game high of 25 points.

“In all reality, Caitlin [Splain] really took over for us offensively,” Brennan said. “It was pretty cool to watch her do that. She's an elite shooter, but she was finishing up at the rim really, really well and just making good plays for us.”

Splain had 16 points in the final quarter. She went on a 12-point run, which included two 3-pointers, with 6:41 left in the game. Splain

made one more layup and two free throws in the final minutes to seal the game for the Chargers.

“Splain kept us in the game,” McDonald said. “She killed it in the second half.”

McDonald also contributed to the Charger’s victory with 11 points, seven rebounds, two steals, and five assists. Senior Kendall McCormick and junior Emma Ruhlman both had seven points and five rebounds, and freshman Ellie Bruce added seven points as well. Popplewell scored six points and nine rebounds.

With the two wins, Hillsdale now sits at second place in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference holding onto a 15-4 conference record, and 18-8 overall.

The team’s last regular season game will be against the Malone University Pioneers March 1. If the Char-

gers beat the Pioneers, they will secure their best regular season finish since the 20082009 season.

“They beat us once earlier this season,” Brennan said. “But it's been a while since we've played them. I'm sure they've improved a lot, just as we have.”

Malone is ranked directly behind the Chargers in third place in the G-MAC, so the game could affect Hillsdale’s G-MAC standing.

With the wins this week, the Chargers are now guaranteed to host one of the G-MAC Tournament quarterfinal games March 4.

Charger baseball splits series at U-Indy

By Elaine Kutas Collegian Reporter

Hillsdale baseball split four games against NCAA Division II No. 5 University of Indianapolis Greyhounds Feb. 22-24.

The Chargers, who entered the series winless at 0-3, lost the series opener on Saturday 7-4, lost the first game Sunday 7-6, then turned the weekend around by winning the nightcap Sunday 18-10. The final game of the series was Monday and the Chargers won with a dominating 20-7 final game over the Greyhounds. Freshman Tyler Sowers hit a grand slam during the eighth inning of Monday’s game, adding to the team’s overall nine runs for the inning.

“This series was my first time playing this season as I was coming off an injury, so getting up there, I was just hoping to see a good pitch,” Sowers said. “Before I hit, I was talking with Rocco [Tenuta] about what we would eat for dinner after the game but then I just went up there, got a good fastball, and took it to left center. I didn’t think it would be gone off the bat but then it just kept going.”

As a part of the young team, which includes 15 freshmen, Sowers said he sees it as a good learning experience.

“Practices are fun and the guys just want to be there,” Sowers said. “I’m excited be -

cause I think we should be a pretty good team this year.”

Sowers helped the Chargers gain an early lead in the nightcap game Sunday with a home run during the third inning. The Chargers scored nine runs during the fourth inning from four hits and two errors as the night continued. This included a two-run single for freshman Will Lehman and a double by sophomore Will Millard. Millard, a catcher, finished Sunday’s nightcap with two doubles and Monday with an RBI single in the fifth inning and a two-run double in the eighth.

“Since I missed most of the fall with an injury I am happy that I was able to come back and contribute early to a couple big wins over a ranked opponent,” Millard said. “After the first two games against UIndy, I knew we would be able to compete and beat them so when we were able to play the way we did, it made me excited and hopeful for the remainder of the season.”

Freshman first baseman Will Lehman led the Chargers by finishing Saturday’s game with a double and two RBIs to lead Hillsdale at the plate. Despite the 7-4 loss to the Greyhounds, Lehman came back during Sunday’s nightcap and helped bring in two runs during the ninepoint spree by the Chargers in the fourth inning. On Monday, he had a two-run

single in the first inning and finished the game with two doubles and four RBIs.

“This season for me has been a quick learning curve as a freshman, the biggest aspect being the speed of the game,” Lehman said. “Although this weekend went well for me in the box, I'm not content with where I'm at right now and am confident I can get more out of myself as we progress deeper into the season.”

Senior third baseman Kaden Nowak assisted the Chargers in their win Sunday with an RBI double in the top of the seventh inning, which was followed by a bases-loaded walk by sophomore shortstop Rocco Tenuta. Nowak also had a two-run double and a RBI single during the game Monday. Nowak said he sees the young team doing big things during this season and this series as a foreshadowing of that.

“We've come with a lot of optimism for the new season,” Nowak said. “The guys are excited to get opportunities and see how far this team can go.” On the mound for the Chargers on Monday, sophomore Hayden Hoffpauir got the win in relief after pitching three scoreless innings against the Greyhounds. Hoffpauir struck out three and gave up just one hit but no runs.

“Between the first two and

second two games, we really put the pieces together,” Hoffpauir said. “I was able to come in in the fourth inning and throw three scoreless innings because I just had a lot of confidence in the guys playing on the field behind me.”

On Feb. 24, all nine of the players in the lineup contributed at least one hit and scored at least one run. They finished with 22 hits for the game, the most in a single game for the Chargers since 2019 against Ohio Valley University when they also had 22 hits. Sunday’s nightcap and Monday’s game also saw the Charger’s most aggressive offensive performance with 38 runs combined for the two games. This weekend, the Chargers will play two games against No. 8 Indiana University of Pennsylvania on Friday and Saturday and then a single game against Lock Haven University on Sunday in Morgantown, West Virginia.

From left to right: seniors Kendall McCormick and Caitlin Splain celebrate an away win against Findlay

C U L T U R E

‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ is art that translated

By Colman Rowan Culture Editor

When King Theseus of Athens tells the anxious lover, the beloved, and her disapproving father to “take time to pause” in Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” the couple does not listen, sneaks out to the woods, and mayhem ensues.

Saturday, March 1. On Sunday, March 2, they will close the show with a 2 p.m. matinee.

Christopher Matsos, director and chairman of the theatre department, said the play, first performed in 1595 in London’s Globe Theatre, is thought to be Shakespeare’s first as an established playwright.

In the woods, fairies play pranks, lovers and beloveds switch around, and it all culminates in a classic Shakespearian comedic ending.

Just as Theseus says to the lovers and father, so too does he say it to audiences. Take time this weekend to pause, head down to Markel Auditorium, and enjoy the Tower Players production of the Shakespearian performance as a respite from troubles up the hill.

The Tower Players premiered “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” last night and will perform again at 7:30 p.m. everyday through

“Even though it’s quite a light play in terms of its rich comic value,” he said, “it belies some heavier things, but I think people should expect to have a good time and to really laugh and enjoy the show.”

London in 1595 suffered bad harvests, flooding, and social unrest. With this context, Matsos said the play could be interpreted as a piece of escapism.

“I guess what I’m interested in about it is that, even though it might be considered a lighter piece, is there not great import in alleviating some of the stress of the world in that?”

Matsos said.

The play certainly is light. Even the most serious characters, Theseus and Egeus, the king and disapproving father played by junior Aidan Christian and senior Nathaniel Privett respectively, lighten up by the end.

In the first scene, a confusing love square unfolds. Two male lovers, Demetrius and Lysander, initially both love Egeus’ daughter Hermia played by Marie Rohling, though Hermia

loves Lysander. Helena, one of Hermia’s friends, is in love with Demetrius, though Egeus has arranged for Hermia to marry Demetrius.

Once the four flee responsibility in the woods, fairies enchant the two men with a love potion and they both start to love Helena.

Freshman Aidan Bauer and Marc Sherman ’24, who play Lysander and Demetrius, excellently play off the passionate lovers’ quick sway in emotions even though Sherman stepped in as an understudy less than a week before the first showing.

“We switched up a lot of movement and the way we speak to each other, but it’s worked out really nicely, which I’m appreciative of,” said sophomore Mara Seeley, who plays Helena.

Helena is Seeley’s first major role with the Tower Players, but it’s hard to tell by her performance. When she first got the role she said it was “absolutely terrifying.”

“We looked at the script, and Chris was like, ‘You’ve got three weeks to memorize everything,’” she said. “I was so scared immediately, because I talk so much and I was like, ‘I don’t know what I’m doing.’”

In one scene after the object of men’s affections has switched, Helena and Hermia begin an argument after many hurtful words have passed between the men and them. Seeley explained how she entered into the proper mindset for this scene.

“I think of one of my best friends from high school who had a boyfriend for about four years,” she said. “And I think if he started flirting with me really aggressively, how grossed out I would feel, and just how in shock I would be.”

Matsos said they worked extensively on this scene.

“They hurt one another. They say things out of their own desperation that they don’t really mean. And they’re also beguiled by fairy magic,” Matsos said. “It’s a long scene, and we’ve worked very hard for the actors to find that sort of bitterness in the relationships.”

The play contains three separate spheres of people: the high class, the fairies, and the low class called, “rude mechanicals.”

The fairies beguile the lov ers in the high class, but also a character named Bottom — an eccentric character of the low class played by junior Kevin Pynes.

While the rude mechanicals are practicing a play they hope to perform for Theseus’ upcoming wedding, the mischievous Puck, a fairy played by Nina Morey, gives Bottom the head of a donkey as a prank.

Puck obeys the king of Fairies, Oberon,

played by senior Mathieu Wiesner, with his own twists. Oberon, upset at Queen Titania, played by senior Emily Griffith, wants to prank her by making her fall in love with a beast. Puck decides the donkey-headed Bottom is the perfect beast.

“It’s actually so fantastic because Bottom is just this idiot who thinks he’s so good,” Pynes said. “I can just be as melodramatic as I want, just a complete idiot. Bottom has to believe he’s being sincere, but he’s stupid that what’s sincere for him can be just ridiculous.”

Pynes’ performance breathes a show-stealing life into the script, showing the great versatility that Shake-

have on stage.

“You just can’t take any of the words for granted,” Pynes said.

“You have to know what to do with all of them.”

Among the rude mechanicals’ troop are the two senior women, Kenda Showalter as Snout, and Fiona Mulley as Starveling, who have both had leads in past Tower Players productions.

“This is everyone’s last chance to see Emily, Kenda, and Fiona on stage in their college careers,” Seeley said. “Everyone has loved everything they’ve been in so far so I think this will be a really good closing show that everyone needs to make sure they see.”

The Lumineers return underwhelmingly with ‘Automatic’

By Ally Hall Design Editor

Part of maturing as a music fan is realizing what was once profound to you now sounds like cliche sayings on home decor from TJ Maxx. The sentiments printed on cheaply stained slabs of wood or mildly inspirational day planners might not be totally disagreeable, but they also might not be very good.

“Automatic,” American indie folk band The Lumineers’ fifth studio album released by Dualtone Records on Feb. 14, leaves listeners feeling like they’re standing in fluorescently-lit aisles of nonsense, trying to feel something staring at yet another “live, laugh, love” sign.

Kings of the 2010s hipster era of indie folk, The Lumineers have dominated everything from film scores to festivals since their wildly successful debut self-titled album in 2012. The album features songs like “Flowers In Your Hair,” “Stubborn Love,” and of course their mega-hit “Ho Hey.” In 2016, The Lumineers amplified their success with another standout album, “Cleopatra,” and have been consistently delivering on

full-form projects since their debut.

The marketing rollout for “Automatic” was perfect for the band’s authentic, bohemian image. It consisted of a careful orchestration of oversaturated, grainy videos of behindthe-scenes discussions and acoustic teasers of some of the songs. In January, the group announced the record with an Instagram caption that promised an examination of the absurdity of the modern world, the lines between real and fiction, and the phenomenon of overstimulation. The first released single, “Same Old Song” lives up to its name. It follows The Lumineers’ classic track formula: sincere, melancholic lyrics plus an upbeat, acoustic-guitar-driven pulse equals a pleasant coming of age track.

early verses, the narrator struggles with needing his parents to pay his rent as a struggling musician, the passing of grandparents, and the typical fears that haunt everyday life. But then the narrator describes himself as being in a “black sedan of depression.”

“Same Old Song” is a simple, deft snapshot of the narrator’s depression over the course of his life. From childhood in the

Wesley Shultz and Jeremiah Fraites, the two founding and active members of The Lumineers, are contemporaries with another folk artist, Gregory Alan Isakov. The three are all based in or near Denver, Colorado, and after years of writ-

ing, touring, and even farming together, there is a lot of thematic overlap between their work. The Lumineers’ “black sedan” line here is reminiscent of Isakov’s famous song, “Big Black Car,” a 2009 song about heartbreak which features the lyric, “Heartbreak, you know, drives a big black car / I swear I was in the back seat, just minding my own.”

While “Same Old Song” references depression as a sedan, a run-of-the-mill, average vehicle with nothing special about it, it drives home a certain annoyance with the narrator’s depressive condition. It isn’t a big black car like heartbreak, a force that drives you. Rather, depression in “Same Old Song” is a subtle disruptor of ease in life: “I don’t know what’s wrong with me / I killed the mood so naturally / Thе guests begin to make mе feel alone.” It’s a tactful, effective sentiment, but the song’s merit stops there. Shortly following a solid start to the album is, “Asshole,”

a playful love song about the narrator’s first time meeting a lover and the awful first impression. The crass nature of the hook is off putting, especially if you’re listening to the album without seeing each name appear on your screen. But if you can allow yourself to be charmed by the sentiment of the anecdote, this song might be the only other redeemable one on the album.

The second verse delicately tackles topics of aging and the narrator’s conception of love over time, “And all the twenty-something mannequins / Their hearts are barely broken in / But maybe now I’m just a coward envying the brave.”

This verse alone was worth the number of skips the rest of the album prompted, a striking part of the song that marries nostalgia with reality. The Lumineers are experts at combining deep admiration of muses with a certain charming boyishness that makes their work so digestible and attractive. Once again, this sounds just like something The Lumineers could’ve put out at any point over the past decade of their fame, and this is why it works so well.

With the exception of the

fifth and sixth songs, “You’re All I Got” and “Plasticine,” having their lovely sections for the same reasons as the first two songs, “Automatic” as a whole album lacks a tactful execution of the grandiose journey on which it originally it set out. The record shows the band’s clear understanding of their work and also their failed attempts at breaking out of that box.

“Automatic” propelled an unattractive result as a longtime fan, an impetus to re-examine why I ever liked this band so much in the first place. Maybe my allegiance is what enables a rose-colored approach to even some of their most average work to date. It is hard to dismiss an album from such an established artist with a reliable sound as a “slump” of any kind, especially when the artist has claimed it to be their magnum opus in some ways. Yet, “Automatic” is best digested in bites — not as a full body of work, which perhaps undermines the whole intent for creating a record critiquing the hyper-stimulated digital era. Though it promised something more substantive, the album leaves listeners stranded in yet another fluorescently lit aisle.

Oberon’s revenge leads the humans into much confusion.

COURTESY | Kyle Johns

Courtesy | Instagram

Left to right: Rohling and Seeley quarrel over their lovers.

COURTESY | Kyle Johns

‘Saturday

By Tayte Christensen Assistant Editor

Alien abduction stories, hot dogs and heroin, and black Jeopardy contestants joined together to celebrate 50 years of “Saturday Night Live” on NBC Feb. 16.

The 180-minute “SNL 50: The Anniversary Special” included musical numbers and comedy sketches, as well as flashbacks from the series’ past seasons.

The show featured a number of returning characters — from the recently-trending Domingo, played by Marcello Harnandez, Kristen Wiig’s ever-hilarious Dooneese, and Bobby Moynihan’s Drunk Uncle. For steadfast SNL fans, this anniversary episode was a treat, and a long one at that. But for those not as well-versed in the SNL world, those three hours could be better spent elsewhere.

After a musical introduction from Sabrina Carpenter and Paul Simon singing “Homeward Bound,” the show opened with a monologue from comedian Steve Martin and brief appearances by John

‘Captain

Night Live’ celebrates 50 years

Mulaney and Martin Short. Martin, who had hosted the show 16 times previously, quipped about his age and said he was SNL’s new “diversity hire.” Martin’s performance was mostly uneventful, but, with John Mulaney’s appearance, the monologue picked up some steam.

“Over the course of 50 years, 894 people have hosted ‘Saturday Night Live.’ And it amazes me that only two of them have committed murder,” Mulaney said.

The reference was likely aimed at O.J. Simpson and Robert Blake, but was especially tense considering actor Alec Baldwin, whose charges of involuntary manslaughter against him were just dismissed last year, was in the room.

One spinoff of a previous skit was “Black Jeopardy” with Kenan Thompson hosting, and Eddie Murphy, Tracy Morgan, and Leslie Jones as competitors.

“It’s the only Jeopardy where every single viewer fully understood Kendrick’s halftime performance,” Thompson said, opening the skit.

The categories for the game

were “Look Here,” “This Joker Talkin’ ’Bout,” “Leave Bronny Alone,” “Mannnn…,” “Live From New York,” and, per tradition, “White People.”

Eddie Murphy played the character of Tracy Morgan — while Morgan stood to his left playing a different character — and nailed the impersonation.

Later on in the sketch, Chris Rock took over as host and asked the contestants an SNL trivia question, which they incorrectly answered several times. Their failure led to the appearance of Tom Hanks, reprising his role as Doug — a MAGA hat-wearing, Southern accent speaking middle-aged man.

Echoing the 2016 version of the skit, Thompson approached Hanks to shake his hand, but Hanks was initially hesitant, thinking Thompson intended to rob or harm him.

“It’s just a handshake,” Thompson’s character told Hanks as the two shook hands. “You’re welcome at ‘Black Jeopardy’ anytime.”

This joke sparked controversy online, with many conservative commentators — in-

America: Brave

cluding Megyn Kelly and Benny Johnson — saying the joke was outdated and unnecessary. Others, like Matt Walsh, thought otherwise, saying conservative reactions to the joke were “overblown,” and the skit contained only “very mild racial humor” that shouldn’t have garnered as much flack as it did.

Overall, the skit had several funny moments and race-based jokes that were so on the nose that audiences couldn’t help but laugh.

One of the show’s most intriguing skits was John Mulaney with Pete Davidson and David Spade in a Broadway-style musical number “New York 50th Musical,” which documented the history of drugs and violence in New York City, and included parodies of Broadway songs. The Lion King’s “Hakuna Matata” was turned into “cocaine and some vodka,” and Kate McKinnon as Rudy Giuliani proclaimed “I am throwing away my shot” with Lin-Manuel Miranda and other “Hamilton” ensemble members, adding to the chaos.

It was an odd number, but it showed the wit and humor SNL

New World’ is not brave and it’s nothing new

tain America the next second?

writers are capable of, making it one of the most entertaining of the night. While many of the skits were funny and engaging, too many seemed to drag on much longer than necessary. The worst offender being Tina Fey and Amy Pohler’s audience Q&A, which they eventually admitted was a mere ploy to get as many celebrities on screen as possible. No audience member asked a fruitful question in the skit’s nine-minute run-time, and viewers at home were left wondering why they tuned in in the first place.

Scot Bertram, Hillsdale’s General Manager of WRFH 101.7 FM co-hosts the podcast “Wasn’t That Special,” where he and his co-host Christian Schneider watch every season of SNL. The duo watches the episodes individually and then spend one podcast episode discussing each season. Bertram said they are currently working through Season 42.

Bertram said this year’s anniversary special differed from SNL’s 15- and 20-year specials, which featured more flashbacks and features of old skits. Aside

from Adam Sandler’s tribute song and a compilation of SNL commercials — satirical TV advertisements for fake products — moments of reflection throughout the 50th anniversary special were slim. Instead, the special was rife with sequels and spin offs, but also featured new bits, which Bertram said he mostly appreciated.

“If the purpose were to sort of encapsulate the show’s history in three and a half hours, it didn’t necessarily do that,” Bertram said. “But I think that’s not really the point anymore. It is to have a fun evening with people from different eras, acknowledging contributors throughout the years, and previous great hosts.”

For SNL fans, the anniversary special delivered great new content and proved that the show is alive and well, something Bertram said is good for society.

“There’s nothing else like it, and there will never be anything like it again,” Bertram said. “Trying to pitch what SNL is today wouldn’t make any sense. So when it’s gone, it’s gone.”

Big Band awarded at Notre Dame, Elmhurst

By Nathan Stanish Ad manager

takes itself seriously and tries to recreate the political intrigue of that finest movie of the Marvel Cinematic Universe — all while Harrison Ford turns into Red Hulk. The two tones clash and leave no room for either story to breathe.

Courtesy | IMDb

When Marvel Studios changed the title of the fourth Captain America movie from “Captain America: New World Order” to “Captain America: Brave New World,” I expected a film with political commentary like the dystopian novel of the same name. Instead, this movie was a mess of half-baked characters and predictable plot points. The film is equal parts a wannabe “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” and a discount Hulk sequel. To accommodate the former, “Brave New World”

The characters were the biggest letdown. Anthony Mackie as Captain America and Harrison Ford as President Ross should have carried the movie. Instead, the writers forced Mackie into a caricature of Chris Evans, removing his signature wisecracks rather than leaning into the strengths of the actor. Captain America is a role, not a personality.

Ford had it worse. Ross should have been the main villain — a charismatic presidential candidate with questionable campaign tactics and a checkered past regarding superheroes. With Ford’s gruff menace, Ross looked to be a real threat. The writers scrapped that in favor of a contradictory character who modulates between fatherly love, deceit, and violent gamma episodes. How do you take a character seriously when he’s pining for his daughter one second and throwing cars at Cap-

Marvel should have paid closer attention to “Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” the “Brave New World” predecessor. The chemistry between Bucky Barnes’ stoicism and Sam Wilson’s bluster covered a multitude of plot issues and the brutality of Isaiah Bradley’s backstory grounded the show in gritty, historical racism. “Brave New World” saw that and decided to turn Sam into the stoic one and give him a wisecracking sidekick while transforming Bradley into comedic relief as an out-oftouch grandpa sort.

Like many Marvel projects, “Brave New World” was a wasted opportunity. With most of the original Avengers from the Marvel Cinematic Universe dead or retired, Marvel needs a new face for the franchise and leader for the team. Sam’s Captain America is the ideal candidate. “Brave New World” should have been a showcase of Sam’s qualifications — his charisma, character, and courage.

For example, what if the movie was about a recreation of Steve Rogers’ original serum, including the side effects of amplifying the user’s person-

ality? Sam could wrestle with self-doubt and any concerns about his character, while Ross chooses to take it and expose the monster inside. Alternatively, Marvel could have scrapped the Red Hulk story — or saved it for a movie that actually features Hulk — and went all in on Sam’s attempt to stop a sitting president’s corruption. Maybe Marvel worried too much about the backlash from conservatives if they made the president-elect a villain.

Regardless, “Brave New World” fell short of its already muted expectations. After taking a year off from Marvel movies (excluding the anomaly, “Deadpool & Wolverine”), Marvel Studios needed a win but didn’t have the guts to produce a movie thought-provoking or interesting enough to revive the franchise. As of now, the movie may not even break even.

If Marvel Studios wants to right the ship before “Avengers: Doomsday” in 2026, it needs to strike a consistent tone in a movie and take risks with the messaging. Otherwise, we will never move past flops like “AntMan and the Wasp: Quantumania.”

‘Flow’ challenges animation standards

By James Joski Collegian Freelancer

An unexpected source of competition has rattled America’s most prominent animation studios.

The Oscar-nominated movie

“Flow” hit Max Feb. 4. By Feb. 18, it had surged to the No. 1 spot on the streaming service.

The creation by Dream Well Studios, an independent Latvian studio, “Flow” earned the Golden Globe Award for best animated motion picture on Jan. 5, beating such titles as Disney’s “Moana 2,” DreamWorks

“The Wild Robot,” and Pixar’s “Inside Out 2.” This has all been accomplished with a budget of $3.8 million — compared to the respective $150 million, $78 million, and $200 million budgets of its competitors.

“Flow” is a story centered on a cat whose world is destroyed by a cataclysmic flood. Escaping to safety on a passing ship, the cat finds itself a crewmate with an unexpected companion, a capybara. Together, these

unlikely friends sail the open waters of a drowned world, encountering new companions along the way: a dog, a lemur, and a bird. Beset by trials from within and without, these animals are forced to rise above their own instinctive natures, becoming more than they are. Their trials tell a beautiful story of friendship and self discovery decorated with moments of humor, awe, and solemnity.

Astoundingly, this complex story is told entirely without words. The animals do not speak as people would, they only communicate as animals would, physically and sonorously. Rather than holding the plot back, this choice enriches the movie.

It creates an organic tension and relationship between the characters. The dog has a heart bigger than its brain. The lemur is obsessed with material trinkets. The cat is standoffish and isolated.

In order to survive, they are forced to control these tendencies.

When we first meet the crew, they are divided, self-preserving, and dysfunctional, exactly what you would expect from wild animals. When we last see them, they stand united. The entire viewing experience feels like a vivid dream. Monolithic structures haunt the environment, and abandoned buildings hint at people long gone. And just like a vivid dream, the viewer must interpret the meaning at the end. All the hints are there, but there is no explanation, no celebratory monologue or one-liner. As the animals must find out what they are truly capable of, the viewer must also discern what the movie means to them.

In the superficial environment of blockbuster cinema, the thoughtful storytelling of “Flow” is a breath of fresh air.

As 2025 is set to receive both a live action remake of “Snow White” and “How to Train Your Dragon,” uninspired retellings of cherished films better done, “Flow” reminds us that there are still many new stories to tell,

and many ways to tell them. We shouldn’t expect the same recycled, tired plots we have seen for years. Movies aren’t just products, they are art. The producers of “Flow” know this, and that is why the movie feels so profoundly different. Like a great book, “Flow” begs to be read into through its well placed symbols and motifs. In interpreting these, the viewer partners with the movie in an act of original storytelling.

By Anna Broussard Assistant Editor

Hillsdale College’s big band received five outstanding performance awards at the Notre Dame Collegiate Jazz Festival last weekend before heading to Elmhurst University Jazz Festival in Illinois.

Six of the 18 students who performed received awards at Notre Dame: seniors Zachary Adams, Owen Gerth, Dravyn Spies, junior Dominic Taranto, sophomore Micah Vawter and freshman Morgan Milam. While at Elmhurst, five students were awarded outstanding performance: Adams, Matt Byrne, Gerth, Gavin Listro, and Milam. The band performed “Four” by Maynard Ferguson, “Time Check” by Buddy Rich, “Black Orpheus” by Luiz Bonfá, and “Travelin’ Light” by Dennis Wilson, accompanied by Spies on vocals.

The Notre Dame festival, which lasted between Feb. 21 and 22, featured headliners and professionals Lakecia Benjamin on the saxophone, Greg Glassman on the trumpet, Oscar Perez on the piano, and Dorian Phekps on the drums.

The performance at Notre Dame made it clear that Hillsdale has developed a top jazz program in the Midwest, Director of Jazz Ensembles and Big Band Musical Director Chris McCourry said in an email.

“The clinician and judges raved about our energy and swing at both festivals. One said ‘This is the swingiest band I’ve heard thus far at the festival, and we played second to last,’” McCourry said. “Everything they said was super positive in a way I’ve never heard from them before. We are now clearly in league with the top jazz programs of the Midwest.”

Senior Gavin Listro, who has been on the Elmhurst trip four times, said performing at Notre Dame was an exciting addition to the trip.

“I really like Notre Dame’s facility; I think that’s probably the biggest venue I’ve ever played for,” Listro said. “But Elmhurst is my favorite, because it’s in this old church and they hold it there every year, and they’ve been holding it there for the last 60 years.” McCourry said the band’s performance at Notre Dame was one of the best at the festival, and it is evident of the musicians’ overall growth.

“It’s funny, the students used to be in awe of the big school bands. Now they say ‘they’re really not that good.’” McCourry said. “I say ‘they are as good as they ever were, we’re just much closer to them now.’”

According to freshman Morgan Milam, who is the first freshman to drum for McCourry’s band in years, Notre Dame provided a helpful opportunity to see how other top jazz bands performed.

“It was fun seeing other bands and groups before us,” Milam said. “We were able to see that they were kind of stiff on stage, and it was a reminder to us to just have fun.” Milam said the group of students that McCourry has formed makes the band so successful and a close knit group.

“It is the people — I know people say this about Hillsdale generally, but I’ve been playing music since I was 6, so I’ve been in so many different groups, and I honestly never really clicked with the musicians,” Milam said. “But being in Hillsdale, I love these guys, it’s a testament to what Chris has built.”

Senior Dravyn Spies sang for Hillsdale’s big band. Anna Broussard | Collegian

The Latvian movie won a Golden Globe Courtesy | Amazon

C U L T U R E

No matter how small: Sauk’s ‘Seussical

By Zachary Chen Assistant Editor

You take your place in Jonesville’s Sauk Theatre, carefully setting your jacket behind you on the seat and jiggling your chair a little — it’s one of those nice ones they have in the theater that reclines just a bit.

The spotlight illuminates a Hat — no Cat attached, apparently — perched on an oversized Dr. Seuss book before the stage lights fade into darkness. An orchestra (recorded) begins to tune. It settles into silence. The Cat springs up into his Hat from behind the oversized book, which is deftly whisked away before you even notice it, and the stage is flooded with dozens of adorable denizens of the Dr. Seuss universe.

It’s at this point that you realize just how little prepared you were for the glory of the Theatre for Youth’s performance of “Seussical Jr.”

The plot follows Horton the Elephant and a mish-mash of Seuss characters from the Grinch to Yertle the Turtle through 130 minutes of rhyming adventure loosely based on “Horton Hatches the Egg” and “Horton Hears a Who.” The script is tidy, humorous, and heartwarming, as musicals go.

What makes the musical positively brilliant is this production’s cast. Throughout the entire performance, every sneaker-clad thespian beams with verve and excitement: these actors are fully commit-

ted to their bits. Jacob Gray plays the Cat in the Hat to riotous feline perfection. At one point, he auctions off Horton, along with

the 49-child cast plays a critical role in the show’s success.

The test of a dramatic production, after all, is not simply the quality of its leads (and the

They make up almost a quarter of the cast — mostly 5th graders — and their voices in the company tunes light up the production. The show’s

his egg, nest, and tree, with a cheery “Sold, to the gentleman with the sideburns and the greasy black mustache!” He brings down the house, however, with a devastating follow-up: “Sorry, ma’am.”

From the sassy yet sweet Young Kangaroo played by Olive Johnson, to Horton, the self-sacrificing, loveable elephant played by Ezra Hutchinson, each member of

“Seussical Jr.” leads are frankly outstanding) — it’s the engagement, focus, and care displayed by every one of the smaller roles. And even the smallest roles in “Seussical Jr.” rock.

I’m talking, of course, about the Whos, the tiny, adorable munchkins running around stage and hoping that Horton will somehow keep their dust speck from total destruction.

message — that person’s a person, no matter how small — comes to life through the acting of these youngsters.

The costuming is on point: a portly, dignified Yertle the Turtle clad in juridical robes and sporting a mallet contrasts the flamboyant, colorful, and irresponsible Mayzie La Bird. Mr. Mayor of Whoville wears a stunning mustache, while Mrs. Mayor’s towering hairdo

Jr.’ shines

adds an imposing, motherly eight inches to her stature. The Whos look like…well, Whos, while the show’s chorus of Bird Girls enjoy elegant avine dresses.

Each and every actor or actress seems to have stepped right off the pages of a Seuss book — which, I suppose, they have. If you think about it, the musical comes to life precisely because the Cat in the Hat jumps out of a life-sized Seuss book, meaning that (insofar as the show itself is the result of a figment of the imagination shared between the Cat and JoJo, or maybe the cast and the audience) the whole production is really one big extravaganza pulled directly from Dr. Seuss.

The music is fantastically suited to children’s voices. In fact, it may be one of the best examples of congruence between actors and acted material I have ever seen. The singers are clear and distinct. The words come through, even as the actors bring their lines to life onstage.

The choreography is stellar, too. This is the show that makes you look back on your childhood and wish you had gotten a chance to do theater. (You know you wanted to, deep down. Sometimes it’s OK to live vicariously).

“Seussical Jr.” is almost criminally good — it made my Saturday afternoon much better than a Saturday afternoon has any right to be. The show will be back thrice more at the Sauk: 7:30 p.m. on March 7 and 8, and 3 p.m. on March 9. So if you’re a pushover for Dr. Seuss, if you’re a fan of well-done costuming, choreography, and chorales, or if you want to see what might just be the best children’s production you will see in your life, go to “Seussical, Jr.” at the

Keep your eyes open for the Wickersham Brothers, a bunch of mischievous monkeys: while their swaggering, show-stealing chase scene with Horton was one highlight of the musical for me, they also engage in hilarious antics when they recede into the background for a scene. They’re always acting, even when the main action’s elsewhere. Ben Johnson, who leads the little gang, is a positive incarnation of what can really only be referred to as “drip,” though “pizzazz” and “panache” would also be appropriate.

Sauk.

‘Seussical Jr.’ will show again at the Sauk at 7:30 p.m. on March 7 and 8 and 3 p.m. on March 9. Zachary Chen | Collegian

Ben Johnson smiles after monkeying around on stage as Wickersham Brother #1. Zachary Chen | Collegian

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Hillsdale’s Civil War statue: a history

By Carly Moran SENIOR REPORTER

The 1869 college graduate and nationally-acclaimed poet Will Carleton wrote a poem commemorating the dedication of one of Hillsdale College’s most iconic statues, the Civil War Memorial, 130 years ago.

“The careless world, as here it looks / e truth again may understand, / at student-boys can drop the books, / And die to save their native land,” wrote Carleton.

Today, the statue still lives up to Carleton’s words. As prospective students ock to campus this semester, each tour will include a portion describing the Civil War statue between Lane and Kendall halls. However, much of the history behind its origins and the reasons for its construction will go unexplained.

“ e Civil War statue that we have at Hillsdale College is emblematic of the college’s position,” Associate Dean of Men Jeffery “Chief” Rogers said. “ is was an abolitionist college. As a percent of the student population, more men le here to serve in the Civil War than any other college except for the service academies. e reason for that is what the college stood for, which is that all men should be free.”

On a summer day in 1895, more than a thousand people gathered in front of Central

Hall to commemorate what was then called The Alpha Memorial, raised in memory of men in the Alpha Kappa Phi literary honorary who had fought in the Civil War.

Many of the older adults in attendance knew Hillsdale men who died for the cause of the Union. Some of the men were veterans and could remember the 14 Alpha men who died in battle. Still others were there in memory of Judge Richmond Melendy, a Hillsdale soldier interred at Oak Grove Cemetery a er a long life of public service.

“All of the colleges at that time had a concept of masculinity, of manhood that they inculcated into the male students; certainly a strong sense of duty, of obligation to society, to their country,” said Associate Professor of Leadership Studies Peter Jennings. “ is was informed by their Christian beliefs, of service to God and humanity.”

The memorial statue was originally bronze-cast in Chicago by the American Bronze Company, using University of Chicago Professor Lorado Taft’s sculpture. The anonymous soldier is the centerpiece. He carries the ag, whose sta is broken in half from the heat of battle. At his side is a sword, at the ready.

On the stone base, there are multiple plaques, with the front displaying Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s

surrender at Appomattox Courthouse to Union General Ulysses S. Grant. On the other three sides are the names of all the alumni who fought for the Union. While originally a monument solely for Alpha Kappa Phi, plaques were later added to include the other men’s honorary, the Amphictyon Society.

Originally dedicated in 1895, the statue was restored in 2021 as the senior class gift. Over time, the bronze had garnered a green tarnish, making the details of both the soldier and plaques harder to view in passing. For $25,000, an Ann Arbor company, McKillop Fine Art, sandblasted the structure and reapplied a bronze patina. The soldier’s sword, which had fallen off a er numerous winters, was reattached a er being stored in Moss Hall for years.

Much like the soldier who carries the broken ag, multiple Hillsdale students captured Old Glory back from the Confederates during the Battle of Gettysburg. According to Jennings, at least 23 fought for the Fourth Michigan Infantry in Gettysburg’s Wheat eld, a shbowl-like massacre for the Union. While many Hillsdale men were injured, and the Union su ered 30 percent casualties, no alumni died in the Wheat eld, according to Jenning’s research.

“ ank God they were successful,” Rogers said. “And so,

Alumni from A1

At only 22 years old, Mitchell is one of the youngest reporters in the White House. She said the Trump administration has been more willing to allow newer conservative outlets into the press brie ng room.

“We’ve had a presence in the White House before, but it’s really exciting to be able to go back now because we were e ectively kicked out by the Biden administration,” Mitchell said. “Being able to be in an administration that is so much more open to conservative media and new media is really great for the Daily Signal.”

Mitchell minored in journalism at Hillsdale and served as editor-in-chief of e Collegian during her senior year.

“I love journalism and decided I wanted to do it as a career entirely because of the Hillsdale Collegian and the Dow Journalism Program,” Mitchell said. “I had so many incredible opportunities at Hillsdale.”

At Hillsdale, Reese navigated her commitments to the softball team and the journalism program, working at The Collegian as an assistant editor for the news section and as design editor.

“You don’t need to be the person who’s the most involved in The Collegian or the radio department or the journalism program to

it stands prominently at the center of our campus, because we want every student to know that freedom isn’t free. The way for you to get a degree has been paved by the blood and sweat and tears of men and women. We don’t ever want to forget that, and the class of 1895 put the statue here to remind us.”

During the monument unveiling in 1895, members of the Alpha Kappa Phi Society read a memorial speech, which included, “Bronze and marble are feeble to perpetuate their memory which nds its best cenotaph in the greatness and dignity of our country, in the enduring gratitude of a people freed from the lash of the slave driver.”

By the end of the war, more than 500 Hillsdale men had served the Union, and three were ranked as generals.

“I think it’s easy to forget how old Hillsdale College is, and the Civil War statue serves as a reminder that our school has signi cant history,” senior history major Abby Idstein said. “It not only causes us to stop and contemplate the fact that alumni served in the Civil War, but also that Hillsdale itself dates back to when our nation was still considered young. It reminds us that Hillsdale has outlived every national crisis that came a er the Civil War and will continue to do so as long as it remains steadfast in its values.”

have a very successful career post-graduation,” Reese said. “With my so ball schedule, I was able to do as much as I could with e Collegian and with the radio department as possible.”

Wegmann never held a sta position at e Collegian. He took political journalism, advanced writing, and sportswriting classes during his senior year with John J. Miller, director of the Dow Journalism Program. But, the political economy major did not minor in journalism.

“Learn from my mistake,” Wegmann said. “If there’s any kid at Hillsdale right now who is debating whether or not to go to e Collegian pitch meeting, go to it. I didn’t. I wish I had.”

While Wegmann said while he is adjusting some of his reporting tactics for the new White House, he said his mission remains the same.

“The administration changed. Its priorities are different. You have a new cast of characters,” Wegmann said. “But as a reporter, the strike zone did not. It doesn’t matter if they’re a Republican or a Democrat, a conservative or a liberal, your job as a reporter is to bring what’s done in the dark out into the light.”

with Qianying (Jennie) Zhang

By Grace Brennan COLLEGIAN REPORTER

In this Quick Hits, Qianying (Jennie) Zhang, associate professor of nance and economics, talks raising trilingual children, her favorite movie, and what inspires her to teach.

What is your favorite part of the day?

I am a night owl, so late at night.

What is your earliest memory?

My grandma and my mom took me to an amusement park when I was 3 years old.

What is your favorite music genre?

My favorite genres of music are R&B and K-pop.

What is your best advice?

Don’t be afraid to try things you think are impossible.

What is your favorite Hillsdale event?

Concert on the Quad.

Where are you from?

I was born in Shanghai, China.

What is the wildest thing a student has asked you?

To bring up his grade.

What is your favorite movie?

“Taegukgi”, a war and action

lm directed by Kang Je-gyu.

Who is your favorite author?

What is a quote you live by?

Words must be followed and actions must be carried out.

What inspires you to teach?

What inspires me to teach is the opportunity to guide students through a complex and exciting eld like quantitative nance, where they can develop critical thinking, problem-solving, and analytical skills. I also want more people to understand the beauty and importance of investment and compounding e ects of the investment in their lives.

Why did you raise your kids to be trilingual?

We believe that English, Spanish, and Chinese will be the most useful languages in the future, which is why we want our children to be trilingual.

My side of the family has spoken only Chinese to them since birth, while my husband’s side speaks only Spanish. At school, they will naturally pick up English. From what we’ve learned from friends and language professionals, it’s essential to associate each language with a speci c person to avoid confusion. Additionally, we’ve made it a point to be consistent and not respond if they speak to us in di erent languages, in order to reinforce the other languages. Everything worked out very well for us like they started to talk at the same age as other kids and they are uent in three languages.

Yasunari Kawabata, a Japanese novelist and short story writer.

Qianying Zhang poses with her husband and children. COURTESY | QIANYING ZHANG

Hillsdale College students fought with the 4th Michigan Infrantry in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. COURTESY | HILLSDALE COLLEGE ARCHIVES

F E A T U R E S

The secret lives of Hillsdale College pets

Students gush about their furry friends and the unlikely circumstances that brought them together

By Tayte Christensen ASSISTANT EDITOR

When senior Nate Privitt’s housemate, senior Michael Branigan, took a routine trip to Walmart in August, neither one thought Branigan would come home with a puppy.

“ ere was a van there that had a cardboard sign that said ‘puppies’ on it, and Michael was like, ‘I’ve gotta go look at puppies,’” Privitt said. “Michael called me, and he was like, ‘ ere’s a cute dog here.

Do you want to get it?’”

From dogs to cats to hamsters, many students on campus double as pet owners. For many, the decision to get a pet was unexpected, but some nd it more di cult than others to make time to care for their pets as busy students, however, they have found owning pets to be a rewarding part of their college experience. For some, like Privitt, it had the added bene t of learning useful skills transferable to adulthood.

Branigan returned from the store with the then-3-monthold beagle mix, whom they named Squirrel.

“It was a spur of the moment for Michael, and it was a spur of the moment thing for me,” Privitt said. “I was just like, ‘Dang, that’s a really cute dog.’” Now, six months later, Privitt has navigated the early stages of puppyhood and has developed a routine of regular walks and feeds, which Privitt said he balances with his two housemates.

“We have a little whiteboard that we have her schedule on. ‘Has she been let out for the afternoon? Has she gone potty? Has she been taken on a walk?’ So we have a little system to keep everything,” Privitt said.

While adding a dog to his senior year was not part of his plan, Privitt said Squirrel has taught both him and his housemates how to balance responsibilities on top of school work.

“If I need to hunker down and write a paper and I need to go to the library for that, I feel bad leaving her at the house, especially if I know nobody else is there,” Privitt said. “Sometimes that’s just a necessary thing, but most days it’s OK. Most days I can just go back, I’ll chill on the couch, and if she’s bored, I’ll absentmindedly throw a toy, she’ll bring it back

to me, I’ll throw it again. I’ll do that for an hour while I’m writing or researching.”

In the time that Privitt and his housemates are in classes, he said Squirrel stays at home, but her time alone is never any more than a few hours each day.

“Socializing a dog in college is the easiest thing,” Privitt said. “Most days, we’ll have a friend or two over, so she’s constantly meeting new people. It’s so easy to familiarize her with di erent levels of volume, or di erent levels of energy. ere’s a lot of very nice things that come from having a dog around.”

Senior Tiare Nicholas-Bublick rescued both of the pets she owns. Her cat Pumpkin, who she’s had since her sophomore year and her dog Jellybean — a yorkie, terrier and pug mix — she adopted last April, both experience all aspects of college life, from spending time in the student union to going to sporting events, and even occasionally attending classes.

“When I took Jellybean to class with me, there was a chair right next to me that was empty, so I put her there, and she just sat there like a student and did not make a peep,” she said.

Having a dog helps her spend time outside, which Nicholas-Bublick said is otherwise di cult for her during the winter months.

“It really makes me happy when I see them happy,” she said, “Especially Jellybean when she’s walking and is just so happy.”

While Nicholas-Bublick said she loves being both a “single mom” to her animals and a fulltime student, owning animals is not something every student should consider.

“You have to make sure that you’re able to care for an animal if you bring an animal in,” Nicholas-Bublick said. “If they have to go to the vet, you have to make sure you have at least some money. ey need work, and it is a lot of love and snuggles, but they also need care and attention.”

Senior Roni Crnkovich brought her hamster, Tilly, to school this year a er getting Tilly from a friend over the summer. Crnkovich said she is a seasoned hamster owner, with Tilly being her second hamster and a replacement for having never owned a dog.

Crnkovich said Tilly saved

her from a tra c ticket while driving home on the Ohio Turnpike in December.

“I got three hours of sleep the night before, so I probably shouldn’t have been driving that day,” Crnkovich said. “I was speeding, and I got pulled over on the Ohio Turnpike, and the cops, were looking at my car, and it’s all a mess — I had thrown my luggage in and I was in my Christmas pajama pants — and then one of the cops looks in the back seat and he says, ‘Oh, your hamster escaped.’ And I was like, ‘Haha, what?’”

Crnkovich said Tilly had chewed through the shoebox she was stored in and was crawling all over Crnkovich’s luggage in the backseat when the police o cer noticed.

“I was morti ed,” Crnkovich said. “ en the o cer goes, ‘Can I hold it?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah.’ So I rolled down the back window, and he took her.”

Crnkovich said the o cers then conversed with her about her travel plans, and eventually ended up asking questions about Tilly.

“Then they went back to their car and they decided, and they came back to me and they were like, ‘We’re not gonna give you a ticket,’” Crnkovich said. “I think she distracted them. It was so perfect.”

But Crnkovich said there have been other times when having a hamster hasn’t been as convenient. Following a President’s Ball a erparty hosted at her o -campus house, Crnkovich said she noticed Tilly wasn’t in her cage. She concluded that some party-goers had messed with Tilly during the party and neglected to lock the cage.

“ For two full days, I was praying and searching for her,” Crnkovich said. “I looked in every nook and cranny and I was thinking, ‘I’m never gonna see her again.’”

Two days later, Crnkovich said a housemate walked into the bathroom at 1 a.m. to nd Tilly sitting in the middle of the room.

“I was overjoyed to see her,” Crnkovich said. “Now, at night, when I’m falling asleep, I hear her scurrying around, which I used to hate, but now I think it’s comforting.”

Senior Sam Wallace purchased a hamster in the fall a er taking a trip to Jackson to get a Wi-Fi router for his o -campus house.

“Next to the X nity in Jackson was a PetSmart,” Wallace said. “I was there with my housemate and we were like, ‘Let’s just go see what’s there.’ So we found ourselves in the small pet section, and we talked for a while about getting a big rat to put it in our house somewhere — in someone’s bed, or something to goof around.”

But then, Wallace said, the conversation shi ed from getting a rat for a prank to getting a hamster for a pet.

“I was dead serious,” Wallace said. “I was like ‘I would get a hamster today.’”

Without much further consideration, Wallace and his housemate decided to get the hamster and named him a er a friend who is notorious for his spontaneity.

“We gured out the Wi-Fi, came back and bought a hamster,” Wallace said. “We named him Paul.”

While Paul’s day-to-day life is relatively boring, Wallace said he will occasionally bring cucumbers or carrots home from the dining hall for Paul to snack on. He also said he and his housemates will take Paul out of his crate some weeknights to let him roll around in his hamster ball or pet him.

“We will go downstairs, put out a movie, or do homework, or whatever and let him crawl around on the couch and hang out with us,” Wallace said. “He would always try to chew through the couch cushions to store food in there, so we had to stop him from doing that. But all of our housemates love him.”

Wallace said he and his Delta Tau Delta fraternity brothers had a cat his sophomore year, but he had never had a hamster before.

“I love cats and dogs, but I love that hamster,” Wallace said. “I had never interacted with one before, so it was all new, but I love it now. I would continue getting hamsters, for sure.”

Both Wallace and Crnkovich said hamsters provide a low-maintenance and low-cost option for students who want a pet but don’t have the time or money to devote to a bigger animal.

“You forget about it, and that’s not a problem,” Crnkovich said. “If you have food and water and a cage for them, then they’re pretty much set. But then when you do remember

you have a hamster, you’re like, ‘Oh, my gosh, this is the best thing ever.’”

For junior Emily Garnes, having an animal on campus is more than merely having a pet. Garnes lives in Benzing Residence with Sapphire, a 6-yearold shepherd mix who serves as her emotional support animal.

Garnes said Sapphire’s role as an ESA is similar to the work of a therapy dog, but di ers in that therapy dogs are trained to perform a speci c task like detecting when their owner has low blood sugar or has come in contact with an allergen. Garnes said ESAs do their job by simply being there for their owner and having a calming presence.

“She attended appointments with me, and the doctors saw that she was good — she’s very well behaved — and they saw how she helps me out,” Garnes said. “ ey wrote a recommendation letter, and we got it sent to an ESA certi cation service and got her veri ed.”

Garnes said Sapphire never had formal training for her role as an ESA, but her laid-back personality makes her a perfect t for the role.

“Lots of dogs could probably not do her job, because they need a speci c temperament,” Garnes said. “She’s very compassionate, and she has a very high emotional IQ. She can tell how I’m feeling or if I’m really sick, she’ll sit with me and comfort me.”

A day in Garnes and Sapphire’s lives includes waking up early for a walk and breakfast before Garnes goes to class. Garnes said living on campus makes caring for Sapphire easy because she is able to stop by the dorm between classes to check in on her. e duo usually walk three times each day, Garnes said.

“It’s not that hard, because the walks are good study breaks,” Garnes said.

It’s common to see Sapphire accompanying Garnes at campus events like Concert on the Quad or Benzing’s Fall Fest, and Garnes said Sapphire loves the attention students give her when she’s there.

“Hillsdale is like her happy place. is is like heaven for her,” Garnes said. “She loves being the center of attention. She’s a little diva, and she gets to live with a bunch of other girls so she’s like, ‘ ey all love me.’”

Garnes said the limited number of dogs on Hillsdale’s campus restricts Sapphire’s interaction with other canines, but Sapphire gains lots of human attention.

“She likes people, but she doesn’t like big crowds,” Garnes said. “We’re kind of the same personality-wise. We’re both introverts who really love people and socializing, but then get really tired. We both get overwhelmed by big crowds, but we love one-onone conversations. So I take her to the laid-back events.” Garnes said Sapphire was with her during her freshman year but she didn’t come back to campus for Garnes’ one semester of sophomore year.

“Taking care of an animal that you really love is a commitment,” Garnes said. “It reminds me to commit to taking care of myself as well, because I feel like that’s something you can really forget about in a busy college environment. It’s not like I hate taking care of myself. It’s just something that I’ve got to do. I would never forget to feed Sapphire one day, but why is it so easy for me to forget to do simple things like that for myself?” Privitt agreed, and said having a dog has taught him to balance his responsibilities. He said he has learned that taking care of a dog isn’t always convenient.

“A er a long day of school, or you come back from the library a er writing a paper, and you walk in, you’re like, ‘Not again, please. Not tonight,’” he said. “But they’re two di erent worlds. She exists on her own clock, and school exists on a different clock. And sometimes that just doesn’t work out.”

Privitt said Squirrel will live with him a er graduation, and said the added responsibility of having a dog is preparing him for life post-graduation.

“If you’re a junior or senior and you’re living o campus, it can be a great way to stretch into the maturity of what it might be like living on your own,” Privitt said. “That’s a whole side of life that has nothing to do with school and not much to do with social life — the things that don’t have to do with academics or school still need discipline and still need thought.”

Michael Branigan holds Squirrel like Simba in “The Lion King.” COURTESY | NATE PRIVITT