WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Collegian Week In Review: August 28th, 2025

Episode Date: September 1, 2025

On the first episode of the semester of the Collegian Week in Review, hosts Catherine Maxwell, Alessia Sandala, and Megan Li talk to Elaine Kutas about a former Charger who was recently drafted to the Detroit Lions, Elijah Guevara about a recent partnership between Hillsdale and the White House, and Lauren Bixler about a Hillsdale senior’s major accomplishment.

Welcome to the Collegian Week in Review on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. Here are your hosts, Alessia Sandela, Catherine Maxwell, and Megan Lee. Welcome to Collegian Week in Review, where we give you an inside look into Michigan's oldest college newspaper. We're your host, Catherine Maxwell, Alessia Sandella, and Megan Lee. And today we'll be talking with Elaine Kudis about a former charger that was recently drafted. by the Detroit Lions, Elijah Guevara, who will be discussing Hillsdale's partnership with the White House, and Lauren Bixler, who will be discussing a senior who recently won an ultramarathon in Turkey. But first, we're starting with some top stories.

On our front page this week, one of our top headlines was the college continuing construction on the Classical Education Building. And there's actually some big news this week. The Classical Ed Building is supposed to be. to be complete by late December when originally was going to finish in May or June. Was this May or June of this year or next year? Next year. Then they're ahead of things. That's pretty great.

I mean, that never happens with construction. This is true. Yeah, it always goes the other way. Like if they said, oh, December 2026, I would think that feels right. Construction has been hot topic among students here, but it looks like this is great. news soon we'll have very pretty new buildings on campus, which is exciting. Yeah, and even the front of the Grucox Student Union is supposed to be usable by February, which is also crazy. I don't remember when that was supposed to finish originally.

We're getting closer and closer to having the quad. And I also found out from this piece that we're hiring, or we have hired, the same architecture firm that the White House is using for President Donald Trump's new ballroom. which is really cool. Apparently they specialize in classical architecture, which is obviously the goal here on campus and, of course, with the White House and everything they're doing, which is a really awesome tie-in. I knew Hillsdale and the White House were pretty tight. I didn't know we could just call up the same architect. Hillsdale's newest freshman class, which is always exciting news every time the fall semester rolls around. It looks like the class of 2029, which is such a weird thing to say. There was an acceptance rate of 19.31%, which is apparently the first time that Hillsdale has been below 20% for the acceptance rate. Pretty impressive.

So it looks like this is the most selective class so far. are 194 women and 192 men with an average GPA of 3.95. That is something. I've heard the joke that if people are a year or the year above us apply to Hillsdale now, we wouldn't get in, which I don't know. I think that might apply to me, but that's horrifying. I don't even think I would have tried to apply if I saw a sub 20% acceptance rate. Because when I applied, I had to. seeing some stat that was like 36%. And that was already way lower than all the other schools I was looking at. So I thought, sure, I'll throw something in.

And then I heard later that it was closer to 20, which was crazy. I do love how every time we run this story, it's always most selective, most competitive. It just like, it keeps happening. So we can't get away from that headline. Hillsdale keeps breaking records. The freshman that was interviewed in this article, and I remember I think the freshman interviewed in last year's article, talked a lot about their desire to enter into a college community that is very academically challenging and rigorous, and that will push them to become better and more excellent. And it looks like, I mean, the selectiveness of the admissions rate really reflects that, that Hillsdale is looking for students that stand out from the rest and really prioritize. the quality of their education. So it's very cool that we have these 386 new students coming into our

community. Yeah, it'll be awesome to see what they do in the future. This week, the top story in city news was about the mayoral primary in Hillsdale. Matthew Bentley and Scott Sessions were the top two vote getters. They will go on to a election in November where the new mayor of Hillsdale will be decided. This is a really interesting election. since it's kind of coming down to the two factions of sorts on the city council. It's generally the young college guys versus the locals. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out. The interesting part with that is that Matthew Bentley is a local.

So it's not, but he still tends to be lumped in with the college guys faction. So that's one of the interesting parts of this election especially. And with the road diet, there's a lot of tensions around that as well. And also a lot of city officials have quit recently. And that's leading to a lot of allegations of negative work culture. And that's one of the other big topics of this election as well. It's been a crazy ride to get here too with the former mayor stepping down. And then, of course, acting mayor Palladino.

stepping up and saying he would run and then backing out and saying he's not going to run. And now it seems like people definitely have a lot of opinions about who should be mayor. But the voting turnout was something like 17%, which is super low. And it seems like there's so many contested issues going around. So it'll be fascinating to see where this goes. Yeah, the voter turnout compared to the presidential election was serious. which is to be expected since it's a crazy presidential election versus a mayoral primary. But even in 2022 when they had a mayoral primary, there was 22% voter turnout.

And it seems like things have gotten more controversial and contested in Hillsdale since then. So it's interesting that it keeps going down. Also in City News, on a lighter note, the Don Theater is hosting a blue-gold. Grass Band on September 5th at 7 p.m. This band is called Mountain Highway and they are from Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. So they're coming all the way from Tennessee to enlighten, I guess, Hillsdale, with their music. And they like to do a variety of songs, not just bluegrass. They want to kind of expand the horizons, I guess, play all kinds of different music. It's actually quite an interesting story the way this band came to came into contact with the Hillsdale community.

Basically, the banjo player of the band had actually run into Dr. Gary Wolfram at Niagara Falls. And she had taken Dr. Wolfram's, I believe it is Econ 101 class, one of the online courses that Hillsdale offers. And she saw Dr. Wolfram and his wife at Niagara Falls and he was wearing his color. merch. She was like, oh, are you Dr. Wolfram? Are you from Hillsdale College? And that's how they came to know each other. And Mary Wolfram, who was the chair of the board of the Friends of the Dawn Theater, was interested in inviting Mountain Highway to Hillsdale after hearing about what they did and the music that they liked to play. So I thought that was an interesting tidbit about how this event came to happen.

And I got to say, I love Pigeon Forge. It's next to Gatlinburg, and I'm in that area a lot. So it's really cool that we're getting people from that part of Tennessee to come to Hillsdale and share some of that smoky mountain culture. And in the words of the banjo player, this ain't your granddaddy's bluegrass. It's hard driving, funky, viking, traditional and fun all in one show. And I don't have a southern accent, so it doesn't sound good. Love that. Yeah.

Those were this week's top headlines. Next, we'll be interviewing Elaine Kudis. You're listening to the Collegian Week in Review. We're here with sports editor Elaine Kudas. Hi. To talk to us about a former charger who was just drafted by the Detroit Lions. Elaine, tell us about Isaac Tesla. How did he start here at Hillsdale and how did he end up in the NFL?

Yeah, so Isaac Tesla was a. a student at Hillsdale. He attended for three years, 2020 to 2022. He came to Hillsdale, prompted by his family history with the college. Both of his parents went here, and his dad did play football for Hillstale as well. He graduated in class of 1997. So he had football influence, Hillsdale influence, and he ended up coming to Hillstale, playing for the Chargers. And when he came, he ended up switching positions from quarterback to wide receiver. And that kind of sports. And that kind of sparked his career in football. He ended up being one of the greatest players that we had and transferred to D1 School University of Arkansas to play football in the SEC. And then from there,

he entered the combine and the draft and was able to participate in a whole bunch of games leading up to that, like the Hula Bowl, and was able to be noticed by a couple teams. He has grown up in Michigan, so he's always loved the Detroit Lions, and that's something that he talked about, especially with his teammates when he was a student here. And so when he was in the draft round, his agent thought that he would perhaps have a chance at the Lions, and they drafted him as their 70th draft pick. Wow. So what is he going to be doing with the Lions from here on out? He was playing in some of the preseason games? Yes. So he has played in multiple preseason games.

I believe three games so far, and in each game, he has received a touchdown. So he is doing great things already. As a rookie on the team, he will be performing in preseason and special teams games, just as he starts to gain some more experience performing against professional level athletes. And Charger coaches have had great things to say about Tesla. he's not the first Hillsdale alumnus to make it to the NFL, right? Correct, yes. So we also have a couple others.

Notable names would be Chester Markle. He was a kicker. He played for the Packers, I believe. And Jared Veldor, sorry if I'm pronouncing that wrong, he also graduated from Hillsdale and he was an offensive lineman. So those are two of the notable names of Chargers who have gone on to play in the NFL. now Tesla can join the ranks. Thanks so much for joining us, Elaine.

Yeah, absolutely. Happy to be here. You're listening to the Collegian Week in Review. I'm Alessia, and I'm talking to Assistant Opinions Editor Elijah Guevara about the latest episode in a Hillsdale video series featuring Defense Secretary Pete Hegsef. So, Elijah, can you tell us about this video series that Hillsdale is making in partnership with the White House? Yeah, well, it all began this. year in anticipation of the 250th birthday of the United States, of course, next year, July, 2026. White House salute to America, 250 task force, and U.S. Department of Education asked Hillsdale

to help create the series. So they're releasing a lot of videos leading up to, I believe, the 250th, which would be next year. What events have been featured in the series so far? I believe the videos they've had so far are on. an explanation of the Declaration of Independence. So kind of how that came to be. We have battles of Lexington and Concord. I think there's a Battle of Bunker Hill video. And then a video on the formation of the Army,

which resulted from Lexington and Concord. And that's what Secretary of Defense Pete Higgseth's video was on. The most recent video, as you said, featured Defense Secretary Pete Hegssef. What did he talk about in more depth? Well, he said that the video, series as a whole is a really good way to take a step back from what he called revisionist history and how he says a lot of historians have created basically myths about American culture. He

characterizes them as woke, woke myths that have destroyed the culture that have cast you know America as being something shameful and oppressive. He's saying that the video series takes that a step back and that it goes and and brings a more patriotic light to these historic events. So, yeah, he seemed to be really enthusiastic about that, actually. I was really glad to see that. Who else has been featured in some of these videos? I talked to historian Walter Bournemann.

He had the video on the Battle of Bunker Hill. Of course, college president, Dr. Larry Arn, our very own. He did the introduction to the series, and I believe the video on the Declaration of Independence. And I believe Dr. McLeigh, if I think I'm getting that right, Dr. Wilfred McLeigh, another Hillsdale professor, he did a video on another battle or something that took place around that time frame as well. Great. Thank you so much, Alarja.

Yeah, thanks for having me. Radio Free Hillsdale's The Collegian Week in Review continues. I'm Megan Lee, and today I am talking. talking with Lauren Bixler, the assistant features editor, about a senior named Oliver Beezer, who recently came in first place in a 100-kilometer ultramarathon in Turkey. So, Lauren, could you tell us a bit about what this race looked like and how Oliver came to participate in it? Oliver shared with me that he did not intend to race in this ultramarathon.

He was in Turkey with peers from the college doing an eight-week-long internship in a museum called the Salt Galata in Istanbul. And for months, he has been training consistently every single day since, I believe, last September, he says he hasn't missed a day of running. He runs between 15 to 18 miles every single day, with the exception of Fridays and Saturdays, which, He calls his longer runs, which are 20 or more miles. So he will spend anywhere between two and three hours most days running.

And he continued that when he was in Turkey. And he shared with me that he saw an opportunity to join this ultramarathon. He has run 100-mile races before other ultramarathons. So it wasn't out of his league of running. And two weeks before the race started, the last. stay to register, he signed up. And so he ended up in Mount Ulu Dog, as I call it. I probably am butchering the annunciation of it, but it's a mountain in Turkey, also known as Missy and Olympus, where some allegedly claim that the Greek gods watch the Trojan war from that mountain.

And Oliver himself said he could see Troy, whence the fog cleared. from the mountaintops. It was an absolutely stunning place. We kind of see on the picture of the features page. He's alone climbing up a mountain of rocks in a sea of mountains. And he ran 100 kilometers, which is 62 miles. And he placed first. And he was pretty much in the lead the entire time.

He shared how he kind of went back and forth with the first place competitor, but eventually overtook the other. runner around mile 20. So a third of the race, he was kind of fighting for first, and then he ended up in first. And his friends who were their other Hillsdale students, Alexander Laird and Madeline Cho, were tracking him during the whole race. And they confirmed they pretty much saw him in first the whole time. That is very impressive. It says here there was an elevation change of 4,620 meters throughout the 62-mile race. 62 miles is quite a good bit to cover,

not as much as 100 miles, which Oliver said he's already done. But what were some of the things that happened along these 62 miles? What were some things that Oliver saw and encountered? He had quite a story to share the way he said it so casually, too, which you'll see in a minute why I'm appalled by the fact he said it so casually is, as he said around mile 45. So a significant chunk of the race has already happened.

He came across a herd of goats that were guarded by six Kangle shepherds. These are 100 to 150 pound dogs. And they were running at him, barking, in his words, gnashing their teeth. And they kept getting closer and closer until he said he kicked one squarely in the jaw to kind of ward off these dogs while he was trying to continue placing first in this ultramarathon. And he was just holding his ground for at least five minutes while these ginormous, scary dogs were attacking him. And thankfully, the race organizer noticed that his tracker had stopped moving and came to his rescue and was able to scare off the dogs. I mean, you'd think it's a miracle he didn't get ripped to pieces.

And yet he said so casually, you know, I just kicked one squarely in the jaw when it got too close. And in his words, it scared the rest of them off to at least give me some breathing room. And just with this casualness of his experience, that's something most of us probably wouldn't have the fortitude to handle calm, cool, and collected. And yet he did. and that was probably the main factor of the race that just grips you when you read about it. But he also mentioned moving through different terrains, not only like rocky hills that he had to basically crawl up because they were so steep, but he also went through very humid forests.

And he mentioned that through these forests he was able to get water from fountains and women watering their plants. Whatever that means. But this was his story. And then he just, he kept going. And he was the only non-Turkish or non-Iranian person to finish the race. At least that's what he said. And it's quite impressive.

What did Oliver say was the motivation behind his training so much, running so much? Why does he love to do this? Well, Oliver didn't. he's not been a runner his whole life he he said that he began running at the end of high school for just to lose weight and his mom his mom always ran and she kind of brought him into her world and from there he just loved it he loved running he still does obviously if he's doing it so much every day his kind of closing words were in his words if tomorrow i found out that running is terrible for you. I found out that I would never be any good at it. I think I would keep running.

He said, it's something that's for its own good. And I think that's just a beautiful approach to running that we don't always see. He only does it because he enjoys it. He pushes himself because he enjoys it somehow. And I think that's beautiful. That was Assistant Features editor Lauren Bixler talking about Senior Oliver Bieser winning the Turkish Ultramarathon. Thank you, Lauren. Thank you. You've been listening to the Collegian Weekend Review on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. I'm Megan Lee.

I'm Catherine Maxwell. I'm Alessia Sandella. You can find the Collegian Weekend Review online at cwir. dot transistor.fm. You can also find more news at Hillsdale Collegian.com or find us on Instagram at Hillsdale Collegian. Once again, thanks for listening to Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM.