WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Collegian Week in Review: October 30th, 2025

Episode Date: November 1, 2025

This week on the Collegian Week in Review, hosts Catherine Maxwell, Alessia Sandala, and Megan Li first talk to Elijah Guevara about the recent Protestants vs. Catholics soccer game hosted by Campus Rec. Then, they talk to Christian Papillon about last weekend's football game. And finally, Catherine interviews Alessia about the future of a local homeless shelter.

Welcome to the Collegian Week in Review on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. Here are your hosts, Alessia Sandala, Catherine Maxwell, and Megan Lee. Welcome to the Collegian Week in Review, where we give you an inside look into Michigan's oldest college newspaper. We're your host, Alessia Sandala, Megan Lee, and Catherine Maxwell. Today, we're talking to Assistant Editor Elijah Guevara about El Classico, Assistant Editor Christian Papillon about the Chargers football game and City News editor Alessia Sandala about a homeless shelter's new season. But first, here are some top stories. Our top story on A1 this week, the city mayoral election is set for November 4th. Students can vote as current Ward 2

councilman Matthew Bentley and former mayor Scott Sessions. face off in a special election. The winner will hold the Office of Mayor for one year and then can decide whether or not he wants to run again in 2026. And he would be running then for a full four-year term. Tune in next week to hear about those election results. Also on A1, one of Hillsdale's mock trial teams swept Harvard in a recent tournament.

Congressman Tim Walberg spoke at a college Republicans event about the government shutdown, and an A1 feature covers a prank war between two off-campus houses. Some other top stories this week include a piece about campus' reaction to Gaza peace deals. Lots of students and professors weigh in with their opinions in this article. A former Hungarian ambassador and Minister of Culture and Innovation in Hungary also paid campus a visit this past week. The Student Activities Board combined Fall Fest, a much-beloved fall-themed event that happens every semester around Parents Weekend, and Maker's Market,

which is another popular event where student businesses and food vendors sell their products. Hillsdale students have also formed the college's newest athletic club, Hillsdale College Ski and Snowboard, and they have plans to make it to Austria to ski one day. Hillsdale College alumna Vivian Turnbull, who graduated in 2025, earned an $8,500 scholarship for graduate studies from the Phi Kappa Phi National Honorary. The registrar's office is now allowing freshmen to make their own fall schedule heading into their first semester at Hillsdale. The Collegian Weekend Review continues.

This is Megan, and today we are here with Assistant Opinions editor Elijah Givara to talk about the Protestants' victory over the Catholics at El Classico. Elijah, welcome to the show. Hi, how's it going? Can you tell us what is El Classico? Well, El Classico is the annual soccer match, a co-ed soccer match between Protestants and Catholics that I believe Campus Rec puts on every year around late October. I think it's been about here every year.

But yeah, every year we have a team of Catholic, men and women, team of Protestant men and women, and they fight it out on the soccer field at Hayden Park. It's a really fun time. What did the scores end up coming out to at the end of the game? 3-0 Protestants. Yeah, I came in here hanging my head a bit, knowing that I'm a Catholic talking about this. But yes, that was it at the end of the night. They ended up doing really, really well. What was the energy of the game when you got there? What was it? What did the environment look like? Oh, the energy was through the roof. And I think that that was the part I really, really enjoyed about covering it. Obviously, I tried to split my time well between both the Catholics

and the Protestants. And I think both student sections were phenomenal. I mean, they were rooting on their team. There was a bit of heckling and trash talking and jeers and, you know, some jokes here and there. But I think it was a really fun time overall. I also think that the added dynamic of having parents there, because this was Parents Weekend, actually made it a bit more fun. You had a lot of parents there in the stands and the bleachers and then you add a lot of the kids on the on the turf on the sidelines but I think that both were getting very involved and definitely very invested in the game and how it was going. That's awesome. Can you tell us some of the heckling and the jokes that were going on? Oh, I can't even begin to explain. So I think Protestants had a lot of organized

chance, you know, read your Bible, et cetera, et cetera. They also had a lot of written taunts on the signs. They had things like meat on Fridays or buy indulgences here. I thought were really funny. But Catholics, I think that we definitely had a lot more of an organized vocal student section, I guess. Obviously, we had our quote unquote Pope, senior aiding Christian. He comes out and does that every year. I'm going to really miss him when he does that, when he doesn't do that next year as a student. But we had a lot of songs, I think.

We sang like when the saints go marching in, that's a church hymn. We sang the Salve Regina, the traditional Catholic hymn to our lady. We also had senior Daniel Doyle look up anathemas from the Council of Trent Anathemas, meaning I believe that's excommunication or separation from the Catholic Church. And he would read them out loud and everyone would cheer and applaud at the end. It was just a really fun atmosphere all around. That does sound super fun. what were some of the things that the Protestant team did that carried them to this sweeping victory?

I think that basically what coach junior Peter Gilchrist told me was that it was just all the players. It was just all the players putting it out there on the field and obviously in practices beforehand. But in the game, they were, I hate to say, they were really shattering Catholic defenses throughout the whole game. And I think that they're able to break through a lot because of some inefficiencies on the Catholic team. Although the Catholic team played amazingly. They played valiantly. They put their heart in it. But there were just some moments where the Protestants got really lucky.

And their talent carried them the rest of the way. I mean, even the first goal in the first five minutes, I was there last year. And I know that definitely didn't happen. And that was a really quick goal. Protestant senior and team captain Jacob Beckwith made the free kick. It was caught, fumbled by the Catholic goalie. And then the freshman, I believe his name was Joseph Ship, just kicked it, knocked it into the goal like five foot shot.

It was incredible. So there was a lot of luck there. But I could definitely see there was a lot of hard work and effort and teamwork that went into it as well. It looks like the players just keep ramping up their game every year for this soccer. How are the two head coaches feeling as they head into thinking about next year's El Classico? Well, I know one thing Peter told me for sure is that despite what the scoreboard says, he still thinks it was very, very close. And he thinks it was a lot closer than people might think.

He said that the Catholics did really well. They really upped their game. and he really looks forward to the match being just as good as ever, if not better, next year. And I think that's the same thing that junior and head coach for the Catholics, Max Cody, was telling me as well, was that while he was pleased with the game and disappointed with a loss, he could see where the improvements had been from last year. And there were stark differences. There were so many more shots on goal, so many opportunities like that.

And the players really took it up a notch despite the loss. And I think the outlook from both captains was not, you know, of just triumph or just loss and kind of despair. They were both really looking forward to the next year. You know, they were both like, okay, bring it on. And I think that was really, really cool of them. So you mentioned that Aiden Christian was dressed up as the Pope. What other costumes were there? Aiden Christian was the Pope, of course.

I believe the only other costume I really saw was senior Protestant Louis Thune as John Calvin. He came in with a little really just a corny brown beard and looked like it could have been made out of like a knit blanket that his grandma made for him. He just took it made into a beard. And I think he had a Bible. I don't know that he had the classic Calvin cap on top. I think he just had a black hood. But yeah, he came in with that immediately. and I was just like, oh, that's awesome.

Joseph, sophomore Joseph DePriva came in as a priest, I think. He had a little makeshift Roman collar also, which I thought was really neat. Elijah, what was the highlight of the game for you? For me personally, I just liked seeing everyone coming together and heckling each other and having a good time. I know that there's some people who take it very seriously. They try, you know, there's a lot of theological implications that can be. put behind it. I just thought it was a really good time to be there. I like seeing my friends mess around and heckling other friends on the other side of the field and who are heckling us back.

And I think at the end of the day, we're all Christians. We're all Hillsdale students. We all have a lot more in common than not. But some days like that is really fun to just bring out the little tensions under us all and to kind of poke fun at it. I thought that was really the best part of my night. Well, this makes me very excited for next year. years of Classico. Thank you so much, Elijah. Thank you. You're listening to the Collegian Week in Review. I'm Catherine, and today I'm talking to assistant sports editor Christian Papillon about his coverage of this past weekend's football game. Christian, it was an exciting parents weekend for the football team. What happened at the game? Yeah, it definitely was a good game. The Chargers,

they broke a three-game losing streak. They won pretty easily, too. It was 35. 10, so definitely a good win for the Chargers, puts them in a better spot. That's awesome. Who were they playing? They were playing Lake Erie College, the storm. And what's their record now in the conference? Right now in the conference, they're two and four, so not great, but they're have an easier schedule coming up. They're three and five overall. You mentioned it was a pretty big victory. Who were some of the top players in this game?

I think Shea Ruddy stands out on special teams. He won the GMAC Special Teams player of the week, too. He had a 90-yard kick return touchdown, and he had a couple of other really good returns that were unfortunately overturned by penalties. Not Ruddy's fault, but still, yeah, really good game for Shea. And how did the quarterback do this game? The quarterbacks, especially in the first half, were great. Colin McCurnan was great, Eli Boyce. They both were perfect on pass attempts, I think through the whole first half. There was maybe one intentional spike that Colin did to stop the clock, but that doesn't really count. And the extra points were especially consistent this game. Yes, we were five for five on extra points this game, which is the first time that we've been perfect on kicking. It's really good. Apparently now they have a consistent kicking unit, which it really helps when it's the same people, the same snap, or the same holder, the same kicker. You get the timing down better that way. So I think now there'll be a lot more

success with the extra points going forward. What did head coach Nate Schreffler have to say about the game? He was really happy with the execution all around with the team. There was only one real mistake in the game. There was one fumble that led to a leak-eary touchdown. But that right after that Shay Ruddy came around with the long kick return. So kind of erased that mistake. So very good game. Coach Schreffler was very happy. And what's the team's outlook as they think about the rest of the season? It doesn't look like they'll be qualifying for any conference championship games, but next up they're going to be playing Thomas Moore University,

and Thomas Moore hasn't won a game yet this season. So we maybe hope that trend will continue when the Chargers play them. Well, it'd be great to see the exciting weekends return. Christian, thanks for joining us. Thank you for having me on. Radio Free Hillsdale's The Collegian Week in Review continues. I'm Catherine, and this week, co-host Alessia Sandala, who's also the city news editor for the Collegian, wrote about a homeless shelter that just opened for its eighth and final season at Sozo Church. Alessia, what is Share the Warmth?

And how does it differ from other homeless shelters? So share the warmth is an overnight shelter. So it, meaning that it provides a place for people to go during the night and they have to go back out into town during the day. But it provides them with a bed, a shower, a laundry room, hot meals, somewhere to go during the coldest months of the year. So it's only open from November through, I think, either February or March. So this year, the shelter opens on Saturday, November 1st. And it's the final year at Sozo Church, where it's been operating for the past. I think they've been doing it there for six years, but the shelter has been in operation for eight years.

And it's run by Penny Myers. She's the executive director. And then there's a board behind them as well. And they're just looking to make a difference in the community. And they're a bit different from other shelters because they're run inside of a church. And they also don't take government funds. They try to get donations from the community. And they also have a really strict set of policies about who can stay there and behavior while they're there.

How many people can they currently accommodate? So Penny Myers told me that they have 40 beds currently, but they can also put in some cots if there's more people who are in need. They don't want to just leave people out on the streets during the coldest times of the year. They don't want anybody to freeze. So they're willing to work with that. But so far, that hasn't been an issue. This is the final year at Sozo Church, but not the final year for Share the Warmth. Where are they looking to go next year?

So Share the Warmth is looking to buy its own building so that they can hope to expand to the entire year, to be open the entire year. They want to be able to provide more resources like programs for people getting back on their feet. help finding jobs, help with addiction, things like that. And so to buy this building, they are trying to raise enough money since they don't get government funding. And they're looking to raise $750,000 in the next three months just to be able to buy the building and maybe get a start on the renovations. And so they're hoping to have a building by the spring so that they can start next season. They would even like to open as soon as possible, honestly. And Myers told me that she is estimating it's going to cost about $600,000 for the building

and then probably about that much to remodel it the way that they really want to. But they won't need to do all of that right away before they open. That can be more of a long-term kind of situation. And just to get it back up to the quality that they want. What kind of building are they looking for and are they running into any difficulties finding a suitable place? So they're looking for more of an open building, obviously, because they need to just be able to put a lot of beds, laundry room, kitchen, et cetera. They need to be able to have all of that in there. So the main difficulty is raising the funds, since they are completely reliant on the community.

But they said that there's never been any issues trying to get help from the community. The community has always been very supportive. But also another issue is that they can only look for a building in certain locations. They mostly have to stay along Carlton because they can't be in a residential area since they don't know who's coming in. There's addicts. There's, who knows, who might walk in the door. And they're willing to give everyone a chance. So they want to stay away from families, kids, just because they just don't know. But they also are trying to help everyone and give everyone a chance. The Collegion has covered the closure of Camp Hope, another homeless shelter in Humber.

Hillsdale. Will Camp Hout's closure affects the number of people that share the warmth? We'll see this winter. So Meyer said she couldn't really speak to this just because you never know how many people are going to walk through the door. But she said that in the past, or at least last year, when Camp Hope was under threat of closure, they did have a few people come from Camp Hope looking to stay, but they decided not to because of the code of contact there and the rules that they have in place. You spoke to one volunteer who's worked at Share the Wormth for the past three years. What did she have to say about working at the shelter? So I talked to Annette Frederick and she said that she absolutely loves volunteering at the shelter. She said that getting to know the people who come in and

really getting to hear their stories and being able to help and make a difference in the community has been a great experience for her. You also mentioned that Share the warmth relies on community support. What has that looked like for them? And have they felt like the Hillsdale community has supported their mission? Yeah. Myers told me that every time they post something that they need on Facebook, within a week or so, they get whatever it was that they were looking for.

One of the examples that she told me, I'm not sure if I included this in the article or not, but she said that the church had to charge them a water bill this year just because with the showers and the laundry room constantly running, the water bill went up a lot and the church just couldn't afford to do it. And they had never charged them before. And Meyer said that she was really understanding of this and it wasn't an issue. But it was $750. And so she put out into the community word that they needed $750 to pay this bill and the community paid it. And On top of that, even just getting food, clothes, socks were the big thing that she mentioned. Also shoes and winter jackets. People just donate. They're willing to help in any way that they can.

Alessia, thanks for reporting. Thank you. You've been listening to the Collegian Week in Review on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. I'm Catherine Maxwell. I'm Alessia Sandala. And I'm Megan Lee. You can find Collegian Weekend review online at C.W. trinister.fm and more news at Hillsdale Collegian.com. Our Instagram is at Hillsdale Collegian. Thank you for listening to Collegian Weekend Review on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM.