WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Freshman/Senior Interview: Charis Linton

Episode Date: May 6, 2024

Hillsdale freshman Alessia Sandala interviews Hillsdale senior Charis Linton about her time on campus, lessons learned, advice for younger students, and more. From 05/2024.

This is Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. I'm Alessia Sandella. With me today is Karris Linton, a member of the class of 2024. So Karras, what is your major and minor and what clubs and activities are you part of? Hi, Alessia. I am a music major. My primary instrument is jazz guitar, but I've also done classical voice, jazz voice, jazz bass, and I've played in a combo in song and choir. My minor is business, just the general business minor. So I've taken introductory classes to like all of the various disciplines, like finance, accounting, marketing and stuff like that. In the past, I was president of the International Club for two years. Before that, I was part of the mentorship program for a year. And then I was an R.A. in McIntyre sophomore year and an R.A. in Benshing junior year.

Why did you choose Hillsdale? If we're being completely honest, it was because it was the cheapest option. I got into Indiana University, and their out-of-state tuition is like 50K a year, and they did not offer me very much scholarship. And I was like, Hillsdale on the other hand did. So the idea was go into debt or don't go into debt, and Hillsdale was definitely the way not to go into debt. And also my sister went here, so I knew many. good things about her experience as she's told me, and I knew it would be a fun fit. If you had to start your college search over again, would you choose Hillsdale again? Why?

I think I would choose Hillsdale again, especially considering how they handled COVID. As a 2024 grad, that means I was one of those people who didn't get like a senior graduation in high school and stuff like that. And I think the way they've managed to maintain their standards as a college community made it a really solid option to pick when I was that age. Also, as a music major, I really appreciated how they kept a music program open and had live performances and brought in live guest artists. Just made it as normal as possible for me and for all these students who came to have a good normal college experience. And then just going on, I've seen the different colleges with their different protests or riots and just pushing different things that I would not be a fan of or not

want to participate in. And I think Hillsdale is definitely the most, I don't want to say average experience, but kind of how I envisioned college should be. And so I really, I think I made the good decision coming here. What is the most important lesson you learned while at Hillsdale? Okay. So when I was a freshman, I went to one of the academic services meetings or the like freshman will help you out kind of an event that they would host. And I came early and I ran into Spencer Rothfuss who was running it at the time. And he was like, do I put this table inside the room? Do I put it outside the room? I don't know. I'm a freshman. Why are you, you're a senior. You should know this. And he was like, pro tip cares. The seniors don't have anything figured out either.

And that's, I think, one of the most special interactions I've had at Hillsdale because it kind of just put into context that people really don't have it altogether ever and they're all just trying. And somehow it all turns out well. Like I've loved, I loved all the academic service events that I went to. And as time went on, as I started hosting events, I felt like I was scrambling every single time to get an event done for an dorm or for my club. And it just turns out okay. Like, everything turns out in the end. And if you put too much pressure on yourself to have it to feel like everything is under control, that will stress yourself out. But if you just kind of accept that, you know, even the people you think have it under control don't and everyone's just working hard and trying their best and that will get the

result that you want, then you're set. And so I think I just learned a lot from that as a freshman to just kind of treat things with less pressure to be perfect and to feel perfect all the time and to still see the fruit of my labors despite not knowing everything. So you're somewhat of a celebrity and McIntyre. So can you tell me a little bit about how that reputation developed? Okay. So wow. So I was an Olds freshman year and I really loved Olds. I had a great time. I applied to be an Olds R.A., but they offered me a position as a MacR.A. And I was like, I don't know, I don't know anything about McIntyre. And at the time, like my freshman year, McIntyre was a very introverted dorm and they didn't really host that many events. There was one girl who participated in mock rock and they just asked her to go join the block

because they didn't have people to do a McIntyre routine. And I was just like, that just doesn't seem like the dorm for me. I'm like, I don't know. And I was like, athletes are scary. I don't know. Like, what am I going to do about this? But I took the job and I kind of actually taking the mentality of Spencer Roth as his advice. I was just like, no one's got to figure it out. Like, no, these, why be intimidated by something? Let's just go and have fun with it. And so I got into Magintyre and I was like, I'm just going to try to get to know every single person, like every single person on my hall. I'll try to chat with them, spend time with them. And not really treat it as being an RA, but just treat it as being friends with them. And I think the whole

RA team collectively had the same mentality where we were like, we're just going to try to really promote community in this dorm. We're not going to try to, you know, be another olds or be something that we're not. And we're just going to embrace the girls who are here for who they are. And we tried to match events to them. We tried to, you know, just make sure every single person in the dorm had someone they could talk to. And it worked out really well. Like we went from having that one girl who actually ended up being my roommate and she became an RA in mock rack to having like 40 girls. Like I was choreographing and I was like, oh boy, this is a lot of people to work with. And I think it really just came from a friendship mentality where you approach a dorm as a group of individuals that you can get to

know individually as opposed to like, oh, we're going to try to make events and we're trying to get people to come to events and we're going to establish this kind of reputation on campus, that or the other. It was just these are the girls that we've got and they're super cool in their unique individual ways. And we love them and we're going to cater to that. And I think it just worked out really well. And I think our group effort where everyone kind of had a similar approach really paid off. And it was really fun. I just got to meet a lot of people that I still am great friends with.

And it was really great to see another side of campus that wasn't the old girls and just embrace it and have fun. Now I'm friends with a bunch of athletes that I didn't think I would be friends with. with when I was a freshman and I'm friends with all these cool people who came from the McIntyre corner. And I think just like treating them as the people they are is really just how it paid off. So who has been the most influential person in your time at Hillsdale? That's, that's definitely a hard question. I think a lot of people had a really strong impact on me. If I had to say like from like a mentorship perspective, someone I learned a lot from just by watching was Rachel Keady.

McIntyre head R.A. when I was half R.A. And she was a senior. She was from Kenya. So I also indirected with her through the International Club stuff. I just learned so much by watching how she treated people. I don't think a single person on this campus didn't love her. And it just really showed through how she got like outstanding woman of the year. And she gave a speech at like the freshman event. She just I, she just loved everybody and cared about everybody and remembered things about everybody and checked in on everybody and was also smart and put a lot of work into, you know, the academic side of life and her personal life, but she just had a very selfless approach to campus that I think was really special to watch and learn from, especially as a half RA.

But at the same time, she didn't like, she still had her private time. Like, she wasn't one of those people who burnt herself out, which I think some Hillsdale students are tempted to do. And I think she had a good balance of just work life people. that really just gave me a healthy impression of, like healthy example of what I wanted to see in my own life. So I really loved Rachel Keady. And yeah, if anyone remembers her, they all love Rachel Keaties. So it was, yeah, she was a great person. So how has having its siblings at Hillsdale impacted your experience? I like it, but I think that's because I have a good relationship with my siblings. I don't know how it would be otherwise. But coming in with faith here

as a junior was really helpful because I just got to have all the, I got to bypass a lot of the freshman awkwardness by having someone on campus who knew how campus worked and who could tell me about how campus worked and who could introduce me to upperclassmen who could, you know, save me from stupidity and embarrassment by doing something only a freshman would do. So she was definitely a great help in getting me settled into Hillsdale. And then having Ashton here has been super fun because we can just hang out and I've gotten to know all the underclassmen through her. And I feel like continually connected to campus because my sisters are all in different grades as I was. And I could kind of bridge the different class gaps by having someone in a different class

who can, you know, keep me connected to them and introduce me to them and build relationships in that way. So I think that's how I have a lot of fun getting to know all the different people on campus is It helps to have siblings because they can make it easy. What book did you read in your time at Hillsdale that made an impact on your life? If there is one. A positive or a negative impact? Either. Okay.

I will say Coriolanus by Shakespeare that I read for Greco-Roman Lit. I hope it's by Shakespeare. I don't remember anymore and someone out there is going to be like, it's not by Shakespeare. You're crazy. But we read it for Greco-Roman Lit. with Dr. Hutchinson, and that was one of the only books that I've kept from one of my literature classes that I was like, this is really interesting and really cool. And it kind of explored the concept between like a good leader who is not loved by his people and what that can mean

for him. And eventually the challenges that come to him because of that and how he just, he just doesn't get it. And yeah, I think it was kind of exploring the delicacy between people and objective, like, skill, I guess, where it's like, you still have to cater to the people. Like, you still have to have personal relationships. You can't just go based off of pure talent or I'm going to need to look into this again. I just know that. Like, I still have that book because it was one of the few that was like, wow, I like this. This is something I would read again.

Yeah. What's the strangest thing you've ever seen at Hillsdale? I feel like something else will come to me later on. but the most initial thing that came to me was just one day I was walking down the path between Howard and Kappa just down the street I was calling a friend just chatting with the friend and I just start hearing like really loud music and behind me and just chanting and running footsteps and I just like rotate and I just turn my head around and I'm like on the phone I'm like I think like 50 Galloway sure sureless Galloway guys are chasing me.

right now. I'm Anita second. And I just like sprint. Like I'm like I don't know where I was. I was behind a tree somewhere like around sage or something and all of these guys just go pouring past me. And I was like, I cannot like this friend is not a Hillsdale college friend. I was like, I'm so sorry. I cannot explain to you what just happened. But it's raining men. They're screaming. They're three different guys are trying to carry the same speaker. And I was like, this is so weird. in the context of trying to communicate to someone on the phone, what just went by me and why I was just like running for it. So I think that's an experience everyone at Hillsdale College should have. I think Feast, it's there and you should, you need to see it to believe it.

The other would be like some of the wild outfits I've seen Simpson wear to homecoming. Those are pretty great. What is something you wish you could tell your eight-year-old self? Maybe be nicer to your siblings. I think I was pretty mean when I was eight. I was the kind of kid who was like, I will push all your buttons, but in a way that mom and dad will never find out. You will have no proof.

It's like, I'm not dumb enough to hit my siblings. I can make them mad other ways. Nefarious. Sorry. What is something you wanted to do here, but never got the chance to do? I would have really liked to win homecoming one year. I think being in a winning team would have been the year. euphoria and excitement would have been just really astounding. And I've gotten close. Like I was in

OCC this year. I think we ranked third or something like that. And OCC is one before. So it was just like, we were close. It's kind of subjective homecoming judging. So you can't really blame yourself one way or the other. Like I don't think there's anything we could have done differently to make it better. But I just, you know, you see the winning team just like breaking their vocal cords and like running onto the field. And And I was really happy for both like Needfeld and Simpson who did really well and their teams definitely, you know, deserved it. But it would have been cool if I'd gotten a chance once in my four years. And I was like, I was in McIntyre and Olds for two years and there's no chance either of them

were going to win. And, you know, Block is kind of a hit or miss wild card kind of a team. So, you know, I didn't really like set myself up for it, but it would have just been fun. I still had a great experience no matter what, and I wouldn't have changed anything about all of my four homecomings. But I think if I could like really, like one thing I really want to experience once would just be winning homecoming. How have you changed in your time at Hillsdale? I think first, Hillsdale has helped me be really good at time management. I went from basically dying with 19 credits sophomore year to having 20 credits last semester and being.

very chill about it. So shout out to Hillsdale for trial by fire. I think it's also helped with figuring out how to approach people because there's a huge variety of people at Hillsdale. And if you get outside of just Hillsdale College, there's an even wider variety with like the Hillsdale community at large. And I think it was helpful just as a whole to be in a position where you're both a student, but you're also a leader. And you're also a leader. And you're also, are involved in things and you're trying to make things happen that really pushes you to communicate beyond just in like a student teacher relationship. So being an RA working with a team, working with a club team, trying to organize events, trying to challenge registrar about credits that didn't transfer,

trying to try to make things happen for yourself that involve communicating with other people, I think is just a really healthy part of the college experience and teaches you a lot about how to be respectful, polite, a good person, but also communicate well, get what you need to get done, just those kind of things. When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? I wanted to be an author and write novels, and I still do, so that's not off the table yet. I'm going to get a job so I can afford my life while also writing books, and hopefully eventually writing books and publishing them will turn their own income enough that I can quit my job and just commit wholly to it. This is Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. I'm Alessia Sandela

talking with Caris Linton. What's the worst advice you've ever received? This is a horrible story that it's going to be that yeah, that's going to kind of out myself. But there is one Thursday evening, I believe, that me and two of my current housemates went to a public and grub, which is the downtown bar. And it was relatively empty because it was Thursday evening and not too late in the evening. So we sat at the bar and like chatted with the bartender. And we got some wild advice from her. She was fantastic. I loved her a lot. Like I would definitely go back just to talk with her, but I would also not take any of her advice. One of the things that we got was men are like tissues. You can use them once and then throw them away and replace them.

And we were all there like, ha, ha, ha, that's not, that's not how relationships should work. We were like, okay, okay, whatever you say. Like, we, like, we just laughed about it and, like, kept talking to her and asking her questions. But that stuck with me as, like, one of the funniest lines I've ever heard that is very not true. Like, I wouldn't, yeah, sorry to the men out there, but it was, it was really entertaining, but definitely not advice that I would act on. What is something you wish you did more of during the semester? This semester?

I probably would have just liked to spend more time with people. I think second semester senior year, everyone's kind of in panic mode because you're trying to figure out your future and applying to jobs and getting jobs and getting an apartment and moving and graduating and wrapping up all your big projects, et cetera, et cetera. And I think it was kind of hard to get together

with senior friends and spend time with them and build meaningful memories with them. And I would have really liked to do a little bit more of that than I did. Not to say there wasn't any, but sometimes right now I'm like, why didn't I just skip class and go do that thing and sacrifice sleep and go do that thing. So how did you spend your summers in between school years? Okay, so my family are missionaries to Taiwan. So I would just fly back to Taiwan. And I consider the possibility of doing jobs and stuff, but I was like this might be some of my last few months to actually spend quality time living in my family's home. So I just spent time with family, spent time with the people I know in Taiwan. And the last summer actually, one of my Hillsville

graduate friends, Canela Luna, came and visited. So we did a bunch of touring Taiwan, which I'm really glad we did because I don't know the next time I'll just have three free weeks to go and spend all my time running around Taiwan. So yeah, a lot of eating good food and drinking boba tea. It's my main priorities when I'm home for the summer. What was your favorite SAB event during your time here? I have an answer and it's on the tip of my tongue and I can't remember specifically. I have to say I am a big fan of CHP. I love live music and live music is always great. I have to say I've really enjoyed faculty review, especially last years when Dr. Kuehler pulled his piano comedy skit.

That was quite possibly the funniest thing I've ever witnessed on campus. It was spectacular. Strongly recommend finding a video of that if you can. Yeah, I think that was one of their solid events and CHPs might go to every year. Which activities do completely lose track of time doing? Okay, I would say art. I've taken several art classes at Hillsdale and I'll get pretty invested and I feel so productive. So even if I have homework, I'll be like, I'm being productive already.

Like I don't need to go keep being productive and do more homework somewhere else. So I'll just really sit down and spend time with artwork, try to get it finished to completion, the perfection, the way I want to. it to be. That's always been really fun. What is the best paper you ever wrote? I think the best paper I wrote was for Dr. Stoff's Music History 2 class. It was on jazz guitar and how jazz guitar changed when electric amplification was used. So the style of playing changed, the use of the guitar and bands changed. And I focused a lot on Charlie Christian, who's one of the first electric jazz guitarists out there. It was super fun to research. It was just one of those papers where I was like, yes, I actually like what I'm talking about and I'm not just doing this for the class.

The only struggle is that Massey Library has zero books or anything relevant to jazz guitar in the entire building. So I had to just struggle to request books and find the research to make it happen. But that was still fun too. I really liked it. And I got a good grade on it. And it was Dr. Stoff, who's like a notoriously picky essay. grader and he always makes you do a massive research paper and you always feel like you barely pulled it together on time and it went well so I had a great time I will talk to anybody about jazz guitar for a long extended period of time now that I've done that research if you ever did a radio show what would your show be about I have thought about this I need to remember what I thought about this I think my

radio show would probably be more of in opinions or critique kind of a show and And I personally would just like it to be a very broad spectrum of where it's just come here, Karras, give her opinions on whatever she's feeling like today. And it would range from like my thoughts on food, especially saga food, and then just onto whatever. Because I would get passionate about very niche, unimportant things that I think it would be funny to talk about in either a very like negative or very positive way, according to how I feel about it. What are your thoughts on the quad construction?

Hopefully they don't fire me for this and don't let me graduate, but I'm really against it. I just do not get the point of putting a building on the only central green space in campus when you could put a building everywhere else because we're never going to reclaim that green space after you do that. And it's just going to shrink. And considering that they're also considering renovations for the union and the library and the Dow Hotel, it was already going to shrink before they added a whole building to it. So I just think the administration may not realize how much a flat green space in the smack middle of campus contributes to the community of campus as a whole and how irreplaceable that is and how even adding green spaces elsewhere is just not going to be the same thing. So the fact that they're making it much smaller and adding a building makes me pretty sad.

So I like to say I came to Hillsville at the perfect four years where I was a freshman right after they finished the chapel construction and right before they, and graduating right before they do the quad construction. So I'm so sorry to your class and everyone who's going to have to deal with it for a long time. What are your post-grad plans? I have two weddings this summer. I'll be going back to Taiwan. And then I have a job as a music teacher at American Classical Academy Rutherford, which in my opinion should have less syllables in their name, which is a charter school opening in Laverne, Tennessee. So I'll be decently close to Nashville, which I'm really excited about. And I've already bought concert tickets for it.

And I will get to work with kids and work with music, which is what I am here for. And finally, what is your advice to freshmen? Maybe I'll just give the same advice that Spencer Rathas gave me, which is seniors don't got it, figured it out either. So don't stress out if you feel like things are out of control or things are new or everyone else is so much more put together than you are. Or the seniors are so much cooler. Like we're no. Even the administration, no. Like you're a person. You've made it this far. You can make it through Hillsdale and turn out great. Things will be just fine. and just get rid of the things have to be under my control mentality. Just fake it till you make it. That's my little words of wisdom. Thanks for coming on, Karras. Thank you.

My guest has been Karris Linton, class of 2024, and I'm Alessia Sandella on Radio Free Hillsdale, 101.7 FM.