WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - The Hillsdale Interview: Mike Roberts of Hillsdale Academy

Episode Date: January 29, 2024

WRFH's Lauren Scott talks with Mike Roberts, Headmaster at Hillsdale Academy about his history of the school, plans for expansion, and an upcoming Open House.

You are listening to Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. I'm Lawrence Scott, and joining me today is Mike Roberts, Headmaster at Hillsdale Academy. Thank you so much for joining me today. Thank you for having me. How did you get into education? Oh, that's a great question. Well, I am the son of two teachers. My dad was a history teacher at Sturgis High School. My mom was an English teacher. So I guess it's been modeled for me, my whole life. But my journey took me from Sturges High School to Hillsdale College in 1994. And the minute that I stepped foot on campus at Hillsdale, I had my eye on teaching. And so I only, you know, that was confirmed through my time at Hillsdale College, studying as a history major and a health and physical education major, but also working.

with local kids in the area, observing at a variety of schools around the county, and working at Hillsdale Academy. So little did I know that later on that would be a future place for me to land, but I had the opportunity at Hillsdale Academy to observe, but also to help teach physical education. And so my journey then into K-12, I was sort of had a choice to make. My first job after Hillsdale College, I stayed right here, and I coached track and field and cross country with Bill Lumberg, the legendary Hillsdale College coach. And at that point, I was sort of at a crossroads to decide if I was going to go the college coaching route or K-12 route. And my heart was with K-12 and coaching. And so that's a nice way that I could do both. So my journey took me back to Sturgis

where I was a teacher and did a little bit of administration before my wife and I, I took jobs in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and taught for two years. And I worked on my master's at the University of Colorado in education leadership. And then kind of out of the blue, I received a phone call. This was winter of 2002. And I was a call from Diane Phillip, who is the current to Hillsdale College Vice President of Student Affairs. And she at the time had been working at Hillsdale Academy and recruited me back to consider a job. And so I was hired as the athletic director in 2002 at Hillsdale Academy. Ken Calvert was the headmaster that hired me at that time. And so I moved here in 2002 with my wife Lisa. And in my second year at Hillsdale Academy

added the assistant headmaster position. And I guess the rest is history. I've been working at Hillsdale Academy for the past 22 years. And then just two years ago, stepped into the headmaster position. When was the academy founded and what is its basic mission statement? Hillsdale Academy was founded in 1990. And the Academy was founded for three main purposes. It's all about teaching. So the first thing is to teach children in the local region, not just from Hillsdale, but we have families that come from about a 40-mile, radius all over the place. And so obviously primarily to teach students in a classical Christian educational setting, a back-to-basics traditional approach. Second is to teach college students.

We have several undergrads and grads that come to Hillsdale Academy to observe, to watch, to train, and to learn. And the third is to help anyone else that's interested in K-12 as they come visit our school and visit with us, whether that is board members, administrators, people that are interested in policy, prospective parents, that's our point. So for those three things, that's our purpose. And our school motto is virtue and wisdom. And what we're looking to do is certainly pass on a body of knowledge that we think K-12 students need to learn.

But more important than just passing on a body of knowledge and learning skills, which are very important, what we're focused on, at Hillsdale Academy and all of our classical schools that we work with is the cultivation of virtue and wisdom in our students. And so this long view that we have for these students, it's not just what happens to them in K-12. It's what they do with it. Once they leave our place, being prepared for lifelong learning, for service, for citizenship, and again, to cultivate virtue and wisdom. at Hillsdale Academy, the students receive a classical education. Can you tell me what classical education is and why it is important? Right. So when I start to talk about classical education, one of the things I like to start with is the why. What is the purpose of education? And it can't just be to know certain things. It can't just be to get into college. It can't just be to have a

a career. Instead of it being something about how to make a living, it has more to do with living well. It's thinking about the whole person, the whole child. It is a full education where everything we do is connected to this mission and to this point. And so at Hillsdale Academy, you know, we consider, and classical education in general, we consider ourselves great trustees of this, of the great tradition, the great tradition of the West. And so this plays out differently in the different grade levels, right? So if you were to walk into any one of our classical schools or Hillsdale, if you were to walk into any classical school in Hillsdale Academy, and you were looking at the lower school, you're going to see a dedicated focus on literacy and numeracy. So we schedule our

day and we are focused on those important building blocks of learning. You cannot go to that next level until you have a strong foundation in literacy and numeracy. And so that's a key component of what we're doing. And then as you go up through the grades, you know, we have a well-ordered plan, K-12, whether that is our grammar program with well-ordered language from grades three to grade six, or whether that's our writing program that builds year after year into our high school. these things are well thought out. But again, as we talk about passing on this body of knowledge, as you get older, what this means is reading the texts, the primary text in history, interacting with that text, led by the teacher that knows their subject, that's asking great questions of the student. And so not just knowing things, but knowing what these things mean. And so we read the best work,

in literature and history and philosophy as they have been refined over time. And so our students are exposed to these books by great teachers. And then they have to work on writing and speaking as they work through this curriculum. A classical education, again, as I mentioned, is going to be a full, whole education. So all of our students are taking literature and history, science, math, Latin, art, music, physical education. And so all of these things are part of the whole of what we do, and again, connected very much so to each other. You are listening to Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. I'm Lawrence Scott, and joining me today is Mike Roberts, the headmaster at Hillsdale Academy. I understand that Hillsdale Academy is hosting an open house soon. What is the exact date for that?

who is invited and what can people expect? Sure. We're having an open house on Sunday, February 4th, from 1 to 3. This will be at our school, which is located on one Academy Lane, on the campus of Hillsdale College. We are a school that's always open for tours and for visitors, but what we decided to do was open our building, especially for prospective families that are wondering if Hillsdale Academy might be the right fit for their family.

This is also an opportunity from anyone in the region that wants to come in that day and have the opportunity just to tour and see what the inside of the school looks like, meet our staff, and understand more about who we are. We are in admission season. So our priority new student application deadline is February 15th. And so this open house, just a couple weeks before that, is hopefully an opportunity to inform families of what decision they might make. for this year or for future years. We're growing. We have an addition right now that the construction crew is working six days a week with the hopes to have this done for the start of next school year.

This is going to allow us to especially grow in grades 9 through 12 where there is great demand. And we also have openings scattered throughout K-8. Certainly we need to see a new kindergarten class. So there are more openings there. but now is the time for families to really begin to act if they're considering Hillsdale Academy for 2024-20205. How does Hillsdale Academy differ from other schools in the area and even other Hillsdale-affiliated charter schools?

Sure. Well, a few things to keep in mind. We are the one school that Hillsdale College owns and operates. All the other schools, you know, we certainly serve and help and teach, but we, we are very, very fortunate to be on the campus of Hillsdale College, be part of Hillsdale College, and have access to all those resources. That's helped from the K-12 office. That's helped from the education department. Facilities, we have wonderful facilities for the arts and athletics, use of the college library. Our students are able to be dual-enrolled at Hillsdale College. So it's really special to be part of Hillsdale College. But we're also different. We're private and independent like Hillsdale College. You know, we did not take any state or federal funding. And that provides

a level of independence for us to do our work. And so that's a differentiator for us against anyone else in this county. And we're very fortunate to just have an outstanding staff. Our teaching staff, I think, is set apart. Hillsdale Academy is a teacher. destination and we're very fortunate when we have openings that it's competitive and we have wonderful qualified applicants. In fact, one of my toughest jobs is picking all those teachers and saying no to some wonderful teachers where I know that's not the case in so many other schools where they're really struggling to find qualified applicants. So I think that connection to Hillsdale are being private, independent, classical, and Christian, that's what sets us apart.

You mentioned that there are plans for construction for the campus. Will this new construction and these new additions allow for larger numbers of enrollment? Yes. So over the past four years, we've grown significantly. The demand for classical education, the demand at Hillsdale Academy is at an all-time high. In order to meet this demand, it's clear as we have some waiting lists in our lower school that we need to consider opportunities. We don't seek growth just for growth's sake. We're not trying to hit a certain number. What we want to do is serve well and meet the demand for those that want to be at our school.

And so what this is going to do, we have a modular building out front of the academy right now, our fifth and sixth graders are not actually in the main building. So this new addition will bring them back into our building, which is important. And then number two, it's going to allow us to add sections in grades 9 through 12. So especially if you're in grades 9 through 12, this is where we're going to grow. And we'll have to consider growth for other grades later on. I also want to mention this is going to help our fine arts program. Right now we're sort of sharing a music and art space.

And now we'll have a dedicated music space and a dedicated art space, which will be very, very good for our school. Is there anything else that you would like to tell our listeners about the open house or the Academy or classical education? You know, I think as parents are thinking through what they want for their child, I would just encourage them to take a look at Hillsdale Academy, come talk to us. You know, that's one of the things that I think is so important. Hillsdale Academy is a special place, not only because of a outstanding classical curriculum, It's also because of the teachers that I mentioned before, but I have to mention that we have a culture where we're partnering with parents. And this is such an important piece of a child's education. So as we think about as parents, what do we want our education to be for our children?

What is the outcomes that we care most about? I would love to engage with parents in that conversation. I also would want parents to know, you know, what are we looking for for people that we accept for students? there are two main things, mission-minded families that want to partner with us. And number two, grade-ready children, right? They don't have to be just the top scholars are the best and the brightest. We have a lot of that. We want people, though, that want the education we have.

We want kids that are committed, families that are committed. And so those are things to know. I also think, you know, to mention we are a private school. There is tuition. But it's important to note that we have financial aid available. and over half of our families are receiving some sort of financial aid to help them afford this education. All right. Well, thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you for having me.

You have been listening to an interview with Mike Roberts, headmaster at Hillsdale Academy. I'm Lauren Scott on Radio Free Hillsdale, 101.7 FM.