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

Episode Date: January 22, 2026

Michael Roberts, Headmaster at Hillsdale Academy, joins WRFH to discuss the classical education at Hillsdale Academy, how students benefit from classical education, and the Hillsdale Academy Open House on February 1, 2026.

You're listening to Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. This is Erica Kaiba, interviewing Hillsdale Academy headmaster Mike Roberts. How are you doing today, Mr. Roberts? I'm doing great. Thanks for having me. Well, thank you for joining us. Hillsdale Academy is going to be hosting an open house on Sunday, February 1st, which we're going to talk about today. But just to start us off, what is the history and purpose of Hillsdale Academy? Sure. So Hillsdale Academy is just over 35 years old now. And we started in 1990. And Hillsdale College started Hillsdale Academy for, I think, three main reasons. First and foremost, to offer our local community another option for schooling. And to begin with, it was K-8, just K-8 school. And a traditional back-to-basics, liberal arts approach to education that was, a desire for so many not only in Hillsdale, but also the region around us. So we exist for students here in our community. But number two, the history and the purpose of the school is that Hillsdale Academy is a place where Hillsdale College students that are interested in going out

in teaching, going out in leading schools or whatever their thoughts might be. It's a place to train. It's a place to observe to volunteer. And then number three, Hillsdale College recognizes the need for education reform and that K-12 is extremely important for our nation and for our families. And so Hillsdale College is interested in helping others. And so Hillsdale Academy is a place where others can come watch and be in conversation and to watch the teaching, see the curriculum, meet with leadership. And so we're hosting people all the time. And so those three things from 1990 were our start and they just continue to this day. So I want to circle back to the liberal arts curriculum, which you said is very important to the academy. For those that aren't as familiar

with what that entails, what's going into that. And in particular, what makes that special at Hill's Dale Academy. No, that's right. So, you know, now we're kind of moving into, you know, the words that we, you know, Hillsdale Academy is a Christian classical school, right? And so we have to, we understand, you know, obviously like Hillsdale College, we can, as a Christian institution, we can look at things through that Christian lens and go right to that piece of faith, which is wonderful when you're a private school and you have that ability. You know, classical means many different things, right? And we have classical. charter schools that are public schools. We have classical private schools. There's all sorts of different types of classical that's there. But what binds them together is this liberal arts kind of back to basics traditional curriculum. And I want to start there by the folks, like the ends of education in a classical school or a liberal arts school is going to look different than some of our other schools across the country. And the end is not just skill and career and even college. The end is what type of person are we becoming?

And so the idea of cultivating virtue and wisdom in students for a lifetime of service and leadership and learning and flourishing, that really is the whole driving force behind a total liberal arts education. So for us, there's a curriculum in a very well thought out scope and sequence, starting in kindergarten, all the way through your senior education. year. And of course, it builds off of the building blocks of learning of skills like reading and literacy and numeracy. But as we get into things, and it's a whole education when you look at liberal arts, you know, you are pulling in the literature, the classics, the best of the West.

You are taking philosophy. You are writing. You are reading. You are thinking. Math and science. you know, all part of this, the study of Latin. So this liberal arts kind of back to basics, traditional approach is really, I think, restoring the gold standard to what education can be. And it's a return to the tried and the true. And we have seen a national rediscovery, let's say, of this interest in classical education. And Hillsdale Academy itself has been growing pretty rapidly in recent years. So what do you think has, has led to this rediscovery, this reawakened interest. Yeah, that's right, both locally here.

And then we're seeing this in, you know, almost every state across the nation. It's happening. And, you know, in the last five years, there's been an interest. You know, more and more people are interested in starting classical schools. I think it leads with parents. I think parents are paying attention to their students' education. and they started asking questions, and they started wondering what is best for their child. And, you know, classical education was not something that was a very normalized word,

maybe even during the 90s and the early 2000s. But then all of the sudden, kind of this, you know, return to this tradition has become something that parents want. And so we are seeing more parent choice, and we are seeing greater options. out there, the growth of classical education, the excellent leaders and teachers that seem to be drawn to this. But it's grassroots efforts in communities that honestly is making this thing grow. And now we're starting to build a network together. And there's like a national conversation. Governors are paying attention. Policymakers are paying attention. Everyone is paying attention to this idea what classical is.

And if you're just tuning in, this is Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. We are here with Mike Roberts, Hillsdale Academy Headmaster. So we've talked about the liberal arts curriculum. But as far as implementing that curriculum, what is your approach to pedagogy at the academy? How are you training, in particular, these students from the college who are coming in and observing and wanting to participate in this? So the curriculum is important, right? It's a well-defined scope and sequence, but it means nothing if you don't have a good teacher, right? So the idea that obviously, first and foremost, you're finding teachers that are mission fits. Like when we talked about the ends of education, they get that, right?

Number two, they need to be well educated themselves. They need to be content. You know, they need to know their content. They need to really know what they're teaching. But this third piece is critical. You have to be able to communicate it and teach it well. And so we put a lot of resources in to training teachers within the K-12 office as we onboard teachers, whether you are a first-year teacher or a teacher in year 30. We are going to come alongside of you.

And administrators are in classrooms. We're not micromanaging and just evaluating. We're literally coming alongside and helping coach. You know, my title is headmaster is supposed to be. It means head teacher, right? So at the end of the day, that's my first job is to have the teachers, you know, working towards excellence. And so we provide a tremendous amount of resources to teachers through the K-12 office. We have a whole library of labs and ideas and resources for them.

So it's not just the what we teach. It's how we teach it. These are teacher-led classrooms, the teachers in front. technology is not the drive. It's a tool. We're not leaving things to chance. You're going to see a teacher that leads that classroom is intentionally asking great questions. It's going to be a lively classroom with kids responding back. And so again, the pedagogy matters tremendously. And so this is something that we put a lot into. And we have a lot of resources to help our teachers at the academy, but also nationwide. So Hillsdale Academy students are asked to memorize quite a bit of poetry and scripture over the course of their years. Why is that? Yeah. So first of all, they can do it.

Like sometimes we as adults go, you know, the older we get, it's more difficult to memorize. These kids are sponges. They can do it and they can memorize it. And we don't just want them to memorize it and lose it. We want them to carry it to study and to meditate on the true and the good and the beautiful on scripture on great poetry. on great poetry, on historical speeches. You know, on one hand, I want our students to be able to go up in front of other people and be able to speak.

I want them to be good orators. I want them to have the confidence. I also want them to take these treasures of things that are worth memorizing with them. I will sometimes hear college, like academy grads, and they say they're walking through the college campus and all of a sudden they skip back into that poem that they're. that they memorized and it comes back to them. And so, you know, I think it's a really important part of education. And it's really when we talk about not just training the mind, we're training the hearts.

And I think that's a critical tool. What are some recent success stories or notes of interest that have happened at Hillsdale Academy in the recent months? Yeah, I'm just really, I continue to be amazed at what our students are able to achieve, what our teachers are able to do, the culture that we have and the partnership with parents. And so, you know, there are some intangibles that you just kind of watch that you can just notice and you can just know that it's going, things are going well and things are strong. So I have lots of stories like that.

But then we typically go to, okay, are there statistics? How do we know this is working? You know, and we have to be careful. We are not, we don't exist just. so we test well. We don't exist just so our kids get into college. We don't play sports just so we can win championships. But those are good ends and they are tools, right? We are a school that doesn't teach to any particular test, but we'll take tests. And the CLT is a wonderful movement in this country right now, especially for people interested in classical education and so many colleges are allowing

the CLT to be a testing format in lieu of the ACT or the SCT or the SCT or in combination with it. And like a year ago, our juniors were ranked first in the country on that of all schools that took the test. We continue to have just amazing success when it comes to those metrics about where we are in national averages. And mind you, we're not just a school for the top 1%, 5%. We have kids of all levels. Right? You just have to be grade level ready to be in our school, be motivated, and be mission fits. So we have kids that are high flyers and national merit finalists, and we have a couple of those. We actually had a kid score perfect score on his PSAT this last fall. Didn't miss one thing. That's impressive. So I'm pretty excited about that. I'm telling you from the stage and fine arts, the way that that has grown, the lay miss performance that our kids did last.

spring was top-notch. Our athletic teams have been winning state championships recently, especially in cross and track. But all the teams are competing at high level. So, you know, but the success story, you got to be careful with all that because, again, it's more of the culture and what's happening within it. I love that we have a culture of participation in our school. In so many places, I hear that kids just aren't doing anything. And that's not true. at our school, they're like all in. And it's a, it's a neat, neat thing to see. And how have you seen that participation bear intellectual or spiritual fruit in these

students? So it's, it's super significant. And I think sometimes when we try to detach anything outside of the classroom is just attack on, like we don't do sports just to do sports. We do sports to continue to grow our students in virtue and wisdom. And I find that to be actually one of the best. places to cultivate that, the ups and the downs, the wins and the losses, the team work, all those types of things are so critical. And so the spiritual growth and just the personal growth,

but also the grit, the toughness that our kids are getting to how to handle the real world someday, I love these extra things. These things are actually part of a classical education. We talk about training the mind, training the body, training the heart. Right. And so these things are so important. And therefore, you, this only works, though, if you have coaches and teachers that extend the mission of the school to every activity. And that's what we try to do. And you're listening to Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. If you're just tuning in, we're here with Mike Roberts, Hillsdale Academy Headmaster. So you mentioned at the start of the interview how important the Christian faith is to the mission of Hillsdale. Academy. So in a practical sense, how is that implemented? Great. So, you know, first and foremost, especially in a K-12 environment, we are in partnership

with parents. And the family and their church is primary when it comes to the teaching of their faith. We want to come alongside and compliment that, right? We have a, my favorite time of the week is our chapel service every Wednesday. And we don't have chapel just to check it off the box. We come together. We pray together. We sing a hymn. We have an Old Testament reading and New Testament reading. We say the Apostles Creed together and have a message. And we're all growing and learning in God's Word together. And it's a beautiful thing, especially when we have so many different families from so many different church backgrounds. Right. We're similar to Hillsdale College in that way of kind of our attraction from many different churches. And so we come together and that's just,

that's a real time of growth and a time of learning. But even just the way we think about discipline, right? And we don't have a ton of it. It's amazing. I don't have to spend my day just chasing kids and disciplining them. I get to have kids come to my office that want to achieve more or that want to just talk. But then there is obviously like any school, we have our problems and we have kids that will be kids. But even the way you look at how you form kids through mistakes.

and restoration and the ability to grow and to walk out the door and be better for it. And even to talk about, you know, how God has made us and how he has set before us a way to live. You know, and just that Christian lens, again, kind of happens through the teacher quite a bit. You know, when you're studying literacy, literacy is literacy. And you're going to study that the same probably at almost any good school. But as you start to get into some other topics, you, you might. might be able to bring some of these questions that students have about God and nature and all of that. And you're able to go a little further and talk to them through that at a school like ours.

Is that something that happens pretty frequently? People bringing their personal questions about God. Yes. You have to be, you know, still, I'm going to go back to be careful because you want to direct young people to their family in there. But to allow those questions and be able to entertain that and do that, it's definitely something that happens. We start every day with the Lord's Prayer together. And so whether it's through prayer, whether it's through memorizing scripture as recitation, or whether it's just bringing God into the conversation whenever we want to, that's how it plays out. And going back to what you said about how disciplinary issues aren't a major problem at Hillsdale Academy, what specifically do you think accounts for that? Does that go back to the Christian formation? Yes, but we're all fallen. We all have

problems, kids will be kids. First and foremost, it's the idea, and this is what we're seeing in classical schools across the country, when you have families that are choosing their school, and they are coming to you with a mission in mind, and when you are in partnership with parents over mission and teachers over mission, I cannot tell you how far that goes for a student. So because we have that so well in place, we immediately are ahead. We're in partnership with parents. we are both expecting similar things from our children. And then also, yeah, I think the order that we have in our school, I think the skill of our teachers and the ability to understand where that line is

between kids being kids and when they need to be corrected. And so most of my discipline is young children that have not learned self-control yet, that are doing basic things that you would see in your own house. it is so rare for me to have a high school disciplinary situation. I have them, but there are few and far between. What are some important trends that parents are concerned with these days in regards to education? And how does Hillsdale Academy meet those needs? Right. It's interesting.

I do think this conversation is important of what do we want for our children? sometimes we immediately think college career and, you know, make a living. And I know we want that. I want my daughters that are in college at Hillsdale right now to get off the payroll here at some point and establish themselves and be employable. There's no doubt. But what do I really care about? I care about them being happy.

And I mean that in a certain way, right? Not just to indulge themselves and do what they want to do. do, but to live a happy, good life to flourish. I want that. And so I think, you know, the trend of that education is not just a utility and that we're fighting against just the, um, a mean, like, you know, a means to a different end. And it's just like a hope to go through. We had to be careful with that. Another conversation that's happening in our country right now is, um, the idea of high school for college credit. You know, when did high school become college? Um, and what is the hurry I do know there's an economic help if you can get through college a little bit quicker.

That's not lost on me. But we're starting to outsource high school education to online education or to early middle college. And it's a great, you know, it can be great. But you have to wonder whatever happened to keeping the students challenge within your own building and growing them and letting them be high school kids and making sure they're more prepared. So we're looking to do both. Okay. So we keep our kids. We have a full schedule for them.

They don't need to take a class anywhere else. You can graduate from Hillsdale Academy, get into whatever college you're qualified for, and go there and thrive and excel and graduate on time. But we also have the beauty that we have the luxury where our students that are qualified can go up to Hillsdale College in their junior and senior year and during a study hall, take a college class. And we also are looking at some classes at the academy that are taught by college. college professors already, can they count for some dual credit? So we're doing a bit of both,

but I'm a big believer of keeping kids in the school and having high school be a strong high school curriculum. So I would say that's a trend. And also I think we want to be reasonable here, but another trend is that we protect our kids too much and we don't think they're capable of struggle and we rescue them too quickly. And we want to graduate students that have grit and that are prepared and they're tough. And so we're going to be on the line of helping a push, but in a healthy way while they're under the parents' roof, they're under our care. But we do want to make sure we challenge them and that we've raised the bar a little bit because where you put the bar, that's where they're going to go. And so I'd say those are

a couple of key things that I've been thinking about lately. So segueing into the open house, suppose there's a family listening now, New Perspective Family is interested in this style of education, how can they learn more about Hillsdale Academy to determine if it's the right school? What's the process? Yeah, that's great. So, you know, we're a small community. Most people probably have heard of our school, but I bet a lot haven't actually walked through our doors and given it a look. And so one thing to know is that we are always open for tours. Like we are all that, every week, we're willing to give you a tour and just to come see what it is and to walk the hallways, ask questions, meet with me or others.

That is always on the table. But we're going to make that a little bit easier around this time of year when we are in admissions season. And so Sunday, February 1st, we have an open house from 1 to 2.30. And if you come to this open house, you can pre-register and we'll be ready for you. Or you can just walk in. We take walk-ins too. And when you come into the building, you're going to be great.

greeted by staff and you're going to have the opportunity to go on a full walking tour and make some stops along the way. And then when you come back up to the lobby, I'm available for questions. Other key leaders are available. There'll be some students and parents there, but it's just a great look. Maybe you have a three-year-old right now and you're just starting to think about kindergarten in a couple years and you want to come now. Maybe you have a grandchild and you just want to go check it out as a curious grandparent. Maybe you're looking for school for next year because our admission season begins now. And so touring and applying by February 15th is key because we do have limited space. Now we have space. We've built a new addition,

which really is allowing our high school to grow. There's a strong demand for people coming to our high school, whether they're coming from homeschool or whether they're coming from other schools. There's been a draw into 9 through 12. We always have a healthy kindergarten list. And then we have spots here and there as space allows. So it is important to meet that deadline for priority application. Are the students welcome to tag along the prospective students? Great question. Absolutely. So you can decide if you want to bring your children to the open house or if you just want to come as adults only, both are fine. Can you tell me more about the student body and areas they're coming from to attend Hillsdale Academy. Great question. We get this a lot too. I think there can be

this idea that it's just a school for the college. That's not true. It's just about 50% Hillsdale College faculty staff. That makes sense. Hillsdale College, I think, is the largest employer in our region. And then we have many Hillsdale County families that come. We have families from Leno way, Jackson, Calhoun, Northern Indiana. and so about a 45-mile radius, we have families coming to our school. So private education is tuition-based. How does Hillsdale Academy help make this education affordable? Great question. And again, I think a lot of people look at private and think, you know, it's not affordable.

It might be more affordable than you think. And so we, number one, being part of Hillsdale College and because of what we do, there are generous donors across the country that believe, what we're doing and have already offset the cost of tuition for everybody by a generous gift that's helping our endowment. So what it really costs us to run the school, we don't have to charge the full tuition. Number two, we have another endowment that is financial aid for the families. It's need-based financial aid. And obviously, if you have multiple children, different circumstances, we're able to give out a significant amount of aid to help. Now,

I think it's family's going to understand. They will have skin in the game. It is not free. But I certainly hope in our track record of, you know, it's wonderful that we're growing, but it doesn't mean anything if you're not keeping your families. Our retention of holding families is in the upper 90% every year. And that is my most important statistic that I watch. And so the value of what they're paying for, I think is,

is good. So again, there's financial aid, and that whole process is part of the application process. So you fill out an application for financial aid, and when you're finding out if you have a spot in the school, you also are finding out what your financial aid could be. Do you have any final thoughts or information that you'd like to share? No, I just think, you know, you also might be a community member that's just curious. You're also welcome to come and just see what it is that we're doing. And I just would ask families to, yeah, just be direct and ask questions and look for yourself and talk to our RRL of families that are part of our school.

But I'm proud of the way the school has grown in not just size but in strength. I'm speaking as a parent too. The education that my daughters have received at Hillsdale Academy, I could not be more grateful to the teachers and the college and what they have been able to experience. and I want that for as many kids as possible. Thank you so much for joining us today, Mr. Roberts. Once again, this has been Hillsdale Academy Headmaster, Mike Roberts, and you're listening to Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM.