WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Truman and Claire Like People: Ben Hinrichs

Episode Date: February 5, 2024

In this episode, Truman and Claire talk with Ben Hinrichs, Outstanding Senior Man nominee, football player, and swing dance aficionado about his new drink at Penny's, being a student-athlete despite being homeschooled, and whether there should be more crossover between various cliques on campus.

I'm Truman. And I'm Claire. And we like people. Today we like Ben Henrichs. And also today is the episode where we're both coming off of some sort of campus illness. And so probably sound a little bit of stuffy. I apologize to those listening at home. We not only like our people, we like our audience so much that we're recording in spite of our terrible illnesses right now.

For those of you who don't know, Ben Henricks is a avid member of Swing Club, a Hillsdale Charger Football Player, the senior class board social chair, and just an all-around great guy. Ben, is that how you pronounce your name? I pronounce my name, Hinrix. And that's not actually the proper German pronunciation. So it would be Heinrich. Aber, but, yeah, we just say Henrik's. So, yeah.

Yeah, I've been very sensitive to how people's names are pronounced since Liam Giles has pronounced my name while naming me Homecoming King. So I just wanted to make sure that I got your name. because for the last week I was like, Hinrix, Heinrichs, some sort of mix of both? Yeah. Whatever that could look like. I think you're the only person in the world whose name has both a K

and a J next to it, so you're really a lucky man, Truman. Well, my parents have the same name. There is actually someone else at Hillsdale whose last name is I think... Luke Shelson. Yeah. Luke Shelsen. Is it pronounced Shelsen?

It is Shelson, yeah. Interesting. So, Ben, you recently had a Penny's drink named after you, the funny football frap, if I'm not mistaken. Can you tell us what's in that? What does that entail? Well, it's an iced honey, cinnamon, and cardamom latte. And it's typically shaken. It's a delicious combination of flavors with a little kick and a little bit of a little bit of flavor that combines in a sort of festive, while still universal, you know, type of vibe. It sounds beautiful.

Yeah. So Ben, and this drink is available at pennies, correct? Yes, that is correct. All right. Do you think that more men should go to pennies? Yeah, I think they should because they have the best coffee on campus. And if you're a man who enjoys eating things and things that taste good, I don't understand why anyone would say, I don't want to go to pennies and get delicious coffee for the same price that you could get at AJs or jitters. And also they have a great environment, too, you know. But Ben, when I walk into pennies, I feel like I don't belong there. Why should pitch this to me? Why should I go? So I don't think men belong in pennies. And the reason why is it's a girl's dorm.

However, sometimes you have to pay the price if you want good coffee. Yeah. So you need to go there with another man, just bring reinforcements, either get the coffee and get out of there, or just stake a claim with another dude. because it's like, it's always better when you just have, you know, some male confidence builders surrounding you. Your little squad, you know. Yeah, little squad. So, Penny's is inside of New Dorm, which was in the news of Hillsdale students recently for that thing.

Do you have any thoughts on that thing? Yeah. I have some thoughts on it. I thought it was pretty funny. I didn't think it was in poor taste. as much as people who tried to criticize it and attack it. But I also think that we've got to stand behind the administration for calling the shots when they call the shots. And so I'm just glad that we have an administration that takes care of us like that. Good take. So Ben, my first question

was about why I'm inch ago to pennies. I feel like you're a guy in campus who ventures into a lot of different places that a lot of people wouldn't feel comfortable because it's not part of their in-group or their click. So I'd like to ask you some more similar questions. So why do you think that more people should go to swing club? If you do think that more people should go to swing club, or do you want to remain more of an exclusive? Yeah, do you want to gate keep swing club? Well, the problem is this. For this last year, I have been so faithless to swing club. I've probably only been four or five times. But the reality is the fact that, My freshman and sophomore year, they were really my only social outlet other than football.

And I enjoyed it just because, you know, in high school, I was a homeschooler. I didn't know how to interact with people. And I'm still learning day by day. But swing club provided a great bridge. You know, it was just, you know, other other people like me could just have some nice conversations. And it was a nice, it was a nice fun, moral environment to spend Friday nights. And, you know, I should, I should mention, I was, in fact, a social. Swinger back in my freshman days. And you know what? I'm not ashamed of it.

And that's, I believe that's where I first met Ben. Do you... That is where we first met. Okay. The link continues. We just did a handshake for those not seen, which is pretty much everyone except for Claire. Yeah, it was really cool, though.

So, just so everyone knows. Do you think you'll make an appearance at Swing Club this semester? No, I will. I will. Last night, I was heavily considering going, but I had some extenuating circumstances so I didn't pull up. But before the end of the semester, I will be there at least two times. You can count on that. Hopefully more. We've all been considering going. Really? I've heard a lot of people considering going. Yeah. I think I want to before I graduate.

I want to experience it. I'm not coordinated in the least, but maybe some handsome, dapper, young man could show me the rose. Perhaps someone who's been there before. Perhaps someone that's been there before. And then denies that they were ever there. So Ben, on the flip side of that question, So we've established swing club, it's fine. Yeah. But what about, what would you say to maybe the swing kids? Why should they, you know, go to parties? Or should they go to parties?

You know, should they be like going to stables or boondocks if that goes up again this semester? What I think the value of parties is, is the fact that you're able to just have conversations with people who outside of class you otherwise couldn't talk with. And I don't think, see, I think the objection. to parties is people think you have to drink to go to parties. And I feel like a lot of people are able to just go to parties, like either be the designated driver or whatever, or just be there in order to interact with people in a healthy way that's less structured than class. And especially because at Hillsdale, we have this huge foundation of trust that they don't have at a lot of other schools. And obviously, it's not going to be at every party, but at most parties, there are going to be

other people that you know. There are going to be other people that you feel comfortable talking. too. And so I think it's a great relationship builder at times. I've often thought that people here talk about principles a lot. And I think people make the mistake between never going out and never testing their limits as being like an incredibly principled person. And that can be true in some cases. But I think that you have to kind of put your stuff, you know, out there and see if you actually believe in the stuff that you're saying or if you're just sheltering yourself. No, very true. I feel like the more diversified social environments you put yourself in are going to grow you as a person.

And so, I mean, not even just within Hillsdale. Within Hillsdale, there's so many opportunities. And I hate when people will stick to one specific group or one specific part of campus because everyone is here for a reason. And if you aren't able to understand that and try to interact with people and all these different groups, then you're really short-selling what Hillsdale College can do for you and what you can do for Hillsdale College. But then even outside of that, in the greater story of your own life, people have to ask themselves, how am I going to interact with people that are outside of this intellectual bubble? How am I going to interact with people who have this real hardworking virtue that it's going to be more difficult to develop in our environment? And so I think that's really important to become a complete human.

And so people need to, in their summers, whenever they go back home for break or whatever, they need to reach out to the family member they know the least and talk to them and try to understand the world through their eyes. Interesting. So you said that everyone is at Hillsdale for a reason. Does that include athletes? And if they are here for a reason, is it for as good a reason as everyone else on campus? Every athlete at Hillsdale was probably one of the smartest kids at their school.

And, you know, sometimes the, sometimes the athletes. are here more because they were recruited and they didn't know as much of what Hillsdale was about before. But, I mean, sometimes you just need to do that to be successful at sports. But regardless, though, these kids are all very successful in other parts of their life, not just athletics. If that was true, they wouldn't get in here. But even though they didn't seek out Hillsdale, like a lot of non-athlete students, pretty soon a lot of them will start to realize what Hillsdale is about, why it's important, and be thankful for. for what Hillsdale provides for them

and be thankful for the opportunities and the amazing community and the intellectual growth that they will have here. And a lot of times, even if they don't openly recognize it or they don't talk about it, there will be a class or two in the core that really will change them. They just become interested by it.

There's nothing I love more than seeing them learn to love a subject that they thought they would hate. That's a really good take. You said that you were homeschooled, but obviously you came here to play football. What did that look like? Did you play for like a club team? Yeah. So in high school, I had never played football.

My family doesn't really watch. I don't we watch a little bit, but we never watched football. And my two little brothers, Christian and Dante, really got into football. And they just, you know, they started liking the NFL. Dante became a Lions fan at like the age of 10. And then Christian became an Eagles fan, which was before the Super Bowl. People say he's a bandwagoner, but it was before the Super Bowl. But, yeah, so they really got into football, and they enjoyed that so much that Christian

and Dante played flag football for a few years. And then when high school came around, Christian wanted to play tackle. My cousin Jonathan had played for a local charter school that you're allowed to just turn in work samples and of your homeschool work. and then you get credit from that school. So Christian was a freshman, and he was going into his freshman year. I was going into my junior year. And I asked my mom and Trader Joe's one day, like, what am I going to do when he's gone

for those three hours in the afternoon for practice? It's like I can't hang out with him anymore. I can't go outside. And then she was like, well, why don't you just play football too? And the thought was so crazy. I was like, because I've never played it. I'm not super interested in it. And then I thought for a second, say, you know what, why not?

If I hate it, I hate it. If I love it, I love it. So I went in and I was one of the weakest people on the team. I was a junior. I was kind of starting late. And I worked really hard between my junior and I loved it. But between my junior and senior year, I worked really hard and gained like 50 or 60 pounds and just became, you know, a way better football player than people thought it would be possible for me to be.

and then I applied to a couple different schools, and Hillsdale was the only one with football, and I didn't even think about sending in my highlights or anything to them because I was like, no, they're way too good for me. And then right before I was going to come to Hillsdale, I sent my highlights and filled out the recruiting form, and some of the other schools I talked to were like D3 schools, and they just sent back an automated response.

And then Hillsdale, Coach Brad, just instantly emailed me saying, hey, we'd be interested to offer you a spot on the team, like, all this stuff. They were just like, they were interested in me in a way that schools that were so much worse than Hillsdale weren't. It just showed like how personable Hillsdale was and how the program was actually, like it actually cared about people. So that was really cool. And so when I came out and visited Hillsdale, I talked with the coaches. I stayed out here for like a really long time for like a week. So I just went to like eight classes.

It was crazy. But, yeah, I was very athletically behind when I first came into Hillsdale, and through my time here, I just worked really hard to sort of catch up to all the other people. And I was able to get in in a few games this year, and that's something that, like, I didn't think was possible. I told Coach Otter when I first came in, if I came in here and stayed for four or five years and just played Scout the entire time and never touched the field, it would be worth it to me because I love football. And he said, you know, not a lot of guys say that. Like, that's a little weird. And, but it's true. Like, I'm so thankful for the journey and I'm still thankful that gave me the opportunity

and let me do some things I didn't know if I would be able to do. So, Ben, you just recently got nominated for outstanding senior man. Congratulations. Yeah, laws will talk. Thanks, guys. Yeah. Who is someone that you think, should have been nominated for outstanding senior man or woman that wasn't.

Not to denigrate anyone who was on there, but just to speak positively about someone else. Speaking to two people who, you know, didn't make the cut, two outstanding seniors, you know, who do you think? So for outstanding senior woman, I think the reality is that, like, the playing field was very level this year. Like, there were just so many people who had, like, you know, a lot of accomplishments in different parts of their lives that I can say like there are probably there are probably like 40 different senior women where I wouldn't have been surprised if they got up there. So this is going

out to the silent masses. And then for outstanding senior man, I'm just surprised that like no one from Egypt got it because I feel like they all have different accomplishments in different areas from finance to English to whatever. And so they're all very accomplished. So like I'm just I'm a little surprised at that. But yeah, I think the other candidates or, yeah, the other nominees for all the other positions are really excellent high-tier people. So I'm just, I'm glad to even be considered for that. Speaking of Juliana, Ben, you know, famously you two haven't gotten along. How do you feel about her being on the ballot, you know, opposite you? Were you enraged? Well, this is news to me. But I would say if she wants to start beef, if she wants smoke, I'm here for it.

All the smoke she wants, you don't want to send the shooters to my block because I will send them back empty. Okay, she's been warned. Ben, what is your weirdest Hillsdale interaction? Oh, I would say one time when I was at swing club, someone told a girl to like fake fall in front of me. so that, like, I would catch her and then we'd fall in love. And obliviously, I just, like, I didn't react. Like, I think I'd turned my back right before she fell over, so she just fell down. I feel bad about it, but, like, what sort of, what in the scheming is that, you know?

Yeah. That's kind of wild. I had a friend once Yodel. I didn't have her, this was her idea. I will put that out there. Yodel, freshman CG, you know. was so cute because I thought that the boy that I like would see it and get jealous. So I've sadly schemed in a similar Hillsdale way. Did you put female because I could have been thinking

of Caleb Green? It could have been Caleb Green. And who knows, the boy that I like might have seen that and, you know, he might be with Caleb Green now. Yeah. And see, that's the problem is like initials can be useful. But like now if you util TK, like they could be talking about me because my last name starts with the K. Yeah. I know it's pronounced weird. They could be talking about Toby Closter, you know? I guess we're in different grades, so it's not as big a deal. But still there's too much confusion. Yeah, I want to know who's the cute guy, Toby Cluster Truman.

Yeah. And we could never know. Exactly. Exactly. Ben, our previous guest, Michael Bachman, said that I should ask you about picnics. Do you have any idea? Like, why did he want me to ask you this? Do you have opinions on picnics?

Do you like them? I mean, I love a good picnic. I love planning picnics. I love the idea of picnics in like a more, yeah, just in a more conceptual form. Yeah, abstract. But yeah, the thing I like about picnics is the fact that you are able to embrace the best of nature and the best of civilization, because the best of civilization is food and blankets. And the best of nature is verdant trees, rolling hills, grass, all of those. things combined make an excellent picnic.

What's your go-to picnic food? P.B&J. Maybe an apple. Well, I would have to say one really good picnic food combo. This is the medieval special. It's three apples, some cheese, and then some small brew, which is like, it's not like, it's not like beer or anything, but it's like a medicinal medieval, medieval treat. Because like the water wasn't treated very well back then. And then also a loaf of bread. So I've never had that. But I feel like if you're if you're like a medieval person,

you have like a little rucksack on your back and you have that, like you're set to go journey or adventure or whatever. And then I feel like you'd also be set for a picnic. But I think any sort of any sort of cheeseboard and meat, obviously awesome. Yeah, delicious. All right. Ben, who's your favorite couple on campus? probably Nick Affhoulter and Isabella Sheehan.

Mm-hmm. Both the Affhalter twins. Fifee. Favorite Fundy. Favorite Fundy. Gotta be Flanagan Anderson. Shout out my guy. I'm so sad he left before we could get him to, you know,

play a saxophone intro for our podcast. So Jesus calls us to love our enemies. What person do you love the least at Hillsdale? I mean, other than myself, obviously, with this, like, internal turmoil. Yeah. I would say, because, like, oh, oh, uh, he doesn't even, he doesn't even go here anymore, but like, he's got to be my, he's got to be my richest op. Speaking of whatever we were just talking about, you're listening, you're listening to

Truman and Clearlike people on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. Um, what's the worst grade you've ever gotten at Hillsdale? B-minus Dr. Cole's philosophy. That class, that class was all, like, I loved it, but as a poor freshman, there's just one time on a paper where I turned in three resubmissions of the paper one time because someone from the writing center left edits on it and I forgot to take the edits off. And then I sent it in, and so I reviewed it because I was back in California because I got quarantined. And so I reviewed it, sent in that other version at like 1205. And then I woke up the next. morning and reviewed it and I realized it hadn't included an ending like three sentences that just chopped off the last half of the sentence and said hey Dr. Cole actually this is the real version of my paper

and then he was like Ben you've turned in three papers in the last six hours and I knew that I had to get more serious about my academics and my studiousness what two dorms would you make co-ed just

for entertainment value yeah um I would make sown and wittly co-ed because I think sparks would fly both in terms of just like fighting and like getting like good battles on campus and then also I think romantic sparks would fly

and so that would just be really interesting to see that would be really beautiful yeah um so Ben who do you think our next guest should be uh yeah he would be really interesting to have on um okay

Truman, good podcast. How much did you like Ben on a scale of 1 to 74? On a scale of 1 to 74, okay, I have to mentally adjust this. So I'd say I liked Ben about, I'll give you like 71.5.

Yes. I'm going to be honest. I mean, maybe the bar is low because you're just our second guest and I think Michael is sassy. And he didn't know what instrument Jacob played, so I'm going to say that I like you as 73. Yeah, let's go. Thank you so much. You're welcome. Um, so this has been Truman and Claire like people. And I'm Truman.

And I'm Claire. And I'm Claire. And today we liked Ben Hinrichs. Thank you, Ben.