Simeon Tomaszewski is in the Patrick Henry College Class of 2015.

No human institution is perfect; I can attest that Patrick Henry College is no exception to that rule. That said, coming from the conservative, homeschooled, Christian background that I did, the depth of love and diversity of people that I discovered at Patrick Henry College surprised me. My first reaction to some people very different from me was sometimes, “The Admissions let [person X] into the college?!?” But over time, I grew to appreciate them.

Some students, not just on campus as a whole, but in my wing and close circle of friends, listen to classical music, others to rap. Some students spend the bulk of their free time video gaming, others biking, some socializing. And as often as I have tried to shove people into boxes, they manage to surprise me. The guy who spends hours playing video games is a deep philosophical thinker. The girl who seems to have no end of time to spend encouraging others actually does very well academically, too. The jock is studying Music and learning to conduct an orchestra. College faculty and staff are the same way.

I have been very blessed by my time at PHC and grown in many ways. Not least among these is a broadening of the mind, a newfound hesitance to dismiss out of hand ideas with which I disagree or even people who don’t “fit” in my social sphere.

I cannot speak for other students, but my PHC experience has been nearly unqualifiedly a good one.