Sophomore Year
Katie Hill is a sophomore from Crescent Springs, Ky. In her first year at Hanover, she
- Ran for Student Senate (and got elected!)
- Took the Great Works class of art and music, where she saw concerts and toured museums in Louisville, Indianapolis and Cincinnati.
- Joined a sorority and was named Learning Center Tutor for next year
- Hiked to Crowe Falls a total of seven times!
"My theology professor, Dr. Aikin, invited the whole class to his house for dinner one night. He made us steak fajitas and they were delicious! I guess professors are really humans after all...."
"Because the campus is so beautiful, on nice days we beg our professors to let us have class outside (and sometimes it works!)"
"One of my best memories of the year was playing in a campus-wide snowball fight. The tradition is that everyone goes to the Quad at midnight the first night of the first big snow for the winter. I'm so glad I didn't sleep through it!"
"In December, I got to sing Handel's "Messiah" with the choir and many members of the Madison community. They hired an orchestra to play with us and it was an amazing experience."
"One of my professors, Dr. Bettler, is quite the artist. Every once in a while, he plays guitar and sings classic rock at the Shoebox. He's really good; who knew professors had so many talents? A bunch of us always make sure to go, for Dr. B (and the fact that the Shoebox has amazing milkshakes."
"I'm the third generation of Hanoverians and I know that I want my future children to go here when they're older. It's a great institution and it's a part of my blood."
Experience Hanover College for yourself. Visit the Admission Section and find out how.
Katie's Blog - February 11, 2008 Updated 
"I missed last week's entry because of a very exciting weekend. Obviously the Giants beating the Patriots was a highlight, and I also went home to get settled into my new house, taking along a group that was interested in going skiing at Perfect North Slopes. The hills are pretty tame and the snow is fake, but I only live half an hour away, and that sure beats the 20-something hours it would take to drive out to the Rockies! Skiing with other students was a blast! Most of them hadn't ever been before, but they were champs (went from falling every 5 seconds to actually begging to go down a run again) and it was a perfect night!
I had to rush back "home" to HC to make it to one of my best friend's/roommate's birthday dinners at the Cheesecake Factory, it's a really good thing that the city is only an hour away from campus. Sunday was a very lazy day because I believe that since football is the best sport in the world, Super Bowl Sunday should be a national holiday….or at least we should get school off that Monday after. One of the boys in one of the fraternities had his Italian parents cook us authentic, handmade pizza. Each piece was like 4 inches thick, it was amazing! That and the Patriots losing was a great end to a perfect weekend.
Student-Athlete day on Saturday was a great success. This is my second year as a student ambassador so I've given tours for two years straight, and it seemed like there were twice as many students as there were last year. Dr. DeWine is trying to raise enrollment, and she announced that the Board of Trustees just approved a $1.8 mil renovation project for the freshman dorms. No wonder people are lining up to apply here! With all the changes in our athletic department, I bet next year is going to be the best ever in terms of HC athletics and housing situations.
Speaking of next year, I also decided on a whim that I'm going to spend next fall (the whole semester) studying in Belgium. A good chunk of this past week was dedicated to scrambling around trying to get proper signatures, transcripts, passport photos, etc. Hanover has a great study abroad program, and I haven't heard of any student who has had anything less than a life-changing experience overseas! I'm so excited I want to go right this second! But I guess I can wait a little bit longer…"
Katie's Blog - January 23, 2008
Now that formal recruitment is over, I feel like I can sit back and breathe a little bit. It's really great to see all of the new girls at the house for meals. They're even allowed to wear our Greek letters, which we all did on Monday, every one of us in a matching hoodie. The campus was really busy Tuesday night because as part of the lecture series this year, Jean-Michel Cousteau (son of famous explorer Jacques Cousteau) came to our auditorium to speak to us about the importance of preserving our biggest ecosystem, the ocean. He was a rather old gentleman, but he was feisty and you could tell he definitely had passion about this subject and was proud to follow in his father's footsteps.
Wednesday night Student Senate was more lively than usual, because we're in the midst of discussing a new resolution on the ballot that may become part of Indiana's state constitution, and many members of the student body are in opposition to this. I won't go into the details because it's really complex, but I know a few students are working very hard in order to educate the rest of their peers so they can choose whether to ignore it or take a stand.
Friday night was a lot of fun because every year Hanover extends invitations to the best and brightest around the country to participate in a Presidential Scholars weekend, and I hosted a girl who was so amazing and who was already sure that she's going to come here in the fall. The college hired a hilarious comedian, Rhetta, I think her name was, and she held nothin' back. Afterwards we just took all the scholars back to the house to watch a chick-flick, and then got ready to get up really early in the morning for interviews and essay writing...
Saturday night was definitely the highlight of the week! The boys had their Run, when they find out which fraternity has accepted them into their house, and then they run as a pledge class to their new homes. Well, most ran but the houses that were further away drove in pickup trucks. It must've been about 10 degrees that night and half of the boys had their shirts off/bodies painted... that takes some major dedication right there. I'm just really proud of all the guys who went through this, because all of the fraternities here are so great.
Katie's Blog - January 14, 2008
I have never been so exhausted in my life!!! The first week back is always great (especially Syllabus Day) because you get to catch up with friends that you haven't seen in weeks. I never really remember how much I love Hanover until I have time to miss it over Christmas break! All of my classes are great and I'm really looking forward to starting my classes for the Center for Business Preparation (CBP). I also am taking geology, which could be fun, and a communications course with one of my favorite professors. Luckily, I haven't had too much homework and I'm slowly settling into a routine that will help keep me sane this semester. All week though, I was thinking about the one event that is the highlight of any Greek's year…..formal recruitment.
This past weekend has been the craziest, most tiring, most fun three days I've ever experienced. I always thought that going through formal recruitment was nerve racking enough, but being on the other end is much more stressful, in different ways, of course. But all of the hard work, the decorating and the time spent paid off in the end. We got a group of amazing girls that we are proud to call Chi Omegas. And I know that all of the other three sororities got great groups of girls too. Basically, the freshmen girls this year were wonderful all around and we were lucky to get to know so many of them!! I know all of us, in all four houses, can't wait to get these girls integrated into the house and show them what it means to be our sisters. Hooty hoo! ?"
Katie's Blog - December 10, 2007
So I've survived another 'Dead Week' at Hanover College, but I feel a little worse-for-wear after staying up until 4AM every night! I tell the students in my PA group all the time, "If you can make it through your first set of finals, you're set for the next 4 years."
Even though we had tons of papers and tests etc., we still found time to do a lot of Christmassy stuff. Monday night our sorority had Christmas desserts (about 20 different kinds) and then we had a white elephant gift exchange. Do you want to know what I ended up with? A stuffed monkey that my roommate took off the door of my closet, wrapped it in a plastic bag and voila! She definitely owes me one…
The next day we had our Christmas party for our CMFK (College Mentors for Kids) little buddies. We played musical chairs and read stories, but the real highlight was when they got to open the stacks of presents we had under the tree. It was complete chaos when they all started playing with their toys at once, but it was so great to see them having so much fun. Later on Dean Yeager had the honor of lighting the Christmas tree that stands out in the quad. We all circled around it and counted down; when we got to 1….nothing happened! It was hilarious, we kind of just froze and looked at each other, but a few seconds later when it did turn on, it was beautiful!
Hanover is so great about celebrating the holidays. They prepared a special dinner for all students on Thursday night. The food was amazing and it was great to get to eat in the main dining hall again (I usually eat in my sorority house because we have a cook), meals are more a social event anyway at this school. After all the craziness of this week past, it was definitely time for us to kick back a little bit and mentally prepare ourselves for the upcoming week: Finals!
I went caroling at the nursing home with my sorority Saturday afternoon, and if you ever want to feel like you're a good singer, even if you're not, the nursing home is the place to be!
They were so grateful and appreciative that we came to visit. We even got a standing ovation by a sweet little lady named Joy….after we had just sung "Joy to the World." Later on, a bunch of us got together that night to dress up and kick back, to forget about school work for a bit. Well, the girls dressed up and the boys all wore their tacky Christmas sweaters, but everyone was having a blast!
We figured we deserved it since we had spent countless hours in the library throughout the week. People are finishing their work at various times. One of my friends gets to go home today, while others have to stay until Friday. As for me, my last final is giving a presentation in my sociology class on Thursday, but then after that I plan on going home and staying in bed until Sunday! Well, lastly I want to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and New Year. Hope Santa's good to you!
Katie's Blog - December 3, 2007
It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas! I'm pretty sure yesterday brought in the cold spell that I've been praying for! It was something like 25 degrees this morning, perfect for snow. I just hope it comes soon! Student senate had its spaghetti dinner Wednesday night, and there was a pretty good turnout. Hopefully they raised lots of money for Turning Point, an agency that helps abused women.
One of my Sisters and her mother threw us an old-fashioned tea party Thursday night, and it made me so nostalgic for home (my Grandma actually has tea parties for fun all the time). We had all the basics: cucumber sandwiches, chocolate-covered strawberries, ham sandwiches with marmalade, cheescakes, and so much more! Everything was absolutely perfect! My astronomy professor, Dr. Nickas, had a lab later that night to look at Mars and the last remains of Comet Holmes. Even though it was freezing out there at the observatory, it was definitely worth it! Because it's so cold the sky's conditions are perfect to see objects with better clarity.
I took it easy Friday night because on Saturday, a group of us got up early (for once!) and went to have breakfast at one of the charming little cafes in downtown Madison. Then we painted pottery and went shopping for our costumes for the night. Pretty girly, huh? Actually, we had to buy "old" clothes because one of the fraternities threw their annual 80's party. So we all caked on the blue eye shadow, teased our hair, and added about 2 pounds of hairspray each. Again, something that was definitely worth the pain! And to top off the wonderful weekend, I got to go see the choir, along with many members of the community, sing Handel's "Messiah." That got me in the Christmas mood more than anything, it was beautiful! I just hope that we all make it through finals week so we can actually enjoy our holiday!
September Blog Entries | October Blog Entries | November Blog Entries
About Katie
Hometown: Crescent Springs, Ky.
Major: Elementary Education and Sociology
Wants to be: A second grade teacher
Hobbies: Swimming, skiing, horseback riding, hanging out (watching movies or listening to music), hiking, baking, other outdoorsy stuff
Where I hope to travel: Germany and Scotland
Where I've traveled: England, Italy, Greece, France, ABC islands, the Bahamas, Costa Rica and Panama
Favorite Movie: A Knight's Tale
Favorite TV show: House or the Office
Scariest Movie Ever: 28 Days Later
Pet: A yellow lab puppy named Buddy, and two cats
Who would play me in the movies: Kate Hudson
Mac or PC: Mac
Facebook or MySpace: Facebook (I don't even have a myspace account)
Biggest hope or dream: To have a great family one day and be a great mom
