At one time, the titles of Kappa Kappa Gamma president, student ambassador, Student Federation president, and English major described Christy Maier ‘98. Even now, 14 years after she graduated, Maier has not lost any of her youthful energy or love for the Hillsdale College campus.
Maier minored in history and German, but her true love was English.
“All of my classes I love and adored, but I was hooked on English after my Great Books class with Dr. Sundahl,” Maier said. “It wasn’t just one English class. They were all phenomenal and really shaped my experience.”
As a freshman, Maier lived in Olds Residence and became a resident assistant in the same building as a sophomore. She spent her last two years of college living in the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority house. She is still active in the sorority’s community.
“I’m currently working on a paper for a Jane Austin class I’m taking and recently contacted my big [sister in Kappa] to ask for some advice. She has a Ph.D in English,” Maier said.
In between her sorority activities, resident assistant responsibilities, Collegian copy-editing, student ambassadors tours, and volunteering, Maier had her fair share of adventures.
Once she even drove Director of Health and Wellness Brock Lutz’ car all the way to Chicago, without his permission.
It happened her freshman year, during the Pi Beta Phi date party, when sororities allowed independent students to attend with their own dates.
“I went to the date party with a random guy, and we borrowed Brock Lutz’s car. Around midnight we decided the party was not all that entertaining, so we decided to drive to Chicago,” Maier said.
After a quick bite at the local McDonald’s and a walk around Lake Michigan, the platonic couple drove back home in time for her 8 a.m. shift at Saga, Inc.
“I wouldn’t recommend taking a friend’s car without permission, but Brock was enormously gracious,” Maier said.
As for her husband, Maier attributes the budding romance to her biology lab sophomore year, where she befriended her future spouse, Mark Maier ‘98.
“We met freshman year, but really became friends sophomore year. We were both English majors so we took several classes together, including a memorable class with Dr. Somerville. We ‘Hillsdated’ before the term even existed,” Maier said.
The couple dated their senior year and got married the summer after graduation.
After graduating, Maier lived in Charlotte, N.C. where she taught for a few years, only to return to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor for graduate school where she received her Masters of Arts in Education.
She began her career in Hillsdale teaching high school English at Will Carleton Academy for four years.
Today, Maier teaches Business Writing at Hillsdale College and, while she is accustomed to teaching the second half of the English course, plans to teach Great Books and Rhetoric 101 next fall as well.
Aside from her role as an English professor at the college, Maier also works as an advisor for the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority.
“I only get to go to a few events a year, but the most compelling thing I do is have one-on-one time with Kappas. I have a lot of baby sitters,” Maier said. “I love being involved with high school and college-aged people. I have a lot of energy because I feed off of theirs.”
Maier found that some things about Hillsdale have never changed. The studying, the “Hillsdating,” and the strong church-attending population have all been trends that spanned the last 18 years. But not everything has stayed the same.
“There are a lot more engagements. I think at the time when we graduated, we were thought a little strange because we thought we were going to get married. I don’t think it’s that way anymore.”
“‘Ring by Spring’ was not a phrase in use,” Maier said.
Despite the difference in student nuptials, the mother of four and wife of almost 13 years does not find marrying out of college premature.
“I think the marriage emphasis is smart. Not to the wrong person, obviously. But the pool becomes a lot smaller when you leave Hillsdale. I haven’t been sorry that I married at 23 to someone here [at Hillsdale College],” Maier said.
Maier said Hillsdale, although small, is not a difficult place to return to and raise a family. While she partially attributed this to the fact that she is less mobile due to her young family, she finds that Hillsdale is much more than a quaint community to raise her children.
“If we were offered a job in a metropolitan area, we wouldn’t take it. There is an opportunity to connect here because there aren’t distractions like Target and ethnic food,” Maier said. “You focus on relationships instead. And that’s also true of the college.”
bpritchett@hillsdale.edu
