Upperclassmen, treat a freshman to coffee. 

It doesn’t cost much and it’s the perfect way to extend the gift of friendship and welcome you once received to the next cohort of Hillsdale students. 

As we’re often reminded, Hillsdale is always one graduating class away from losing its student culture. The way of life we have built here, with its traditions, inside jokes, and hilarious self-awareness isn’t handed to the freshmen in a thick class reader or glossy marketing pamphlet. They’ve got enough of those. It’s passed down through personal relationships. 

That requires our initiative. 

We’ve all grown in our college years because of role models in the student body. What was a routine interaction for that upperclassman who once stopped to talk to you probably felt like a big deal to you as a freshman: to be recognized as a meaningful part of the Hillsdale community. 

Friendships with older students give freshmen a concrete vision of everything they could become in the next four years and guide them toward happiness and fulfillment.

It doesn’t even have to be coffee. It could be a pickup basketball game at the Splex or an invitation to the latest theatre performance.

Invite the freshman who made a funny comment in your 9 a.m. or someone you know from high school. He or she will almost certainly say yes, unlike that girl you tried asking out last week. 

Before you complain about freshmen being insufferable, give them an opportunity to adjust to college life and gain insight from upperclassmen. A $5 coffee is the perfect way to start.