Picture a job where you mostly converse with the well-to-do and well-known, coordinate elaborate adventures to famous sites of history and write newsletters to arrange these events, all the while promoting the ideals of Hillsdale College and its importance to education. This is the much-enjoyed job of Shannon Van Horn, director of The President's Club here at Hillsdale.
The President's Club is an organization of more than 1,500 nationwide donors who have contributed $10,000 or more to the college. Members are designated bronze, silver or gold members depending on their merit, but the organization treats all members the same. Its purpose is simple: to honor those who have honored the college. To do so, the club publishes thrice-yearly issues of The President's Club News and the annual President's Club Honor Roll, frames President's Club certificates that are awarded to members by President Larry Arnn and offers invitations to special receptions, dinners and breakfasts, all the while keeping the scruples of Hillsdale on these members' minds.
The club has also arranged three unparalleled overseas trips.
“We continue to cultivate them,” Van Horn said.
Van Horn said The President's Club has “national and international appeal.”
“We have so many friends,” she said.
It recruits from the college's alumni, as well as from leading conservatives in the world. Though membership isn't easy to obtain, Van Horn shared that it isn't difficult to find those willing to join the club.
“We do very little arm twisting, but people find their way to The President's Club,” she said.
With her father in the Navy, Van Horn was always traveling as a child, which gives her such a knack for her job today. However, after graduating from Baylor University with degrees in English and French, she decided that she would ensure her children the opportunity of a single community to grow up in. This led her to Spring Arbor College and ultimately to Hillsdale itself.
After working at Hillsdale for about 10 years, Van Horn said she has grown extremely fond of the school.
“I can't do this without really loving the school,” she said. “I'm basically a cheerleader.”
Van Horn said she has noticed a remarkable difference between the students that enroll at Hillsdale and other colleges. Hillsdale, in her view, attracts the best and most optimistic students.
“They feel that they can make a positive difference,” she said.
Van Horn said she thinks this difference creates an atmosphere of confidence in its students. This quality of the college has made an even bigger impression on her since her son Dane has enrolled.
“I have to say after 10 years, it has been a delight for me now that Dane is here, because I can see the effects firsthand,” Van Horn said.
Yet the reverse is also true; Dane said he considers himself lucky to have a parent in the administration.
“I got to have inside view of the college before I came here,” he said. “I got to see its traditions and values.”
Dane also had the opportunity to go on a college-sponsored cruise through the Panama Canal, at the expense of his parents. The Panama Canal cruise was not a President's Club trip, but members have gotten the opportunity to travel through the Mediterranean and Europe on other trips. During the previous summer, Van Horn put her French to good use as they toured historical sites of World War II in France. These events are explicitly an expression of gratitude; they are for the club members' enjoyment.
“I want the people who support the college to feel appreciated,” Van Horn said.