Katie Nees/Collegian
Angela Hornsby, a 2004 Hillsdale graduate, works as a lab technician on a project involving South African lion genetics. Hornsby is one of many who return to campus after graduation to work.
South African lions drew Angela Hornsby back to the hallways of the Strosacker Science Center, barely giving the ink on her diploma a chance to dry. Three months after receiving her B.S., Hornsby was offered a job as a lab technician at Hillsdale College, specializing in a project involving lion genetics.
As a student, Hornsby said she had no intentions of working at Hillsdale after she graduated and, in fact, wanted to "go far away from Michigan and from Hillsdale."
"It was really weird to come back and have the majority of my friends gone," Hornsby said. Instead, the native Michigander had to adapt to life as a staff member with a mailbox, voice mail and staff dinners.
Hornsby has a nine-month commitment to the college after which she said, smiling, "I'll be ready to move on."
Kat Flowers, assistant director of forensics and debate, however, was not so sure she wanted to move on after graduating from Hillsdale in May.
After a busy schedule her junior and senior years, Flowers did not feel fully prepared to take the LSAT and follow her dream of becoming a lawyer. Instead, Flowers said she knew she needed a year to study, prepare for law school and work full time.
When the job opening came up in the speech department, she interviewed with James Brandon, director of forensics.
Flowers recollected how she approached Brandon about the position:
"James, I don't want to leave-do you want to hire me?"
Now Flowers wrestles with the dilemma of having "frat friends," but not feeling comfortable attending frat parties as a member of the Hillsdale staff.
For 2001 Hillsdale graduate Lucas Miller, there have been several advantages to sticking around campus as an admissions counselor: the use of the library, the benefits of the Sports Complex, the lectures of visiting speakers and his wife.
"The best aspect of having stayed here was finding my wife," Miller said.
While Miller did not plan on working at the college as a student, he did accept the job after graduation, considering it to be a short-term occupation.
"My first year here was very interesting because I still felt more like a student than a staff [member] in the administration," Miller said.
Miller's path will finally part from Hillsdale after this year in order for him to attend Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Boston.
Carrie Johnston returned to Hillsdale's campus for the spring semester of 2004 to finish her chemistry thesis and to serve as a lab coordinator.
This year, Johnston is teaching again for the Science 101 chemistry labs, but not as a student.
Although Johnston was hesitant to come back to Hillsdale, she decided to make a one-year commitment to the school.
"I enjoyed teaching so much last semester and explaining chemistry to the students," Johnston said.
In fact, she is now considering becoming a teacher instead of her previous plans to pursue a nursing degree.
These are just a few of Hillsdale's many alumni who now work on campus.
This trend is apparent in other liberal arts colleges in the area as well.
Albion College, another liberal arts school in southern Michigan, also has quite a few students who return as staff or faculty. Although unsure of the exact number, the alumni office said they have at least 30 to 40 alums working at the school, concentrated mainly in the admissions and athletic departments.
And out of the approximately 900 students who attend southern Michigan's Adrian College, 50 have returned this year as faculty or staff to their alma mater.
So, for all the seniors who are unsure about where they'll end up after graduation-it could be right back where you started.