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As PHC celebrates the Class of 2025, we asked a graduate from each major to share their reflections on their time at college.
Economics & Business Analytics (EBA): Linnea Stuart
Linnea Stuart, an Economics & Business Analytics (EBA) and Government double major, was not originally planning to come to PHC. While most people view Christianity as counter-cultural, this was never the case for Stuart. Rather, in her community, she found that the easiest lifestyle to live was a Christian one. “I felt that going to a Christian college would tempt me to just go with the flow and not make my faith my own, but a couple of experiences in high school changed my perspective on who I was as a Christian and what it meant to learn as a Christian,” she said.
Several factors eventually drew Stuart to PHC, including the way PHC views learning as a form of worship. “We’re not only learning about the world around us, but we’re also using that knowledge as a form of knowing about God and therefore worshiping God,” she said. This understanding revolutionized the way Stuart thought about learning, and this, combined with the strong, tight-knit Christian community, convinced her that God was calling her.
Throughout her time here, God has grown her into the person she is now through blessings and challenges alike. She recognizes that one of her biggest challenges has been the temptation toward idolatry in the form of grades, performance in forensics, and making the people around her happy. “A lot of PHC was learning how to chase after God as my one and only goal,” she said, “and as I found myself learning what it means to work for the glory of God, I ended up breathing life into the things I once found as idols instead of consuming them.”
One of Stuart’s biggest blessings has been the PHC community that has continually pushed her toward Christ. “Each person has a new window into God’s character, and I’ve learned so much about God by learning about the people here,” she said. She is looking forward to her next chapter in life at the University of Chicago Law School.
History: Ethan Coit
Ethan Coit had two choices for where he could spend his college years: Grove City College or PHC. He wanted to go to a classical Christian school and receive a classical liberal arts education, but he had to decide where he preferred to receive it. Vice President Howard Schmidt eventually led him to make his decision.
"Are you ready to take the next step and improve your faith?” Schmidt asked Coit, and Coit decided he was ready. As a college student, Coit enjoyed his history classes the most and settled on a major in history. “I really enjoy digging through these ancient sources, learning about how humans behaved in the past,” he said.
To Coit, history has immense value, whether you’re majoring in it or not. “Examining how people have behaved in the past tells you how people behave generally. And if you know how people behave generally, then you know how people behave now,” he said.
Coit is also grateful for learning to think carefully about how he went about his studies. He recommends all students take Historiography with Dr. Robert Spinney, which looks at how historians approach history and, specifically, the questions it leads them to consider.
“It forces you to think about how you bring your faith into your academic writing, which is important, I think, for everyone here,” Coit said. Coit hopes to become a history teacher himself one day, but immediately after graduation, he will teach sailing over the summer.
English: Julia Adams
Julia Adams, a Literature/English major at PHC, knew that she wanted to attend the school since she was nine years old. Growing up, she first visited campus when she was six years old for a Christian ballet company performance in the gym. While the close proximity to her home was what originally drew her to PHC, she began to recognize the value of the school’s mission as she grew older. “In many ways, I fulfilled a childhood dream walking across that stage,” she said.
Since coming to PHC, she has found it even better than she imagined. While she expected to grow in her ability to research and write, she did not expect to grow quite as much as she has. “I feel more confident to pursue scholarship ‘in the wild,’ outside of college,” she said.
This has been partly due to the professors here at PHC. Throughout her time here, Adams has found the professors to be an immense blessing. While she recognizes that she sits across the desk from her professors, she finds that they make her feel like a peer. “To students—you’ve probably heard me say this before—but go talk to your professors! They are our friends, advocates, and older Christians who can mentor us in all areas of life, not just the assignments on the syllabus. To the professors, thank you! You are valued and appreciated more than you know. You are the heart of PHC,” she said.
Adams has been very grateful for the last four years at PHC, and feels as if the years have been both long and short at the same time. “It is ultimately the Lord that has gotten me through everything; He is my strength and my foundation, and I did everything through His strength alone,” she said. “Glory be to God!”
Government: Nikolas Frey
Nik Frey sat in church with a heavy heart. He was wrestling with whether he should go to PHC. His pastor wanted him to go, but he also had some extended family members who opposed it. As he sat, Frey sensed God asking him, “Do you trust me?” Frey felt God was calling him to go to PHC, and he answered in the affirmative. Now, Frey knows that he made the right decision.
“The ways that my life has changed over the last four years have been nothing short of remarkable,” Frey said. “I felt like every time I picked up a book, scales were falling out from my eyes. I was learning more and more about God and what He had revealed to us, just in nature, without divine revelation.”
Frey knew well before coming to PHC that he wanted to study politics. His dream job was to become President of the United States. “But now, that’s not it,” Frey said. “My dream job is a role where I can be a good husband and a good father and one where the presence of Christ is evident in my life.”
Frey still wants to be involved in politics, but he is prepared to accept wherever God calls him, just as he did in coming to PHC.
“I just want to be in a position where Christ can use me to advance his kingdom,” Frey said. After graduating, Frey will work at the Department of Justice investigating allegations of misconduct by government officials as a program analyst.
This article was originally published in PHC's student-run publication, The Herald.
Patrick Henry College exists to glorify God by challenging the status quo in higher education, lifting high both faith and reason within a rigorous academic environment; thereby preserving for posterity the ideals behind the "noble experiment in ordered liberty" that is the foundation of America.
