Ever wonder what PHC students do after graduating? Some of our alums go into strategic intelligence work in D.C. employed by the government or defense contractors, work for political campaigns, go into ministry, or write for national publications. Still others pass down the legacy of classical learning they experienced at PHC.
PHC alumni Sarah Reeves (Strategic Intelligence ‘20), Grace Bennett (Literature ‘21), Rachel Hankinson (Literature ‘21), and current student Anne Marie Ault (Classical Liberal Arts ‘23) work at the Classic Learning Test, an alternate standardized testing platform that emphasizes intellectual aptitude, grounded in the liberal arts tradition.
The Classic Learning Test (CLT) seeks to provide assessments that reconnect knowledge and virtue. The CLT tests intellectual aptitude and achievement while pulling from the classical canon, testing on the greatest, most enduring texts that have shaped Western Civilization. The CLT provides standardized exams that are 100% online and open to students of any educational background.
“Testing can be such a stressful, negative experience for children,” Rachel says. “It certainly was for me! Part of CLT’s mission is to create humane tests that are a blessing to children, rather than a stressor.”
Rachel found that the education and opportunities as a Literature major at PHC prepared her as the CLT’s Test Development Associate.
“I think the main component of my PHC education that equipped me for this role,” Rachel says, “was the creation, project management, writing, and assembly that I did for Westmarch, PHC’s literary journal.”
Sarah found that as a Strategic Intelligence (S.I.) grad, working as the CLT’s Customer Service Manager harnessed multiple skills she developed while in the S.I. program at PHC.
“The Strategic Intelligence program’s emphasis on formal briefing skills made me comfortable presenting to a large audience,” Sarah says. “I give webinar presentations a few times a month in testing season, and I can’t imagine how stressful that would be if I wasn’t already comfortable with presenting.”
“Being able to contribute to the classical education movement,” Sarah says, “even if it’s just rescheduling a test for a family, feels like I am helping to clear the path for future students who will be shaped and molded by the type of education found at PHC.”
Grace works as a Customer Service Associate and Anne Marie serves as a Test Administration Manager. Both fell in love with the classical model at PHC and their enthusiasm has only grown as they get to help students benefit from a classical education as well.
“PHC played a huge role in my development as a Christian and young adult, and I see the fruit of that both in and outside of my work,” Anne Marie says, “So many of my classes at PHC have taught me to communicate clearly and winsomely, regardless of subject matter, and that’s helped me at CLT, as it would in any work environment.”
“I absolutely adore the people I work with; they make the rough days worth it,” she says. “I also love the mission of CLT and what we do, and that’s been true since I read C.S. Lewis on my first CLT practice test in high school, long before I started working here.”
For Grace over on the marketing side of the company, the excitement to go to work each day is the same.
“While at PHC, I also learned the importance of a classical education, so marketing a test that reflects that value comes naturally,” Grace says. “I am able to serve our students and families and communicate the importance of goodness, truth, and beauty found in literature and elsewhere.”
At both PHC and the CLT, Rachel found that the pursuit of the good, true, and beautiful drives the work from day to day. “At PHC, I had the pleasure of being taught these things, and now I have the pleasure of providing a way to learn these things to children and teens!”
“I will be forever indebted to my education at PHC and it’s my fervent desire that as many students as possible have this same education,” Sarah says. “[The] professors’ examples encouraged me to be humble, to abandon my harsh critical attitude when approaching texts, and to love things that are good, true, and beautiful.”
