November 2017
Betsy Peters Howard, class of 2006, applies the skills she learned at MHA as an English instructor at the University of Minnesota and adjunct faculty at Bethlehem College and Seminary. She also co-founded Wandeling Press — a collaborative women's publishing house for children’s books.
“I am profoundly thankful for the six years I spent as a student,” said Mrs. Howard, extolling that “unique sense of shared life that Mars Hill gives to its students — what I would call a spirit of holding ‘uncommon things in common.’”
She earned her undergraduate degree in English, Spanish, and religion at Hillsdale College and her master’s degree in English literature at the University of St. Thomas. Mrs. Howard currently is working toward her PhD in English Literature from the University of Minnesota.
“A classical liberal arts education, such as the one Mars Hill provides, seeks to connect students of today with authors and texts and readers of countless generations in succession,” she said. “A Mars Hill education exists to extend the fame of God’s name, as it offers an education in a wide range of disciplines.”
Q: What is a favorite memory of your time as a student at MHA?
A: I so enjoyed the personal investment of Mars Hill language teachers – for me that meant Spanish and Greek. I will forever remember fondly my Greek II class spontaneously bursting into the doxology after finishing the book of Romans with Dr. Colvin.
Q: How did your classical Christian education prepare you for life beyond MHA?
A: Mars Hill primarily gave me the grammatical tools for further language learning and argument and rhetorical analysis into college and beyond.
Q: How did your Mars Hill education shape the way you view learning?
A: I have always loved learning; the close relationships with faculty at Mars Hill, particularly those who encouraged the ideas I wanted to pursue and explore, certainly helped to foster that. Learning as a form of grateful receiving was an important disposition that I received from Mars Hill.
Q: What is one of your favorite Bible verses?
A: Psalm 84:5: "Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion."
Q: What are some of your hobbies?
A: I enjoy woodworking, landscaping, and refinishing.