Written by Doug Goodnough
Scott Forrester, ’90, likes to say that he learned to read at Hillsdale College.
Of course, he knew how to read entering college. In fact, coming from a family of readers, including his father, who was a pastor and college professor in the Detroit area, books were always in hand.
“Reading is what they did,” he said of his family, including his older sister, Pamela, ’87, who preceded him at Hillsdale. “But it was not my thing. I could do it, but it was not what I wanted to do. I wanted to go outside. I wanted to play baseball. I wanted to act out the story. I didn’t want to read The Three Musketeers, I wanted to be the three musketeers.”
Now an English and drama teacher at The Geneva School, a classical Christian school in Sanford, Florida, Forrester said his education at Hillsdale sparked his love of reading – and eventually teaching.
“I discovered a hidden reader in there somewhere,” he said. “When I got to Hillsdale and encountered the teachers there, I started reading books that were not for class. I read Dante for the first time when I was at Hillsdale. That will change your life.”
He called an evening class co-taught by Dr. Thomas Burke and Dr. James Stephens “quintessential.”
“We have this American Baptist [Burke] and this so-called Marxist [Stephens] doing this class together,” he said. “And it was phenomenal. Here I was talking to professors for two hours after class. What is this place? Who are these people? Why are they talking to some film kid? These are people here to teach. The idea of learning from such people was exciting for me.”
He also pursued his theater passion at Hillsdale. Forrester assisted with several productions and learned to be comfortable in front of people. Those skills would help him years later.
When he graduated from Hillsdale with his political economy degree, Forrester wasn’t sure what career direction to take. He worked in theater for a time and did a little directing and acting. He also took on some graphic design work to help pay the bills. Falling back on his family experience in missions work, he eventually accepted a yearlong assignment in Japan teaching conversational English as part of a Christian outreach.
One year turned into two as he realized teaching could be in his future.
“I didn’t particularly like teaching English conversation, but I did find that I liked teaching,” Forrester said. “I liked the student/teacher relationship.”
And he made several friends in Japan, including Orie (pronounced OH-dee-ay), who eventually became his wife. They eventually moved back to the U.S. and settled in eastern Washington and then in Seattle. He was working in graphic design, but was still looking for a career path. A friend offered him a job teaching middle school geography and English, which he did for one year.
However, when there was a teaching opening at Providence Classical Christian School in the Seattle area, Forrester knew he had found his true calling.
“I learned about classical Christian education at that point, and that was kind of a model that I was interested in teaching,” he said.
He taught at Providence for 10 years and was the school’s theater program director. In fact, he was able to direct a play that he and Hillsdale classmate Adam Andrews, ’91, had written in college.
“It was called Wildlife,” he said of the play. “Now it’s called Make Believe. We’ve written a couple of shows since then, and we’ve performed a couple of them at the school.”
In 2015, he accepted a job with The Geneva School, and moved his wife and their two daughters, Kiri and Moira, to the Sunshine State. He teaches English and drama, and said he is enjoying his time at the growing classical school.
Life in central Florida is good. Other than a good book [he calls himself a slow reader] and a board game, he continues to write musicals, with Andrews composing a song or two from time to time. Although acting is “his favorite thing,” he said teaching in a classical school “makes sense.”
“I don’t know if I could teach at any place that was not a classical school,” Forrester said.
His bond with Hillsdale College has recently deepened since graduation. His daughters chose to attend Hillsdale, with Kiri graduating in 2024 and Moira finishing her junior year this spring.
“When it came time for my daughters to go to school, there weren’t a whole lot of choices out there,” Forrester said. “We checked out a few, but the whole time, we were leaning towards Hillsdale. They made the decision for themselves. We never told them, ‘You have to go there.’”
He said it was the best investment his family could make. “If you’re going to spend your money on something, can you think of anything better to spend your money on,” Forrester said. “Hillsdale is worth it.”
Doug Goodnough, ’90, is Hillsdale’s senior director of Alumni Marketing. He enjoys connecting with fellow alumni in new and wonderful ways.
Published in April 2025
