Every summer, the Alliance Defense Fund’s Blackstone Legal Fellowship trains law students in Christ-centered legal philosophy and organizes six-week public interest internships for them. For most of the decade, my mother-in-law has worked for Blackstone. In 2005, B was a Blackstone Intern. In 2006, I was a Blackstone Intern.
Over the last two weeks, I further cemented our young family’s tie to Blackstone. I served as a Mentor, facilitating discussion, instigating off-hours activities, and helping make sure the trains ran on time. My fellow mentors were all excellent and had quite the sense of humor. In the “Gym Teachers” shot below, all the other guys had put towels under their shirts; my gut required no such enhancement.
While the speaker lineup was largely the same, there were several excellent additions since two summers ago.
But the biggest change came from the program’s director, Jeff Ventrella. Jeff’s schtick has always highlighted the various speaker’s ties to Idaho and Italy as the sources of all good things (since he himself is an Italian-Idahoan). But this year, after his son returned from spending his freshman year at Hillsdale College, Jeff elevated my alma mater into this rarified company. I, of course, have long known that Hillsdale is the promised land, but it is excellent to see the increase of its renown.
The only downside of the past two weeks has been my separation from B and E. As wonderful as Blackstone is, I am ecstatic to be home.
