Charlie Kirk: Honoring a Legacy of Gratitude and Humility
Written by Quinn Delamater
I was sitting in Plaster Auditorium at the faculty roundtable lecture for a CCA on international relations when I had just learned the news that Charlie Kirk had been shot.
Every student in the auditorium was glued to their phone, incessantly refreshing social media with bated breath, scouring the internet for an update on Kirk. A somber mood encompassed the room. Most audience members looked distraught and in pure disbelief. The fate of Kirk was hanging in suspension, which felt incomprehensible.
When the roundtable ended and opened for audience questions, a student approached the microphone. But he didn’t ask a question about international relations; he only wanted to talk about Charlie Kirk.
At the end of the hour, a voice in the room called out that Charlie Kirk had passed away.
My heart sank, and my eyes filled with tears. I wasn’t alone—the woman next to me was also crying. A deep mournfulness filled the auditorium.
The moments that followed were ones of silence to honor Kirk. I had never heard a room so quiet that was filled with so many people. You could have heard a pin drop, quite literally. A collective sadness gripped the atmosphere.
After the momentary pause, individuals filed silently out of the room.
Mere hours after Kirk’s murder, hundreds of Hillsdale students gathered in Christ Chapel to pray for his family.
“In this shocking moment of grief and pain, the student body put into action what our study of virtue and divine purpose has taught us thus far; we turned to prayer,” said Mattie Grace Watson, ’26, who attended the vigil.
In the time since Kirk’s assassination, Hillsdale’s campus has been in step with the rest of the world, trying to process the indelible loss of no longer having him as the leading conservative voice of our generation.
Kirk’s legacy echoes resounding faith, courage, and humility. He inspired students and set an example to be bold in a respectful way and to stand up for what they believe in.
“First and foremost, his legacy as a strong Christian, as a brother in Christ, is everything that young people in our generation should be trying to emulate. I grieve for our country that we will no longer have him as a voice, but I am consoled by the fact that I know Charlie is with his Savior right now, and that his legacy will continue,” said Addison Randel, ’26.
A week after Kirk’s death, Turning Point USA announced that Charlie’s wife, Erika, will be taking over as the organization’s CEO.
“I don’t pretend to be able to articulate what a blow Charlie Kirk’s death is to our country, to the conservative movement,” Randel said. “Charlie was singular in his ability to communicate the conservative viewpoint, to talk to people on the other side of the aisle, and have really good conversations that actually moved the dial forward on these political discussions. And I think that’s part of what makes his death so jarring… he wasn’t one of the violent rhetoricians. He was really interested in having conversations.”
Charlie Kirk was a friend of Hillsdale College. At my senior capstone seminar that took place the week after Kirk’s death, Hillsdale College President Dr. Larry Arnn reminisced on how he first met him.
The two spoke for the first time at an event in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, 12 years ago, when Kirk was only 19. Arnn recalled being so engrossed in conversation with him that evening that he didn’t speak to anyone else at the event. Afterward, he thought he would never hear from Kirk again, until a month later, when he received a text from a number showing a picture of a Hillsdale online course certificate of completion. The text message was from Kirk. For over a decade, the two remained friends, and Kirk went on to complete 30 Hillsdale online courses. According to Arnn, Kirk was the best unofficial Hillsdale student of all time.
“I fell in love with that boy. He was my friend,” Arnn said.
Arnn was asked to speak at Kirk’s memorial service in Arizona, held on September 21, 2025. During his speech, Arnn announced that the College would award honorary degrees both to Kirk and his wife Erika.
Many college students across the country will now open new Turning Point chapters at their schools in order to continuously embolden the values Kirk stood for to honor him—values that are often scarce on such campuses. According to TPUSA, they received around 54,000 requests in a little over one week since his death.
At Hillsdale, we share the same values to which Kirk dedicated his life’s work and legacy. We are not in an environment where the only chance conservative-leaning students have of gaining a space to platform their beliefs is to create a Turning Point chapter.
I think we sometimes take for granted the haven that Hillsdale College is for many of its students. Here, we are infinitely blessed to be in such an atmosphere. Our mission statement describes Hillsdale’s founders as being “grateful to God for inestimable blessings.”
Charlie Kirk was grateful to God every day, and lived his life as an unashamed testimony to that. Wherever he went, he shared the Gospel. He cared about politics, but more than that, he cared about serving his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Kirk died at the cost of his free speech—something we as Hillsdale students are incredibly fortunate to be able to practice here with no repercussions.
The best way we can honor Kirk is to never forget our gratitude and practice humility in all we do. The day we stop thanking God and start attributing ourselves with credit is the day we let Kirk’s legacy die.
May we never cease to remember God’s graciousness and goodness to us, and may that ever embolden us to carry the torch of Kirk’s mission.
Quinn Delamater, ’26, is a rhetoric and media major and a journalism minor. Additionally, Quinn is the program director of WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM, a contributor for The Collegian, and an active member of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority. In her free time, Quinn enjoys making matcha lattes, being an avid news reader, and skiing in Colorado when she has the chance.
Published in September 2025