Letter: Dare to believe in yourself

I earned my Ph.D. in English from the University of Louisiana this month. The moment fell into a particular type of Chicagoland miracle.

I struggled terribly in grammar school. I was troubled, diagnosed with learning disabilities and a behavior disorder, I even hit a teacher with a chair in junior high.

Then I met Brother Peter Hannon at Saint Joseph's High School and everything changed. He challenged my assumption that I was stupid. Once he'd broken me down to near tears, he made a simple dare. He dared me to study for my history test. So, I did and I got a B. During the next session, he congratulated me, then told me to study harder. I got A's in the rest of the tests, and I became an honor roll student.

I went to COD and got interested in Hemingway. Later I earned a BA from Elmhurst College in English. Then I got my MFA from Columbia College Chicago. And finally, I got into the Ph.D. program at the University of Louisiana, where I found great joy in teaching. It's what I want to do for the rest of my life.

The coursework was incredibly challenging, In my darkest days, I remembered that day when Brother Peter challenged my assumptions about my smarts and dared me to try. I fought like he taught me to.

Because of him and so many others, today I hold a doctoral degree. If you're someone reading this and people are telling you you're learning disabled or behavior disordered and won't amount to much and you believe them. I'm here to tell you that they're wrong, and you're wrong. You can accomplish anything you want in this life if you give everything you have to earn it.

Just try, I dare you.

Bill Hillman

Brookfield