Alumni & Family Engagement

Jordan Fuller graduated from Hope College with dual degrees in management and political science. Fuller then moved on to the University of Cincinnati where he got his MBA and Juris Doctor in Law. After graduating he worked in banking, rising through the ranks. In 2019, he switched careers and Fuller is now the Co-President for the Humanity and Hope United Foundation. This foundation helps Hondurans overcome challenges and grow to become their best selves. It started simply—working hand-in-hand with people to get clean water, create jobs, and create access to education. During his time at Hope Fuller was a member of the Even Year Pull team. Even Year Every Year!!

What was a favorite memory while you were a student at Hope?
My senior year, my housemates at “Neverland” and I would all attend chapel together. Lots of fun pursuing our faith and just being together.
How are you a different person today because of your Hope experience?
I think I understood how important my life’s calling is. I developed the passion and the tools to live it out.
What was your favorite food at Phelps?
Breakfast for dinner during finals.
What is something you love about your job/career path?
To be able to encourage kids to go to middle school and high school. Education unlocks so many opportunities.
What spot on campus do you miss the most?
The Dow. Playing pick up basketball with friends.
What was your favorite class you took at Hope? Why?
Washington DC Semester. So much fun being in our nation’s capital and it inspired me to go to law school.
What has been the highlight of your professional career?
Coordinating our response to Hurricane Eta. We were very proactive and it saved a lot of lives.

Hope College is proud to honor Jordan Fuller ’10 with the 2020 10 Under 10 Award. The “10 Under 10 Awards” honors emerging leaders who are making significant contributions by living out their callings; engaged in the local and global community through professional and/or volunteer involvement; and use their education to think about important issues with wisdom and clarity, communicate effectively to bridge boundaries that divide human communities and act as agents of hope living faithfully into their vocations. Designed for alumni who are within 10 years of graduation, they are presented by the Hope College Alumni Association. Make a nomination today!

Eric Vachon started his career by graduating from Hope College with a Nursing degree. He then went to Michigan State University for his Doctorate of Philosophy in Nursing. He now works as a Postdoctoral Fellow in T32 Interdisciplinary Training in Cancer Prevention & Control at Indiana University. He is doing pivotal cancer research that will help many. In addition to excelling in the nursing program at Hope, Vachon was also a star athlete on the baseball team.

Hope College is proud to honor Eric Vachon ’14 with the 2020 10 Under 10 Award. The “10 Under 10 Awards” honors emerging leaders who are making significant contributions by living out their callings; engaged in the local and global community through professional and/or volunteer involvement; and use their education to think about important issues with wisdom and clarity, communicate effectively to bridge boundaries that divide human communities and act as agents of hope living faithfully into their vocations. Designed for alumni who are within 10 years of graduation, they are presented by the Hope College Alumni Association. Make a nomination today!

Charlyn Pelter ’15 DeWitt graduated from Hope College with a dual degree in psychology and sociology with an emphasis in criminal justice. She then went on to work as a law clerk at various firms and as a research assistant at UC Davis School of Law as she worked towards a law degree. In 2018, she graduated with a law degree from University of California, Davis and now works at Legal Services of Northern California. She is using her legal gift to impact the world for good. At Hope, she participated in theater productions and Student Congress.

What was a favorite memory while you were a student at Hope?
My favorite Hope memories are late-night donut runs and studying in the Kletz. I could walk into the Kletz any afternoon and find friends to visit with.
How are you a different person today because of your Hope experience?
Hope helped me to think globally about problem-solving and to treat everyone as a person with dignity, created in the image of God.
What was your favorite food at Phelps?
Anything from the vegetarian station!
What is something you love about your job/career path?
I love the opportunity to empower people to fight for their own rights. To help someone get a win when they don’t feel like they have any hope is an amazing experience.
What spot on campus do you miss the most?
Dimnent Chapel
What was your favorite class you took at Hope? Why?
Senior Seminar with Professor John Shaughnessy
What has been the highlight of your professional career?
Winning my first trial, which allowed my clients to keep their apartment.

Hope College is proud to honor Charlyn Pelter ’15 DeWitt with the 2020 10 Under 10 Award. The “10 Under 10 Awards” honors emerging leaders who are making significant contributions by living out their callings; engaged in the local and global community through professional and/or volunteer involvement; and use their education to think about important issues with wisdom and clarity, communicate effectively to bridge boundaries that divide human communities and act as agents of hope living faithfully into their vocations. Designed for alumni who are within 10 years of graduation, they are presented by the Hope College Alumni Association. Make a nomination today!

Upon graduating with a Chemistry and English degree from Hope College in 2014, Annalise Klein joined Teach for American Hawai’i Island and taught eighth grade science at Konawaena Middle School. She then went on to teach at KIPP San Jose Collegiate where she was a Chemistry and AP Chemistry teacher. In 2019, Klein received a Fulbright Distinguished Award in Teaching and coached teachers in Serere, Uganda on community-centered STEM practices. She is currently a freelance education consultant, specializing in culturally relevant and rural project based learning. She consults for a tribal school district in SW Alaska and a reengagement site in Seattle, Washington. In 2016, she completed her Masters of Science in Education from Johns Hopkins University. During her time at Hope, Annalise was an RA for three years, TA for organic chemistry labs, and completed a May term on the Pine Ridge Reservation.

What was a favorite memory while you were a student at Hope?
Freshman year, I decided last minute not to fly home for spring break and signed up for whatever Immersion Trip wasn’t already full, which happened to be the first ever Holland Immersion Trip. It was foundational to my learning about the Holland community being more than tulips and tall Dutch people! I got to know some truly amazing Hope students who I would have never connected with otherwise and catalyzed my involvement in community ministries outside of Hope.
How are you a different person today because of your Hope experience?
Hope’s tight knit liberal arts community allowed me to try new things, fail often, and build relationships. I think, had I chosen to go to a larger school, I might have been tempted to stay in my lane and perhaps have a more siloed story at this point in my career.
What was your favorite food at Phelps?
I don’t think I have one. But one of my favorite food memories at Hope was definitely when I was the RA of Welmers Cottage (a massive house with 15 girls and two kitchens) and we hosted President Bultman and his wife over for dinner!
What is something you love about your job/career path?
Culturally relevant science education allows me to think about how science lives within the diversity of humanity. We’ve realized more than ever this year, society’s relationship with science is . . . complicated. Science is often gazed upon as something untouchable, unbiased, and something that cannot be challenged. But through the lens of science education in diverse communities, I’ve been able to look at science through a human lens. We need to be asking questions to push the status quo. “Who is telling the story?” “Who is asking the questions?” “Who is controlling the narrative and why?” “Who isn’t at the table, and what were the factors that were imposed to keep it that way?”
What spot on campus do you miss the most?
The fluorescent-lit library basement. Sometimes I’d glimpse Dr. Verduin whoosh through an aisle walking with her staff. Legendary stuff.
What was your favorite class you took at Hope? Why?
Intermediate Creative Writing: Fiction with Heather Sellers introduced me to linked short stories. I had her class Tuesday afternoons after a five hour organic chemistry lab, and I’d always walk home feeling like I had just had a therapy session. She had this way of tuning our eyes to make ordinary things like gray skies and muddy sidewalks seem holy and urgent. I think it was that semester that I knew I needed to pursue weird, interesting life experiences after college instead of graduate school. Teaching middle school in Kona coffee country definitely fit the bill!
What has been the highlight of your professional career?
Looking back, last year’s Fulbright award shines pretty bright in my memory. The months prior were pretty difficult, then suddenly, I was given the opportunity to travel somewhere new and create transformative experiences through science with some truly amazing educators and students in a rural little township in eastern Uganda. It was the creative jolt I needed to lean into my strengths, join the amazing Fulbright community, and eventually move into full time consulting work with school districts in Alaska and Washington.

Hope College is proud to honor Annalise Klein ’14 with the 2020 10 Under 10 Award. The “10 Under 10 Awards” honors emerging leaders who are making significant contributions by living out their callings; engaged in the local and global community through professional and/or volunteer involvement; and use their education to think about important issues with wisdom and clarity, communicate effectively to bridge boundaries that divide human communities and act as agents of hope living faithfully into their vocations. Designed for alumni who are within 10 years of graduation, they are presented by the Hope College Alumni Association. Make a nomination today!

Amy graduated from Hope College with a Bachelor’s degree in communications. She then moved to Washington, D.C., which led her on the path to build her career serving nonprofits. After a few years, she moved to South Central PA to work and pursue a Master’s degree in Organizational Development and Leadership at Shippensburg University. Amy has worked at a variety of communication roles but is currently working as the Communications and Community Impact Director at United Way of Franklin County. In July 2018, Weibley started her own marketing and design firm Weibley Media Consulting (now called AW designs). While at Hope, Weibley was involved in SAC and Nykerk. She studied abroad in Vienna as well. Here’s what Amy is up to in her own words.

What was a favorite memory while you were a student at Hope?
I have so many amazing memories; Being involved with SAC and enjoying so many great events, studying and hanging out at the Kletz, working in Phelps during the summers, goofing off in the dorms, and doing fun things around campus like playing full-contact spoons and mud football. And that Chapel Run my friends and I said we would never speak of . . . All of the great times with friends that made memories to last a lifetime.
How are you a different person today because of your Hope experience?
The courses, professors, extra-curriculars, and campus life all cultivated a community that was the right balance of challenges (for growth) and fun (for care-free memories before the “real world”!) On campus, I experienced the power of community when people came together. Through campus ministries and community outreach, as well as student life programs like SAC and Nykerk, Hope College instilled in me the desire to do more; To continually strive to help others, to consider the diverse barriers and struggles people face, to bring people together through compromise and cooperation to accomplish a common goal, and to continue to serve a higher purpose that is much greater than my individual needs or perspective. My Hope experience helped shape me into a well-rounded, mindful, compassionate human being.
What was your favorite food at Phelps?
Grilled Cheese Day! And the Swiss Chicken Casserole – yummmm!
What is something you love about your job/career path?
I love collaborating with a variety of people across communities. We may all have different skill sets, backgrounds, or perspectives, but we can unite around a common goal to make a difference in our community. I interact with so many inspiring, passionate people that give me renewed energy and hope for our future every day. Relationships make all the hard work worth it.
What spot on campus do you miss the most?
Kletz!
What was your favorite class you took at Hope? Why?
I have so many favorite classes! One of them was Senior Sem with Prof. Montano. We met at City Flats every class and just talked! We had great conversations about various topics and related to one another as we prepared for graduation and whatever would come next. Preparing to leave the safety of Hope was intimidating at times, but that class helped mentally prepare me.
What has been the highlight of your professional career?
I don’t think I’ve experienced a specific highlight yet in my career. But one thing that makes me proud is thinking about the journey I’ve taken and my growth as a professional. I’ve overcome challenges and struggles throughout my career by continuing to work hard with integrity. Sticking to my core values has led me to the place I am in my career. It’s a great place to be right now, with plenty of room to keep growing.

Hope College is proud to honor Amy Fisher ’10 Weibley with the 2020 10 Under 10 Award. The “10 Under 10 Awards” honors emerging leaders who are making significant contributions by living out their callings; engaged in the local and global community through professional and/or volunteer involvement; and use their education to think about important issues with wisdom and clarity, communicate effectively to bridge boundaries that divide human communities and act as agents of hope living faithfully into their vocations. Designed for alumni who are within 10 years of graduation, they are presented by the Hope College Alumni Association. Make a nomination today!