Alumni & Family Engagement

Anysie Ishimwe graduated in 2016 with a degree in business management and psychology. She began her career as a staffing specialist at Haworth, Inc. and she was selected as a Global Health Corps fellow, a leadership development fellowship founded by Barbara Bush. During her fellowship, she worked as a partnerships coordinator at Gardens for Health International to implement nutrition programs in 104 schools in four provinces in Rwanda. She also established a women’s social group that brings together women at all levels of the organization to discuss issues that hinder their progress. After her year-long fellowship, Anysie joined Karisimbi Business Partners, a management consulting firm, as a senior business analyst. During her time, she was able to work on various strategic advisory engagements for clients in banking, health, manufacturing, education, etc. One of her notable achievements during that role was developing a turnaround strategic plan for a maternal health clinic giving neonatal care for an underserved community in Kigali. Anysie currently works as a country manager for Genesis Energy, a renewable energy firm working to provide alternative sources of power to commercial and industrial clients.

Anysie Ishimwe is using her talents to build better businesses in her community and we are proud of her and her contributions.

What was an impactful experience you had as a student at Hope?

• Participating in the Center for Leadership’s consulting program was a great opportunity to apply what I was learning from both my business and psychology majors towards real life cases. In the process, I also had the privilege of being mentored by knowledgeable people such as Dr. VanderVeen, Mary Ellen Kettelhut, and Jim Cnossen. 
• One project I would highlight was when our team worked on a semester long project to help Gordon Food Service improve their e-commerce platform, and presented our recommendations to the management team at the end of the semester. Such experiences challenged me to constantly think about how what I am learning can be applied to solve problems outside the classroom.

To you, what makes Hope special?

• The faculty really cares about the students. I knew I could walk into any professor’s office and discuss challenges I was having with the academic material or ask for guidance as I discerned my future. I also appreciate that have been able to keep in touch with some of my professors and it’s been five years since I graduated. 
• Another thing I would say that makes Hope special is the sense of community. The environment is friendly and welcoming to students with different needs and backgrounds.

What is your current job title? In your own words, describe what you do.

• Country Manager. I am helping a foreign renewable energy company set up their operations in Rwanda. Our subsidiary is still in its start-up phase, so my job consists of leading business development efforts; hiring as the team grows; managing relationships with existing clients, among other mundane daily tasks.

What do you love about your chosen career?

• I love the diversity of problems that I get to solve every day. It is an engaging world to be in.

What was your favorite food at Phelps?

• Scrambled eggs, sausage, and home fries from the Comfort Corner.

What is a relationship that started at Hope that remains in your life today?

• I met my mentor Emilie while I was at Hope and she remains an instrumental part of my life today.

Which class would you want to retake if you could? Why?

• I would like to retake business computing. It is a class that teaches a specific skill. Whenever I encounter advanced spreadsheet processing in my work, it is not as daunting.

What is your hope for Hope’s future?

• I would like to see students from across the globe attend Hope in increased numbers. I would also want to see increased need based scholarship opportunities for incoming students, as well as opportunities for alumni to play a role in making that happen.

Hope College is proud to honor Anysie Ishimwe ’16 with the 2021 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! 

Molly Skawski graduated from Hope College in 2015 with her degree in social work and shortly after began pursuing a master’s of social work at Washington University in St. Louis. In 2017 Skawski began working as a foster care case manager at Children’s Home and Aid. There she managed a caseload of children in need of care. In 2018, she went abroad and worked as a therapeutic residential worker at Olive House Children’s Home, The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, England. She worked to create and manage care plans for youth aged 13-18 with social and emotional disorders, provided therapeutic support for youth and advocated for educational, therapeutic and independent-living support services. Currently, Skawski is working as a foster care supervisor at Children’s Home and Aid. She works hard to provide direct clinical and administrative supervision for eighty to one hundred foster care cases concurrently. Molly Skawski has a passion for youth in foster care and helping them in any way she can. We are proud of her and the important work she is doing in the lives of children.

What was an impactful experience you had as a student at Hope?

• Living and working in Philadelphia for a semester as a part of my social work practicum. I had the opportunity to live with Hope College students, as well as students from other colleges, in such an amazingly diverse city. 

To you, what makes Hope special?

• Relationships make Hope special. The relationships with roommates, classmates, professors, and staff, from coaches to campus ministries staff, seem to have a depth at Hope that is incomparable to the experience of friends who attended different institutions.

What is your current job title? In your own words, describe what you do.

• My current job title is foster care supervisor. I supervise a team of foster care case managers who work to reunify children in foster care with their biological parents by addressing the safety concerns that brought them into the child welfare system. We work really hard to keep kids safe, and to put broken families back together. Sometimes, that means helping to re-create family for children who cannot go home for a variety of reasons.

What do you love about your chosen career?

• Everyday in my work, I see people – both the little people, and the big people, being their bravest, most resilient, grittiest selves. When I tell people that I work in foster care, a lot of people say “I could never do what you do,” and while I know it’s not for everyone, I also know that this work, for me, is nothing short of an absolute privilege. My job allows me to enter in to the innermost parts of people’s lives, often in their lowest, rawest moments, and join them in hoping, and working, for a better version of themselves and their families. A lot of the work feels like climbing uphill against the wind, and the progress is most often measured in only the tiniest of ground covered. And still, I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else. In supervising, I get to do all of that, and I get to watch the lights come on for new workers coming into the field, in just the way the lights came on in my eyes when I started the work. So I guess what I love most about my chosen career, and my current position, is that I get to do a lot of rooting for people- kids, parents, and my team.

What was your favorite food at Phelps?

• Popcorn chicken and mashed potato bowls. Hands down. The real world needs these.

What is a relationship that started at Hope that remains in your life today?

• I met my husband at Hope. We met at a team function between the hockey and lacrosse teams, and the rest is history. In December, we get to become parents together, and couldn’t be more thrilled!

Which class would you want to retake if you could? Why?

• I would re-take my cultural heritage classes and focus more on the opportunity to learn about people and places that are foreign to my own experiences, and focus less on trying to get a good grade and check off the graduation requirements.

What is your hope for Hope’s future?

• I hope that Hope College continues to invest in the expansion of opportunities for the enrollment of students who would otherwise be unable to afford, or access, the Hope College experience. More specifically, I hope that the Hope College education and experience could become more than a pipe dream for the foster youth who I serve. I know countless youth whose lives could be changed for the better by the experiences afforded to Hope College students, and just as well, I believe that the Hope College community could be changed for the better by bringing in more students with diverse life experiences.

Hope College is proud to honor Molly Skawski ’15 with the 2021 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! 

Natalie Brown graduated from Hope College with a degree in communications and leadership. In 2018 Brown started at Sojourners Magazine as a donor services assistant in Washington DC. Then in 2018 she published her devotional book Fifty-Two Cups of Coffee: Weekly Reflections for the Contemplative Soul. Brown continued her love of writing and in 2019 she started as a Fig Factor Media as a ghostwriter. Most recently, Brown founded 4:14 Ministries. A digital media company that aims to empower women through digital media, personal development workshops, blogs, bible studies and more. Brown is passionate about women’s empowerment and making sure every woman has a voice to share her story. We are proud of Natalie Brown and the difference she is making in the lives of women.

• What was an impactful experience you had as a student at Hope?
  • I deeply appreciated my time with the Emmaus Scholars program. This experience deepened my faith and perspective on social justice in a multitude of ways.
• To you, what makes Hope special?
  • I love the ways Hope College fosters exploration and curiosity. At Hope, students receive numerous tools, resources and outside influences to encourage their spiritual, personal and professional growth. 
• What is your current job title? In your own words, describe what you do.
  • Author and speaker. I tell stories through books, speeches and social media.
• What do you love about your chosen career?
  • I love that my career allows me to help others tell their stories! I enjoy using my creative gifts to bring the vision behind local brands and businesses to life.
• What was your favorite food at Phelps?
  • The grilled peanut butter & Nutella sandwich with strawberries and bananas!
• What is a relationship that started at Hope that remains in your life today?
  • I am very grateful for the mentor and friend that I have found in Dean Frost. While I was a student at Hope, Dean Frost played a very instrumental role in my life, and to this day, he continues to check in on me, encourage me and inspire me.
• Which class would you want to retake if you could? Why?
  • Computer science. I would love to gain even more insight on website development.
• What is your hope for Hope’s future?
  • I hope Hope College will continue to evolve in how it welcomes students and makes ALL students feel at home.

Hope College is proud to honor Natalie Brown ’17 with the 2021 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! 

Palmer D’Orazio earned his Bachelor’s of Science in computer science in 2016. D’Orazio began his career at JazzHR as a user experience designer. While at JazzHR, D’Orazio created visual designs for several product enhancements, led rigorous and contextual user research to uncover problems and was a project manager. He was soon promoted to a senior user experience designer in 2017. In early 2021, D’Orazio took a new position at Kiavi (formerly known as LendingHome). As a senior product designer, D’Orazio works on user research and design work in multiple cross-functional product teams. We are proud of Palmer D’Orazio and his hard work!

• What was an impactful experience you had as a student at Hope?
  • This is cliché, but study abroad. Vienna Summer School was technically my last semester, and it was the perfect experience to catapult me out of the Hope bubble.
• What is your current job title? In your own words, describe what you do.
  • I’m a user experience designer. I study how people interact with a product or service, then design some changes to help them accomplish their goals more easily.
• What do you love about your chosen career?
  • It’s very interdisciplinary. In any given week, I get to interview people, design experiments, write stuff, play with typography and colors, and more. For me, design scratches the same itch that had me walking between the VanderPlex and the music building every day.
• What was your favorite food at Phelps?
  • Shoutout to the popcorn chicken bowl!
• Which class would you want to retake if you could? Why?
  • During senior year, I took Christian Love with Dr. Hoogerwerf. Perhaps ironically, it helped me come to terms with being a queer agnostic, but that’s the liberal arts for you.

Hope College is proud to honor Palmer D’Orazio ’16 with the 2021 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!

Larissa graduated from Hope College in 2014 with a Bachelor of Arts with a degree in violin performance. After graduating, Fall interned at the Grand Rapids Symphony as a Concert Production Intern and that turned into an operations coordinator position. While working at the Grand Rapids Symphony, she remained active in her love for the violin by playing with the Holland Symphony Orchestra, Vintage Parlor Orchestra and Charmante String Quartet. In 2017, Fall took the role of Publicity Director for the Chamber Music Festival of Saugatuck. Just last month, Fall is back at Hope College with a new position as the office manager for the dance department! We are excited she is back on campus. 

• What was an impactful experience you had as a student at Hope?
  • One-on-one work with professors and the access to Christian community and theology.
• To you, what makes Hope special?
  • The excellent education within a small-knit community of people that care about each other with a Christian-based focus that is available to but not mandated for all students.
• What is your current job title? In your own words, describe what you do.
  • Office manager for the dance department and Dow Center at Hope College. Previously the operations coordinator for the Grand Rapids Symphony.
• What do you love about your chosen career?
  • I love working behind the scenes to bring the arts into the public’s eye. I love supporting creators administratively.
• What was your favorite food at Phelps?
  • Ethnic/cultural selections
• What is a relationship that started at Hope that remains in your life today?
  • My friendships with girls from my cluster in Dykstra Hall and my professional relationship with my violin professor.
• Which class would you want to retake if you could? Why?
  • My music classes were all valuable, as well as my senior seminar class with Stephen Smith.
• What is your hope for Hope’s future?
  • That Hope College continues to remain rooted in its Christian values and foundation as it impacts the world by sending off global leaders.

Hope College is proud to honor Larissa Fall ’14 with the 2021 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!