Student Profile: Amy Sisson ’06

Amy Sisson likes the people that make up Hope’s student body and likes to be involved with the big events on campus. “I really enjoy the variety of people who are here because there’s always something interesting going on around campus,” she says.

One of her best experiences was with the Pull, a large tug-of-war style face-off between the odd-year and even-year classes and one of Hope’s most enduring traditions.

“Pull has definitely been the highlight of Hope College for me,” she says. “It’s so unique. Where else do you see 40 crazy college students pulling on a rope for three hours across the river?”

While Sisson said that she loved “the awesome people that I met and the incredible bond that we formed for Pull,” she also valued the experience for providing her with the greatest challenge that she had ever encountered.

“Every day at practice, I asked myself, ‘Why am I out here doing this?’ because it really was kind of miserable at the time,” she says. “But on Pull Day and after Pull, it was this amazing sense of achievement. I’ve never felt that way before.”

Her dad’s own involvement with the even-year Pull team caused her to investigate the event, just as his time at Hope influenced her decision to attend the college itself.

“It was definitely a motivation,” she says. “I really did just feel at home here. While I was visiting here, people would smile and say ‘Hi,’ and they were so friendly. And for me, that was what set Hope apart.”

Her relationships with professors and students at Hope have matched her first impressions. “The professors here are just so caring,” she says. “They genuinely do care about their students.”

Her love of people and big events also helped get her involved with Dance Marathon, a student-organized charitable fund-raiser for DeVos Children’s Hospital.

“Dance Marathon is my baby,” she says. “It’s just awesome because it’s so many people, all over campus, different kinds of people, that are all just working together and having fun for a really great job.”

Her experiences organizing and directing Dance Marathon will be helpful given her post-graduate plans. A communication and management double major, Sisson hopes to help coordinate the large events and festivals taking place in hotels, cities, and other large venues.

With the future in mind, Sisson anticipates that her experiences will continue to help her grow. “I do feel that Hope College is very nurturing,” she says. “I find the people I’ve met and my friends just build me up.”

This profile was written by Melissa Sexton, a 2005 Hope College graduate from Kalamazoo, Mich., for the 2005-06 Hope College Catalog.

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