Disaster Management - Student Profile - Hope Weaver

Hope Weaver
Sophomore, Disaster Management
Nederland, Colo.

How challenging are the academics at Hesston?
Academics at Hesston focus on helping students think for themselves. You will process issues and ideas that you thought you understood and find questions you never knew you had.

What is your favorite DM course? Why is it your favorite?
MDS Summer Field Experience. Last summer I spent two months in Louisiana with my classmates. We drove shrimp boats, cooked pies, played ping pong, met so many people, worked a lot, and built a bunch of houses.

What is your favorite of all the courses you have taken at Hesston?
Peacemaking and Justice. It is applicable, it helps you understand why you do the things you do.

What are the professors like in this program?
Russ Gaeddert - I’ve never met anyone as easy to get along with as Russ. I think I speak for our whole class when I say we could never call him professor. He’s our good friend and has taught us so much.

What kind of hands-on learning experiences do you get in the program?
MDS is outside of the classroom. Our class spends Saturdays together working at Greensburg (a Kansas town rebuilding after a devastating 2007 tornado), helping to clean up camp Mennoscah (a church camp in Kansas), and doing odd jobs/service projects in the Hesston area. These are always the best Saturdays at Hesston

When did you know you wanted to study Disaster Management?
I went to a chapel done by sophomore disaster management students last year. There was a picture of one of the smaller girls in a big blue puffy life vest, driving a motor boat down the Mississippi River during her summer field experience in Louisiana. I wanted to drive a boat! So over winter break I applied for the program and then I started MDS in the spring. (Then during my summer field experience I got to drive a shrimping boat down the Mississippi River!)

How have your experiences at Hesston shaped your future?
The million dollar question "you're majoring in volunteer work?" Sort of. But the skills and relationships I have gained in MDS can be used in conjunction with any other field of work. In MDS we we get assigned to a location and then when we arrive on the work site we do whatever needs extra help. MDS is practical. It teaches you to think critically about a problem and fix it yourself.
      In MDS we work and live in close quarters with volunteers of all generations, from 13 to 80 years old. With the age gap that wide the differing opinions and traditions are inevitable. MDS has helped me to understand the importance of talking and listening...and eventually finding your way towards a compromise. This important in any field of work that deals with people. To be able to see both sides of the coin and work toward this integration of different points of view, that is one of the gifts MDS has given me. MDS is a family. I hope to stay connected for the rest of my life.

Which people at Hesston have helped you grow the most?
My MDS classmates. Once you go swimming with someone in crocodile infested waters, chase an armadillo down a two-lane road, roof a house, drive a motor boat, make apple pies, catch shrimp and trust them to be at the bottom of your ladder, you know them better. They are no longer your classmates, they are your family.

What are some of your most memorable moments as a student at Hesston?
My summer field experience in Louisiana…I’ve never learned so much, worked so much and had so much fun in my entire life.

What are your plans after Hesston?
This summer I will return to Diamond, Louisiana. Then I’m planning to continue my education and attend the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley. I'm going to major in Spanish and Elementary Education while still hoping to work with MDS in the summers.