Our Stories
Schroeder ‘15 advocates for foster families
While preparing for law school during her senior year at Hastings College, Anastasia Schroeder ‘15 participated in an eye-opening internship with the Sexual Assualt Sexual Abuse Center (SASA) in Hastings, Nebraska. The…
Teff uses experiences abroad to help establish comic series
With artistic talent running in her family, Autumn Teff ’20 has always been interested in creating and drawing characters. She said she started drawing at the age of four, and mostly drew…
Thompson: Preparing students with high standards, sage advice
Thompson retiring as Professor of Psychology. Among the first things all Hastings College psychology majors of the last decade and a half learned was that taking a course with Dr. Jeri…
Bever: ‘Student-focused professor’ thrilled by pupils’ success
Bever retiring after 17 years of teaching physics. Dr. Steven Bever won a handful of prestigious awards during his time as professor of physics at Hastings College. But one award that’s…
Watter: Three decades of taking singers to new heights
Dr. Hillary Watter retiring as Professor of Music. Dr. Hillary Watter’s reputation as a challenging professor precedes her — just ask any current or past Hastings College music student. Her deadlines…
Communications course connects students, College View residents
What tips do you have to have for a long-lasting marriage? If you could travel anywhere, where would you go and why? What’s your favorite childhood toy? These questions — and more…
McMaster aims to uphold mental, physical health with Enlightened Athlete
After turning in his last test for the exercise science program at Hastings College, Shae McMaster ‘15 said he remembers being so excited. He had put himself through college and could now…
Wise ‘14 studies potential leakage pathways in abandoned oil wells in published research article
Jarrett Wise, a Hastings College 2014 graduate, and six co-authors recently studied how cement in abandoned oil wells reacts in different conditions to predict potential leakage pathways in offshore oil and gas…
Alumni help combat hand sanitizer shortage
Giving back has always been at the heart of Pacha Soap, a Hastings-based bath products manufacturing company founded by Andrew ’12 and Abi ’13 Vrbas in 2013. Each bar of artfully-crafted soap…
By mixing religion, technology, crime, Knight ‘15 obtaining doctoral degree
Trina Knight, a 2015 Hastings College alumna, spent a few years after graduation supporting non-profit organizations but is now working on her doctoral degree in criminology at Kansas State University in Manhattan,…
Jaffe ’09 and animal ambassadors encourage conservation
The denizens of Nature’s Educators, a nonprofit animal sanctuary and education center founded by Hastings College alumna Devin (Paszek) Jaffe ‘09 in Sedalia, Colorado, are a wild bunch with poignant personal stories.…
Brudy ’16 publishes first-author paper in Ph.D. program
Hastings College 2016 graduate Leon Brudy had his first-author paper, which compares the daily physical activity of children congenital heart disease (CHD) with healthy peers, published in February in The Journal of…
Heinlein, Paschal completing year of service after graduation
Two Hastings College 2019 graduates are completing a year of service with CityYear, an organization through Americorp. Both Austin Heinlein and Andie Paschal have found community in the schools they work in,…
Ayala ’06 promotes Nebraska’s craft breweries
As Gabriela (Gabby) Ayala ’06 sips an India Pale Ale at Zipline Brewing Co. in Lincoln, Nebraska, other customers wander into the taproom: a bearded dude in a gray hoodie, a sharp-dressed…
Jewell ’97 editor of Willa Cather archive at UNL
Dr. Andrew Jewell, a 1997 Hastings College graduate, is a professor of digital projects at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln (UNL) Libraries and is editor of the Willa Cather archive and coordinates the…
Ferguson ‘96 inspires, advocates for youth
Pete Ferguson ‘96, coordinator of the Youth Development Team at Lincoln (Nebraska) Public Schools, has built a career lifting up and giving voice to underrepresented youth. He and his team counsel dropouts…
