For any student studying politics these days, it is the best of times and it is the worst of times. This year's presidential election, with its volatile twists and turns, has given college students – the newbies of the electorate – an open and precarious invitation to examine politics acutely, unorthodoxly, and perhaps even hopelessly. Emotions, after all, ran every which way across the 2016 political spectrum.
If you are Hope senior Sarah Feldpausch, though, despair has no place in your vocabulary. Not in politics, not in life. And definitely not in volleyball either. Political science major Sarah Feldpausch is assured in her belief that everything will work out for the best, that her country is greater and better than any temporary, dramatic campaign season. And outside hitter Sarah Feldpausch is optimistic about her team, even when down a set or two, because they too are greater and better than any temporary, dramatic scoreboard tells them.
Such is the way this hopeful millennial sees it.
"I'm confident in our political system because of the way power is divided amongst the three branches -- the Supreme Court, Congress and the presidency. I mean, I understand different people's current worries but this is the greatest democracy in the world. I believe we'll be okay," says Feldpausch, a native of White Cloud, Michigan. As for volleyball, "I believe in our team," she adds. "I know we can achieve the goals we've set because we have people willing to work hard toward them." So, all is okay on the court, too.
Feldpausch's love for and commitment to American politics and policy was evident early at Hope when, as a freshman in Introduction to American Government, she tried to furtively pull out a pocket Constitution from her backpack to double-check her professor's facts. It was gutsy but not covert, and Dr. Jeff Polet, the professor of that class, immediately appreciated her moxie and initiative. After all, how many 18-years-olds – one – actually possess their own pocket Constitution and – two – are willing to confirm their professor's teaching of it right in front of him?
"I told her, 'Good for you,' and gave her a high five," says Polet, recalling the Lubbers Hall classroom scene. "She looked relieved. It showed me that she is stalwart in her belief that authority, be it political and professorial, ought to be accountable, and that the key to such accountability was diligence and knowledge on the part of those subject to authority."
Since then, Feldpausch has continued her political knowledge and experiential quest. She is a member of Hope Republicans, the Hope pre-law society and the Tocqueville Forum that discusses philosophical, economic and political topics monthly. She's interned for House Representative Bill Huizenga in his district office in Grandville, Michigan; she was accepted to the Washington DC Honors Semester and worked for the advocacy group, Americans for Tax Reform, researching tax policy and health care reform; and, her internship with Stenger and Stenger law firm in Grand Rapids had her facilitating investment claims communication for international fraud cases handled by the firm.
Each experience solidified her educational path, one now leading to law school in the near future. She'll graduate from Hope this December, her degree completed in three-and-a-half years – all the while playing volleyball and working an on-campus job 20 hours a week – and then head immediately back to DC to find a job, hopefully with another advocacy group during a gap year. Her end goal is to become a lobbyist because "I like making relationships, plus I'll be able to use my understanding of policy to advance the goals of an organization. I mean, I admit I'm opinionated," she says with a self-aware smile. "Since politics are more rooted in opinion and ideology, I am drawn to philosophy to discern those."
"Like many persons her age, Sarah wants to make a difference in the world," observes Polet. "Her approach, however, is concrete and not abstract, realistic and not utopian. She has developed a very healthy notion of the proper place of politics in human affairs: to provide a background order to things that will properly allow for human flourishing."
As the end to her volleyball career approaches (hopefully not for another two weeks), Feldpausch intends to continue flourishing on the court as well. Coach Becky Schmidt has been appreciative of her captain's "uncommon level of determination and drive, her honesty and her intentionality. She wants to know the purpose behind what we do and is not shy about asking when it might be unclear."
And that is just what you'd expect from a hard-working, straight-forward, gung-ho young woman who has served her team well and who has plans to serve her country similarly, too.
It's enough to make you hope to vote for her someday.
— Eva Dean Folkert
