Student Profiles:
Erika Guijarro ’09 & Amanda Guijarro ’09

Erika and Amanda Guijarro had to go through a serious period of adjustment when they decided to attend Hope College. “We had never seen snow before,” says Erika. “We didn’t realize snow was cold. We didn’t think it was wet either—we thought it was just powder,” says Amanda.

Michigan winters hit the twin sisters from Los Angeles, Calif., hard. But instead of making them homesick, the snow helped them to appreciate the relationships they’d formed since coming to Hope. “Everyone is so nice here,” says Amanda. “They make it easier.”

Erika is a kinesiology major with an emphasis in physical education and a minor in political science, while Amanda is also a physical education major with a psychology minor.

“ I enjoy P.E. classes,” says Amanda. “I work with a lot of kids in my classes, and I liked teaching them how to stay fit.” “It’s hard work,” Erika says of the discipline. “It’s about knowing how the human body works and what makes it function. And it’s difficult to work with troubled kids.”

The sisters are involved in almost everything the sports world at Hope has to offer. They both play softball, which took them to Australia and New Zealand in the summer of 2006, an experience they say was “amazing.” They are also part of the U.S. korfball team, under the leadership of Coach Karla Wolters of the Hope faculty. Korfball is a sport similar to basketball, with hoops taller and higher than basketball hoops, played on a field threequarters of the size of a soccer field, with a ball the size of a regulation soccer ball. “It’s like basketball without the dribbling,” explains Amanda. They even competed in the World Cup of korfball in the Czech Republic this past summer.

Erika and Amanda are also involved on campus as supervisors at the Dow Athletic Center, as a part of the Go Dutch! committee, and as members of the ASCD education society. They also make a point of attending as many games, meets, and sporting events as they can, and are especially strong advocates of the women’s athletic program at Hope.

The people at Hope have had an impact on the twins. “In the kinesiology department, everyone is so nice. You don’t even know some of them, but they still invite you over for Thanksgiving dinner,” says Erika. Amanda adds, “It’s hard sometimes to be far away from home, but it’s nice when people say ‘Hi’ to you on the sidewalks. It’s not like this everywhere.”

This profile was written by Megan E. Dougherty, a 2007 Hope College graduate from Normal, Ill., for the 2007-08 Hope College Catalog.

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