August 24, 2020
Written by Public Relations & Communications Strategist Jill Wilson
President Cole Tessendorf 21 says Vice President Hannah DeWild 21 was the first person he met on campus a very memorable first meeting.
淲e interviewed for a scholarship together and she actually beat me. The biology major, who is minoring in journalism, from Columbus, Nebraska, jokingly added, 淭hey asked her the question first every single time.
DeWild said laughing, 淭oday, I still give him guff. It kind of a running joke.
Just hearing the two tell this story allows you to see that they don檛 take themselves too seriously. That what Tessendorf says they tried to convey when vying for their leadership positions with ASA.
Tessendorf said, 淭hat the most important part that Hannah and I saw. When we ran, we really wanted to run as, not imperfect people, but normal students recognizing that yes, we檒l do the best we can, but we檝e made mistakes, we worry and we struggle with things the same way you do. We thought that would be more approachable with students, to realize you檙e not alone.
In speaking with these best friends, they also support the notion that it okay to be different and still get along because they couldn檛 be more opposite with their political beliefs, interests, and how they came into their ASA leadership positions.
Tessendorf became involved with the campus organization early. As a sophomore, he was a senator on ASA , and his junior year, he was asked to be the chair of the . So, it was a natural transition for him to become president of the organization he had been so involved in.
DeWild, who is from Spirit Lake, Iowa, says her story is a bit different. While the nursing and spanish double major is Vice President of the , the President, and led the for two years, this will be her first year being part of ASA.
淚 got motivated to run because I felt like ASA had this elite group of people and these were the only people who got the insight and got the opportunity to create change. Otherwise, to submit your ideas and get your ideas heard, you had to go through a senator to get to the president and vice president, it was this whole climbing up thing. I want those people to have a say on campus because ASA is really a voice of the students, explained DeWild.
But DeWild says that why the seniors make such a great team.
DeWild said, 淚t really nice because we have both voices. He been in ASA forever. I檝e never been in ASA, so we just have a lot of different ideas and different viewpoints. Since we do have this good friendship, I don檛 feel awkward calling him out on it when I feel, 業t a terrible idea, Cole. We just have that relationship where it like, 楬annah, no. Absolutely not.櫇
The two have already hit the ground running since taking over their positions on June 1. Along with ASA Treasurer Hunter Lipinksi 21, DeWild is serving on the Operations Working Group, operationalizing the in the midst of COVID-19. Tessendorf and Courtney Chrystal 23 have also been involved with the Academics Working Group. In conjunction with the university, ASA has already been fully engulfed in the health and safety campaign , making educational videos available to their peers. Before the end of the spring semester, they also presented Pam Barthle, assistant professor of nursing, with ASA .
But aside from pandemic-related issues, DeWild and Tessendorf still have an agenda that they want to fulfill in 2020-21. DeWild also has a pronoun project that she is working on, which includes getting pronouns added to the Buzz Book and class lists, so students and professors don檛 have to have an awkward interaction the first time they meet regarding how they prefer to be addressed. DeWild will also be busy trying to get the university on-board with more eco-friendly practices, such as having more recycle bins available during move-in and move-out times, providing pitchers of water instead of handing out water bottles at events, and utilizing utensil dispensers rather than providing an excess of utensils that go unused and get thrown away. Tessendorf refers to DeWild as the 淪ustainability Queen, and says she educating him along the way.
As for Tessendorf, he wants to mimic what the leaders of have been doing with ride-sharing for Augustana basketball games. He envisions working with the to make these services accessible to students on campus at a discounted rate for those who don檛 have transportation to places such as the grocery store or internship opportunities.
Together though, their goal is to make ASA more transparent. The pair have made a form to include in AMail, also available before and after meetings, where students can provide anonymous feedback. DeWild jokes that it sounds retro, but they檙e also hoping to stand up a suggestion box outside their office where students can provide input as well.
淥bviously, people out there have ideas and concerns, but they檙e afraid to bring them forward 90 percent of the time or don檛 know where to start. My ultimate goal is just to get more people involved in ASA than just the people who have always been involved in ASA, said DeWild.
The reason for DeWild getting involved in the first place.
Meet the ASA Executive Board:
Cole Tessendorf 21
Position: ASA President
Hometown: Columbus, Nebraska
Studying: biology major and journalism minor
Hannah DeWild 21
Position: ASA Vice President
Hometown: Spirit Lake, Iowa
Studying: nursing and Spanish double major, religion and medical humanities and society minors
Hunter Lipinski 21
Position: ASA Treasurer
Hometown: Brookings, South Dakota
Studying: nursing major and biology minor
Kristina Theodosopolous '21
Position: ASA Secretary
Hometown: Brookings, South Dakota
Studying: communications disorders major
Cal Irvine 23
Position: ASA Technical Director
Hometown: Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Studying: data science and computer information systems double major, math and computer science minors
Follow the Augustana Student Association on and .