Hometown Hillsdale: John Waldvogel, ’91
Written by Doug Goodnough
John Waldvogel, ’91, didn’t necessarily intend to return to the Hillsdale area when he completed his student teaching assignment at nearby Quincy High School in the fall of 1991. However, when he was offered a teaching position at Hillsdale Academy in the summer of 1992, he decided to stay.
More than 30 years later, Waldvogel and his wife, Amy (Schaefer, ’91), have made Hillsdale their home, and they are grateful for their connections to their alma mater and to the community.
Soon after the couple married in 1994, Waldvogel was having thoughts of changing professions. After four years of teaching at the Academy, he was interested in the world of financial advising and thought they would have to relocate to make that dream a reality.
“By pure happenstance, I found an opportunity to pursue my desired goal of becoming a financial advisor (in Hillsdale),” he said. “So, we were committed to staying in the area.”
In 1998, Waldvogel joined an up-and-coming financial company named Edward Jones, which had nearly 10,000 branch offices in North America. He said his Hillsdale College liberal arts education made the transition from teacher to financial advisor an easy one.
“I gained a greater confidence that I could apply myself through different disciplines,” Waldvogel said of the process of becoming a financial advisor.
He said the opportunities for professional development, more social interaction, and lifelong learning have been some of the benefits of his current career.
After making partner with Edward Jones, Waldvogel set up shop permanently in Hillsdale. In 2014, he purchased the property on 101 Hillsdale Street, just down the street from campus, where he currently operates his own practice. An added benefit is that his oldest son, Sam, recently joined his office as a financial advisor.
He said he is fortunate to “literally have my name on the door of an organization that’s in the top 300 in the United States but still operates as a private partnership.”
Both he and Amy have been very engaged with the College in a variety of ways. John was a longtime member of the Hillsdale Alumni Board, as well as chapter advisor of the Delta Sigma Phi fraternity, where he was a former chapter president. Amy served as chapter advisor for the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority and also has been a longtime Women Commissioners member.
They are now engaged with the College in a new and exciting way: The youngest of their four children, Jacob, is a freshman at Hillsdale, and John said they are “happy and proud” to be parents of a Hillsdale College student.
The Waldvogels have had a front-row seat to the progress Hillsdale has made over the years.
“Certainly, there are some alums who might think it’s a completely different place,” he said. “And other alums might think ‘this isn’t my same Hillsdale College.’ But I would offer that it is. I think it’s Hillsdale 2.0. Hillsdale 3.0. It’s definitely changed, but I would say for the better. What’s not changed, I think, is that spirit. From the time I was here, what was built was a school that was truly independent of government overreach. That the College still does that—and strikingly on a greater level—that to me is one of the most wonderful aspects of our little school. That hasn’t changed.”
He said being able to connect with his former classmates and other Hillsdale graduates who return to the area “are some of my most rewarding experiences.”
“Having that close tie to Hillsdale, being able to attend Charger athletic events, going to CCAs—it definitely has its upside.”
Doug Goodnough, ’90, is Hillsdale’s director of Alumni Marketing. He enjoys connecting with fellow alumni in new and wonderful ways.
Published in March 2023