Persistence has always defined Jo Schaalman’s character, but never more so than after an accident left her with chronic pain that doctors said she’d suffer the rest of her life.
Alumni Profiles
![Amanda Hodo ’14 with an aquarium of sea horses](https://magazine.grinnell.edu/sites/default/files/styles/300x200/public/AmandaAlmaMaterPhotoshoot%20_20171011_026%20WEB.jpg?itok=xa6u46vw)
Experiences at Grinnell helped Amanda Hodo ’14 fulfill her dream of being a marine biologist at an aquarium.
![Gray Cat in a suit](https://magazine.grinnell.edu/sites/default/files/styles/300x200/public/iStock-636270590%20WEB.jpg?itok=GCOWm8H-)
I slid into a booth in a swanky joint I frequented little, if ever, in a part of town I saw only at night, if then. It was high noon. I was meeting up with an alum we’ll call “Joe.” He had a story to tell. I’d been there half a second when a pair of sharp eyes appeared opposite me.