Since she started college last fall, Audrey Janssen has filled a special notebook with pages of letters to her sister. On breaks, Janssen gives the notebook back to her.
“I’m just so excited to give my sister something back at the end of the semester. She’s already such a gift giver and personal stuff like that means a lot to her. She keeps everything I’ve given her under her bed in a box that used to be mine. It’s really sweet,” Janssen said.
Janssen’s letter writing is one of several creative methods Hillsdale students have used to communicate with their families across time zones and countries.
For senior Chris Tufaro, calling his family in Pennsylvania is often centered on his 18-month-old sister. He calls her weekly so that she will continue to remember his face.
“I want to be a part of her life and have her recognize me,” Tufaro said.
Because he is not at home with the baby and his three other sisters, Tufaro said being present in his sisters’ lives is something that he has been intentional about, despite the 600 miles that separate them. He said he tries to visit as often as possible.
The key to keeping a good relationship with one’s family is having an intentional rhythm, according to Tufaro. He calls his family every Sunday morning before Mass.
“We try to sit down every week for an hour and a half,” Tufaro said. “That helps create a rhythm and helps me feel like I am still a part of their lives, while helping them feel like they are part of my life in a way that maybe they wouldn’t if I was calling at a random time.”
Junior Arimathea Bennett is from Hawaii. The state has a five- or six-hour time difference from Michigan, depending on daylight saving time, but she has found a way around this.
“It’s actually pretty convenient,” Bennett said. “I do all my morning classes and all my busy things and then I can walk back from class and call my mom when she is just waking up.”
Bennett’s other strategy is staying up late. After she finishes studying, she’ll FaceTime her parents while getting ready for bed. It could be close to 1 a.m. Michigan time, she said, but dinner time for her family.
Working around time differences is something sophomore Lyndi Klacik has gotten used to since coming to Hillsdale.
Klacik, who is originally from Washington state, has family scattered across the globe. In 2025, her sister moved to Islamabad, Pakistan. At first it was tricky to juggle the 10-hour time difference, but the women got creative.
“We send voice messages and talk just like we are calling,” Klacik said. “We talk about our days or super random things that happen. Sometimes I’ll wake up to seven voice messages from her. Then I’ll spam her with upwards of 10 messages. It’s great because she can listen to them when she has free time.”
Klacik said this method helped her keep a close relationship with her sister. Before the move, they had been inseparable.
Another relationship Klacik said she is investing more time in since starting college is with her grandparents. Klacik’s grandparents live in Colorado and she realized that it was now her responsibility to continue reaching out to them despite the distance.
“When I went to college, I definitely had a mindset shift, because I realized I need to be more intentional about keeping up with my loved ones,” she said.
Klacik tries to call her grandparents every other week whenever she has a chance.
“I said, ‘You know what, I know that it blesses them when I call, and I love talking to them,’” Klacik said. “Even if I just have 15 minutes I’ll call my grandparents.”
