One Connection Leads to Another: Sarah Roberts Hoos’ Wesley Story

When Sarah Roberts Hoos arrived at Purdue University, she didn’t know that she would meet both her future husband and lifelong friends through Wesley Foundation’s Campus Ministry.

Sarah reflected on how she met her husband the first weekend on campus.

“My roommate was dating a guy at another university, and he came to help us move in that first weekend. He said, ‘I've got this buddy who's also a freshman here. Let's go check on him and see if he wants to get dinner with us.’ That buddy turned out to be Sean,” Sarah says.”

During their first weekend on campus, Sean mentioned a flyer he'd seen in his dorm for an ultimate frisbee night. That night was their introduction to Wesley Campus Ministry. Shortly after that first night, Sarah and her core group of friends soon found their way back to ultimate frisbee every Thursday night.

What started with ultimate frisbee quickly became much more than a weekly activity. Through Wesley, the group built friendships, grew in their faith, and served others in the community. They tailgated at football games, organized camping trips, and went through Purdue together.

“Looking back now, those memories make me smile,” Sarah says. “We were just 19-year-olds who became lifelong friends, and some of the things we got up to were absolutely ridiculous.”

Wesley has a special way of connecting people who otherwise never would have met. Everyone came from different academic, religious, and cultural backgrounds. While Sarah was a liberal arts student, many of the friends she met through Wesley were engineering students. Wesley, however, was their common ground. It became an easy connection point for everyone in the friend group.

Sarah and Sean’s relationship grew as they participated in different activities at Wesley. Sean was there as Sarah learned what it meant to be away from her family, navigated her faith, thought about her future, built a career, and eventually started a family. He went from being an acquaintance to a friend, then her partner, and now her husband.

Sarah and Sean have been married for 17 years. Together they have two children, Amelia, named after Sarah’s freshman dorm, Earhart Hall, and Wesley, named after Wesley Foundation. 

As students, Sarah and her friends shared their faith, their goals, and the values they wanted to build their lives around after graduation. Their friendships didn’t end after they graduated. More than 20 years later, that core group of friends is still incredibly close. 

Every year since they graduated from Purdue, those same five to seven friends gather for an annual vacation. Sarah shared that the trips have changed a lot over the years. In the beginning, some of them were starting their careers while others were still in school. Some of them were married, and some weren't. They planned the cheapest trips they possibly could—tent camping, hot dogs over an open fire, anything that fit their budgets. 

Now they gather with their spouses and children for an annual week-long vacation. Instead of camping, they rent seven-bedroom houses with pools, arcades, and plenty of room for everyone. It's a different kind of trip, but it's just as meaningful. Sarah said it's been really special to watch everyone grow up together.

“Being part of Wesley is such a unique experience,” Sarah says. “It's a campus ministry, so it's more than a church. It's a community and a place of fellowship that's woven into students' everyday lives. It's different from attending worship once a week, and I think that's what made it so meaningful for all of us.”