CSC graduate climbed Mt. Rushmore's heights

Chadron State College graduate Jackie Hasselbalch-Webb offers that piece of advice to everyone, especially young women, because she has certainly taken advantage of her opportunities.

Hasselbalch-Webb’s career has included teaching primary school, working as a park ranger, becoming, at age 50, the first female member of the rope team responsible for maintenance of Mt. Rushmore National Memorial and helping visitors at the Holocaust museum in Washington, D.C.

A native of Columbus, Nebraska, who grew up in the Ogallala area, Hasselbalch-Webb didn’t have an auspicious start on her academic path.

“I flunked out of high school and thought I had no desire for college,” she said. “I had lack of faith that I was college material.”

But, while working at a minimum wage job in Ogallala, she met some CSC students who brought her to the campus for a visit.

“I fell in love with Chadron and decided right then I would complete my GED and enroll,” Hasselbalch-Webb said.

Informed of the decision, Hasselbalch-Webb’s mother was openly skeptical, however. “That was the motivation I needed,” Hasselbalch-Webb said. “I studied for my GED over the next few months, took the exam, took the ACT, got a 24 and enrolled in classes,” she said. “From that point, my life began.”

Hasselbalch-Webb completed her bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Chadron State in 1991 and earned a degree in secondary education in 1993. At CSC she was active in student government and was the third woman in college history to be elected student body president.

“I flourished at Chadron. It changed the whole course of my life,” she said. “The folks at Chadron made me feel at home. They made me feel part of the family.”

Hasselbalch-Webb also completed a master’s degree in negotiation and dispute resolution at Creighton Law School in 2014, an achievement she traced back to her time at Chadron State.

“My goal was to attend law school, which I did, due in large part to CSC professor Dr. George Watson, who was tremendously influential on my life and career,” said Hasselbalch-Webb.

After leaving Chadron, Hasselbalch-Webb was a teacher and school counselor at the Crazy Horse School on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota until 2008.

Although Mt. Rushmore is only an hour’s drive from Chadron, Hasselbalch-Webb said she never visited the national landmark while a student at CSC, and the idea of working for the National Park Service had never crossed her mind.

But, while taking a graduate school course on the history of the Black Hills at Black Hills State University, inspiration struck.

“I fell in love with the career of a park ranger,” she said. “At the encouragement of the (Mt. Rushmore) park staff, I applied for a position and landed it.”

After a year as a Park Service interpreter teaching visitors about the history of the giant sculpture of four American presidents, Hasselbalch-Webb moved into the communications branch at the memorial. 

“I worked with many divisions of the park, but particularly the law enforcement division, where I found my criminal justice studies of real value,” she said.

When a position opened on the team that climbs Mt. Rushmore for maintenance work to protect it from the natural forces of wind and water erosion, Hasselbalch-Webb applied, and was selected in 2015 as the first female member of the memorial’s ropes team. Earning a position on the 10-to-15 member team requires many hours of instruction on rope safety and rescue techniques and success on both a written exam and a skills test, she said.

Although work on the rope team involves the exhilaration of climbing the famous granite faces several times a year, Hasselbalch-Webb said her best experiences at Mt. Rushmore were hosting the popular evening program during the summer. The patriotic event draws as many as 3,000 people to the amphitheater below the granite faces, and includes special recognition for military personnel and veterans.

“It is tremendously moving and I recommend it to everyone,” said Hasselbalch-Webb.

Hasselbalch-Webb left her job at Mt. Rushmore last year to take a position in visitors services at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., the latest step in a diverse career path she said wouldn’t have been possible had she listened to those who said she couldn’t make it in college.

“So many kids today think they aren’t college material. “I want kids to know that college isn’t high school,” Hasselbalch-Webb said. “Professors like George Watson, the English professors and history professors, they rocked my world. Because of them, I am who I am today.”

Hasselbalch-Webb said she is proud to tell people that she is a Chadron State College graduate. 

“CSC was the foundation for my entire academic and professional career. The solid education I received and experiences I had set the stage for a lifetime of success,” she said.