Connor Wells: Positively Extraordinary

“Have a positive attitude.” Words of wisdom from Trinity senior Connor Wells, someone you might consider taking this advice from. The student/athlete finished the 2008 spring semester with faculty honors and a 4.0 GPA as a biology major, one of the toughest majors at the College, all while playing two sports - and playing them well – for four years at Trinity. Wells, a senior wide receiver on the football team, also plays midfield and takes face offs for the Bantam lacrosse team. From talking to him, you would think it was easy.
 

“I never feel like I’m trying to keep up with everything,” he said. “If you plan your time accordingly it’s not that difficult.”
 

But that doesn’t mean it's easy for Wells all the time. He credits his positive outlook on life as the key to keeping up.
 

“I always try to look at the upside of things. It’s really easy to complain and whine about things; preseason football stinks, so do tests and papers, but you’re doing it for a reason,” he said. “You’re building character, you’re becoming a better athlete, you’re becoming a better student, and you’re learning more. If you always try to be happy and enjoy what you’re doing, you’re going to be more successful. Sometimes I ask myself, why am I a biology major with these hard classes? But I feel like if I’m trying my hardest, I have to be satisfied with the outcome because there’s nothing else I can do.”
 

Wells has to be satisfied with his performance last semester in the classroom. The work ethic he displays off the field certainly carries onto it. “I think that anything you’re going to commit yourself to and take part in, why else do you do it if you’re not going to try your hardest? I was brought up with the sense that ‘if you’re going to do something, try your best.’ I want to be the best athlete I can be and I want to be the best student I can be. I’m always going to try my hardest.”
 

Wells attributes much of his time management skills to the four years he spent at Avon Old Farms School, an independent, private boarding school in Avon, Connecticut. Avon, much like Trinity, is a small, close-knit community in which Wells excelled. According to Wells, Avon played a large role in his decision to come to Trinity.
 

“When I took my visit on campus, it reminded me a lot of Avon. It just felt really comfortable. It’s a small college, obviously, and I just liked that small-school environment.”
 

Coming to Trinity, Wells was a man who knew what he wanted. He was always interested in science and began taking biology classes upon his arrival at the College. His past dictated that he could succeed in such a difficult area of study at a notoriously high-echelon school. Wells began by initially considering pre-med, but soon realized it wasn’t for him. He became interested in the broader aspects of biology, such as environmental concerns and wildlife ecology. As a result, Wells’ career goals have undergone somewhat of a shift, “I really could see myself initially doing some teaching and coaching for a couple of years at an independent school. Eventually I want to go to law school and look into some paths of law that a science background could be helpful for. There are a lot of environmental legal avenues and intellectual property laws and other sections of law where a science background can be beneficial.”

Wells’ work ethic is not only present on the field and in the classroom, but in his extracurricular activities as well. He has spent the last two summers in Hartford working in a research program with Trinity environmental science professor Joan Morrison, studying red-tailed hawks that live in Hartford’s urban environment. Wells says that this has been a great experience for him.
 

“It’s a really cool, hands-on, outdoor, wildlife, ecology study,” he said. “It’s awesome that as an undergraduate, I can be involved in an actual real-life science project. It’s not just something for a class or some made-up experiment or something. Professor Morrison is an ornithologist, and this is what she does for a living. I’m kind of doing real life science, which is pretty cool.”
 

Even if you don’t take Wells’ advice to keep a positive attitude about things at all times, you should at least be positive that Connor Wells will always find a way to succeed.