Trust the Process: How the End of my Football Career became the Best Thing that happened to me in College
By: Archie “AJ” Wilson
My name is AJ Wilson. I’m from Kennesaw Georgia. I’m a serial entrepreneur, prospective law student, dream chaser, and a proud graduate of Wesleyan University class of 2018. If you asked me in 2016 if I was proud to be a Wesleyan student, I would I have probably told you something to the tune of, “No, not really” and if you asked me then if I was going to graduate from Wesleyan, I would have swiftly told you “Probably not”.
During my freshman year, I crashed down face first on the Wesleyan University football practice field. Nothing was even special about what I was doing, I had made this move a million times before. Except this time, I heard and felt what can be described as fireworks going off in my right knee and in the next moment, I was helplessly lying face first on a football field 1,000 miles from home.
I went six weeks without a proper diagnosis on my knee; and when I did, the results showed a clear tear in my meniscus that had healed to a severe sprain. I would not need surgery, but I would need more rest; which meant that I was not going to play that season.
I never wanted to call what I experienced over my freshman year “depression”, but after getting my MRI results, I just felt numb. My knee injury left me feeling exposed and out of place in a world with which I was unfamiliar. I had not even heard of Wesleyan until I was recruited to play football there and after I got hurt, I felt as if I did not belong. When I injured myself, the safety net that I had called “student athlete” disappeared and it made me unsure about my place in this new community. I realized that I was surrounded by geniuses who all knew or acted like they knew what their genius was, while I was on the outside looking in. I was done with Wesleyan and in my feelings of defeat, I actually filled out a few transfer applications.
Yet…my degree does read “Wesleyan University” and yes, I did state earlier that I am a proud graduate of Wesleyan. So what changed?
After several spirited conversations with Taylor McClain ’17, I was introduced to the Patricelli Center for Social Entrepreneurship, Makaela Kingsley, and the brand new year-long fellowship that had just been created that year. I reluctantly applied because I felt as though entrepreneurship being taught as a class was very much like oil and water…they don’t mix. I felt that great entrepreneurs are intrinsically gifted and I saw classes for entrepreneurship as artificially manufactured, which tainted the purity of the “sport”.
My perception of this “oil and water” dilemma was almost instantly mitigated during my time as a Fellow. I realized that the space that had been created by the center and this year-long fellowship allowed for there to be a built-in training ground for myself and my venture that was fluidly integrated into my college learning experience. I was literally getting school credit to build something that can directly impact the real world now. My degree is in Government, but it might as well be in Entrepreneurship because I was in the Patricelli Center just about everyday for the remainder of my time at Wesleyan as a Fellow and by serving as the fellowship’s first Teacher’s Assistant as well.
The Patricelli Center for Social Entrepreneurship finally gave me the home base and community that I was so desperately seeking on campus. I was able to improve my weaknesses, refine my strengths and ultimately better myself overall in ways that felt beneficial not only for my time in college, but for the next 40 years. For the first time, I felt a sense of membership and ownership in this amazingly diverse community of current students and alumni that I feel is one of a kind at Wesleyan. This space and this community are the very essence of what Wesleyan and liberal arts education represent in my opinion. Entrepreneurship is naturally interdisciplinary. It cuts across every professional industry and despite difference in professional career, we can still all be valuable community members seamlessly connected in mindset. Most importantly, the people in the entrepreneurship space at Wesleyan all care deeply about social issues and how to impact the world in a positive way that is inclusive, thoughtful, and creative.
The training received, relationships built, and resources given from the Patricelli Center all prepared me for where I am today as a full-time entrepreneur straight out of college. My training in the fellowship taught me many valuable lessons that I use everyday. The fellowship taught me how to become comfortable with being uncomfortable, the value of asking many pointed and detailed questions, the value of metrics and quantitive data, and I learned how to effectively accomplish a lot with very little. I learned so much more, but in short, the Patricelli Center gave me a bridge into the real world from college that allowed me to have a taste of real world entrepreneurship in a low stakes and protected environment. That bridge allowed me to leave Wesleyan more prepared for the rigors of the real world, not just in entrepreneurship, but also overall.
I am a proud graduate of Wesleyan University. The Patricelli Center for Social Entrepreneurship and its community of students and alumni are most of the reason why. That space and the people who populate it and circulate around it are special to me and I am making it my mission as a young alum to share it with the world. I have a bold vision for Wesleyan and its future. There is a reason that we have been the #1 ranked impact school since 2015, there is something special here. I want for students 3, 4, 5 years from now to say “I chose Wesleyan because of the amazing entrepreneurship program they have and the kinds of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial minds that come out of that school”. I want entrepreneurship to be a calling card for Wesleyan and I am willing to invest what I can to ensure this vision’s fruition because I believe everyone should either directly or indirectly experience entrepreneurship with a Wesleyan twist.
AJ Wilson is a 22 year old serial entrepreneur and prospective law student from Kennesaw Georgia. AJ currently works as a Entrepreneur in Residence at Wesleyan and spends time between Atlanta, New York, and Connecticut.
AJ can be contacted directly via email at archielwilsonjr@gmail.com
