Adam Waszkiewicz
What non-academic experience at Wake Forest was most meaningful to you?
My time spent in the ensembles available at Wake Forest have been most meaningful to me. Growing up, I have always involved myself with music and have spent plenty of time learning and performing music with ensembles. At Wake Forest, I have involved myself with the Wake Forest University Symphony Orchestra and Wind Ensemble and have taken many opportunities to perform as a soloist. Each concert to me has been a means to grow and connect with an audience and each rehearsal a way to connect with those around me. I have found many friends, like-minded musicians, and talent in these programs, and these experiences have been most meaningful to me.
What was your favorite class outside your major or minor areas of study and why did it appeal to you?
Outside my major, I most enjoyed taking Philosophy of Human Nature during my sophomore fall. This course was concerned with asking questions about our status or conditions for being human beings. What is it to be a human being? What are minds? How do we make sense of one and the same person as we survive through time? What does it take for persons like us to survive through time and change? As someone studying mathematics, philosophy and logic have always been tangential subjects that I have found interesting and thought-provoking because they have inspired mathematics for centuries. As a human being, it was interesting to think about what makes me, me. The professor, Dr. Tobias Flattery, was also incredibly engaging, clear, and passionate, making the course an entirely enjoyable experience.
What surprised you most about your Wake Forest experience?
I was most surprised by finding that I could get out of my shell and become more social. Many know that I have always been an introverted person and often keep to myself, but I have made many friends here and have gotten to know many peers that I respect. As a result, I have had many opportunities to attend events with these people and connect with them on a personal level and grow as more than just an individual. I did not always think this to be the case, but I am glad that it was.
Who most impacted your Wake Forest experience?
My sister has impacted my Wake Forest experience the most. In fact, the reason that I applied to Wake Forest in the first place was entirely because of her. After being accepted, I was able to spend three years here with her before she graduated with her Master of Science in Business Analytics, and she introduced me to the many opportunities, events, and organizations on campus. She put this university on my radar and without her, I would have never found my place at Wake Forest as a tutor, musician, or mathematician.
What was the most rewarding experience you had as a Wake Forest student?
The most rewarding experience I had as a Wake Forest student was performing my Senior Honors Recital. This recital is the final hurdle for students to get a degree in Music Performance with honors and serves as the culmination of years of practice and dedication. For me, this was no different. My recital was the result of almost a decade of instruction and practice with the clarinet and there was no better way to share it than with friends, family, and those who mentored me along the way. It is an experience that I am proud of and found most fulfilling.
Compare your career plans as a first-year student with your career plans now. Why did your plans change or not change?
When I applied to Wake Forest, I was pretty determined to become a molecular microbiologist. I thought that learning about and discovering the details about the smallest units of life would be interesting and worthwhile given that they make up all of the life around us. However, when I was a first-year student, I took an engineering course as a divisional requirement because mathematics had always piqued my interest and if I decided that, if I were to study engineering, I would have to start in my first year. During one lecture, I remember expressing a measurement in its most exact terms and was then told to round it to the nearest tens place as engineers cannot always guarantee a great degree of accuracy. From that point on, I realized that I wanted nothing more than to pursue the most rigorous, replicable, and objective analytical tool that we have, and so I chose to follow mathematics, now ending with me taking graduate courses in the subject. Throughout all of this, music and music performance remained a constant interest and passion of mine and I always planned to double major in it.