Hometown: Greenwich, Conn.
Year: Junior
Major/Minor: English major with creative writing minor
Favorite Book: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradberry
Favorite Designer: Lululemon
Relationship Status: Single
Photo by Tori Mason.
This week’s Campus Cutie is a well-traveled outdoors guy with a creative side! Meet the adventurous and exciting Will Hayden!
HC (Her Campus): What is your idea of the perfect day?
WH (Will Hayden): I grew up in Denver, Colorado, so I got really in touch with the outdoors when I lived there. That’s something that I kind of miss now, living in Greenwich. A bunch of buddies and I are going out to Hanging Rock [State Park], and we’re going to hike there – go down to the waterfall, spend some time there. [In the perfect day], I’d come to a home cooked meal with my family [afterwards]. My mother makes a great filet with mashed sweet potatoes – something that I think about all the time. I think that would be my ideal combination of my home life and my outdoorsy life.
HC: What are you involved with on campus?
WH: I’m a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity. I’m the social chair, so that takes up a fair amount of time – coordinating events with sororities and other fraternities. I’m also a member of [my fraternity’s] Executive Board, so we get involved in philanthropies – I help [brothers] sign up for Hit the Bricks and stuff like that. Because of my creative writing minor, I’m constantly trying to write my own stuff and get submissions to Three to Four Ounces. There’s a new online publication called The Pub that’s starting up. So I try to get involved in those a lot. And [I do] the club wrestling program.
HC: Wow! Are you involved with anything cool back home?
WH: My best friend’s older brother from home was in a car accident when he was 18 and became paralyzed, so their family started this charity called the Walkabout Foundation. It’s something that I’ve been very heavily involved in for years. Ever since I was in high school I sold t-shirts for them to help raise money. Their main goal is to cure paralysis. But in the meantime, they produce wheelchairs and take them to countries where access to wheelchairs is limited. They donate wheelchairs to people who’ve spent years, even, without one, and it’s just such a great cause. So I’ve been working with them. This summer I actually biked a hundred miles and raised over $5,000 for the foundation with a group of buddies. It means a lot to me.
HC: Sounds like a great cause. Are you in a relationship?
WH: No, I am single. Definitely single.
HC: Is that a good thing?
WH: You know, I’m a hopeless romantic, I guess I would say. I was in a relationship last year with a girl. She was awesome, but she ended up graduating. It wasn’t going to pan out – we’re too far apart. I’m constantly out there trying to see if I can find something special. But right now, I’m definitely single.
HC: If you were to find that special girl, what would you do to impress her on a date?
WH: I don’t believe in the fancy first date, but I believe in dinner – nice dinner, dress nice, the restaurant of my choosing. If it’s here [in Winston Salem], it’s got to be Mozelle’s – 100 percent. Back home in the city, Catch is a fantastic place. It’s the best date spot in the city. I’m a firm believer in dinner.
HC: What is your most embarrassing moment?
WH: Oh, wow. Umm … (laughs). In my 7th grade spelling bee, I got to go in front of the entire school, and I was confidant going in – I mean, I’m an English major now. [It was] the first word and [the announcer] says, “Okay spell ‘eighth.’” I said, “E-i-g-t-h.” And that is not the correct spelling. Everyone laughed at me. That was a pretty rough one. I was a cocky little kid, and I just went for it, and I was wrong. I think it was a good lesson to learn though.
HC: If you could have a movie that depicts your life, what would it be?
Photo by Tori Mason.
WH: There’s this song called “Can’t Get Away from a Good Time” by Logan Mize, and [in the song] he’s just trying to get stuff done, but he can’t get away from a good time. I think a movie about me might be a little surreal, but something like that [song] because you know I’m constantly trying to balance the social life with the work I want do with my life – plus, all the school work that we have here. I think, maybe, it could be a coming-of-age story about a guy who’s trying to really figure out where he’s going in the world.
HC: What’re you excited for about fall now that it’s finally here?
WH: Tailgate season is always great. Every spring I miss it; every summer I can’t wait for it (laughs). Even when it gets cold, I love being out there for the tailgates. I’m also excited for the snow to start falling. Winter break – [I’m] definitely going to be getting involved in a lot of skiing – just another Colorado-roots thing that I have. I miss the snow when I’m down here. It’s always too wet and slushy and gross.
HC: Yeah it’s not the best, but Halloween is coming up soon. Are you excited?
WH: Yeah. My hair’s getting a little long because my friend and I are very committed to doing the Dumb and Dumber scene where they’re in tuxedoes (laughs). So I’m growing my hair out. I’m going to get the blue tuxedo, and he’s going to get the orange [tuxedo] with the top hat. We’re going to memorize a couple scenes. We’re going all in. Halloween’s going to be a good day.
HC: How funny! Lastly, are you going to go abroad?
WH: No. When I was in high school, I spent over a month in Egypt – that was a pretty serious abroad experience in and of itself. I’ve [also] been around the world. While I do think that [going abroad] is a valuable experience, I think I still have a lot to learn here. I also really like it here, so I don’t mind sticking around. That Egypt trip was pretty cool – one weekend we took our vehicles and drove for miles into the middle of the Sahara Desert to the point where there was nothing around you at all. There was a meteor shower that night. [There were] no buildings around for miles and miles, just the clearest sky I’ve ever seen. That was a very, very strong experience for me. You could almost describe it as an epiphany, where you’re just like – there’s something alive in this night. That was probably the coolest night of my life. If we were still talking about my perfect day, that’d be at the end of it. Maybe at the end, we’ll go back to the Sahara Desert.