Name: Sam Wells
Hometown: Sudbury, MA (currently lives in Mooresville, NC)
Major: English
Relationship Status: Single
Horoscope: Taurus
Happy Valentine’s Day Collegiettes! Are you losing hope of finding a good, genuine, hot guy on campus? Meet our Valentine’s Day special edition Campus Cutie. He is loyal, athletic, has ambitious goals, and handsome. Sounds like every girls dream – we can’t believe he’s single either! Be prepared to be swooned, ladies, ‘cause Sam Wells is HC Wake Forest’s most eligible bachelor.
HC (Her Campus): Why did you decide to come to Wake from Vanderbilt?
SW (Sam Wells): I came here from Vanderbilt last year to play tennis. I quit tennis at Vanderbilt freshman year and joined a fraternity, but then I kept watching the guys play and felt like I should go out and play again. The Wake Forest coach had recruited me here before so I decided to try to play here since the coach was still interested in me. My best friend from growing up goes [to Wake] and plays on the team so I came here and knew a few of the guys. I came last year for tennis but got injured and had to stop.
HC: What happened?
SW: I had nerve damage to my shoulder.
HC: What was the hardest thing to adjust to when you came to Wake?
SW: Vanderbilt and Wake are pretty similar schools. I’ve just noticed how small Wake feels. [There are] 6,500 students at Vanderbilt versus 4,500 [undergraduate students] here. It feels tiny; but I was lucky that I knew people coming in so it wasn’t that tough to get adjusted.
HC: Are you happy you made the switch?
SW: Definitely. I’ve made a lot of close friends and my parents actually moved to Charlotte when I was a sophomore at Vanderbilt.
HC: Do you have a favorite Wake memory so far?
SW: Traveling with the tennis team to the ACC tournament was pretty awesome last year. I live with one of the guys, Adam Lee, and I’m really close with all of the guys. Sometimes we go back to my house in Charlotte. I live on a lake, so we go and hang out there. They’re all my best friends for sure.
HC: Have you found a favorite study spot on campus?
SW: I usually sit in the atrium because I can focus there and people-watch. That’s fun to do but it’s usually distracting.
[pagebreak]
HC: Is there one thing you can’t live without?
SW: My friends. They mean the world to me. I’ve made a lot of close friendships in the short time that I’ve been here.
HC: Who would you say is the most influential person in your life?
SW: My dad. He had a lot of bad stuff happen to him when he was younger. His parents and sisters died when he was six. He raised himself and his younger brother. He’s a self-made man and it’s inspirational to me.
HC: Tell me about your music mashups and how you got into that.
SW: I started my sophomore year at Vanderbilt with one close friend. We just heard a few mashups online on music blogs and we thought we should try it and start making them. I went off on my own because he didn’t know what was going on so I kept doing it. I’ve made more than 30 songs now and I’m starting to produce my own electronic house music.
(HC note: You can check out his mashups here! https://soundcloud.com/#samwellsremixes)
HC: Have you heard your music being played around campus?
SW: I went to KA once and I walked in and they were playing one of my songs. I have album artwork for my songs and people that I haven’t talked to in a long time will sometimes text me a screenshot of my album artwork to show me what they’re listening to, so that’s pretty cool.
HC: Were you into music before you started doing mashups?
SW: I’ve played the drums, guitar, and piano since I was young. I took a lot of time off from the piano but I’ve been teaching myself since then. Luckily my family is pretty musical.
HC: Do you have a go-to pick up line that you use with the ladies?
SW: I don’t believe in pickup lines.
HC: What do you do instead?
SW: Just be myself and start a conversation. Pickup lines are cheesy and kind of stupid. Just being yourself is fine.
HC: Do you have a pet peeve?
SW: Fake girls. I can’t stand it. I’ve run into that way too many times here and it’s annoying.
HC: What were Vanderbilt girls like?
SW: They were very similar to here. It seems like a lot of girls who I’ve meet at Wake wanted to go to Vanderbilt.
HC: What are the three most important things to you?
SW: Family, friends, and living life.
[pagebreak]
HC: How would your best friend describe you?
SW: Hard to take seriously sometimes, I’m always joking around. And they’d say I’m pretty sensitive, a good listener, gives good advice, loyal…
HC: What do you find most attractive in a girl?
SW: Eyes; I like eyes.
HC: What about most unattractive?
SW: Arrogance. I don’t really like fake people.
HC: Do you have a great Valentine’s Day memory from past Valentine’s days?
SW: I never really did anything for Valentine’s Day. I had a girlfriend my entire time at Vanderbilt. I took her out for a really nice dinner. It was very special but we didn’t do anything extravagant. I got flowers delivered to her dorm that morning.
HC: Where’s the most romantic place you’ve ever kissed a girl?
SW: Paris. I went abroad to Greece for a “Maymester,” so I spent the month of May traveling all over Greece with a group of students from Vandy. I got school credit for it, which was cool. My girlfriend was there with me and once it ended we went to Paris for a week; it was our one year anniversary while we were there.
HC: What about a favorite Valentine’s Day candy?
SW: Hershey’s kisses.
HC: Do you have a Valentine this year? If so, do you have any special plans for her this Valentine’s day?
SW: I don’t. But if I did, honestly, [I would do] whatever she wanted to do. I’m pretty low-key. A nice dinner and hanging out together is fine.
HC: What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done in your life?
SW: I went bridge jumping once. I did community service during spring break in Costa Rica, I’m really afraid of heights, and I was standing on the edge [of the bridge] saying, “I’m not gonna do this, I’m not gonna do this,” and someone pushed me off. I think I landed funny because I thought I was paralyzed.
HC: Do you have a life motto?
SW: “You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.”
HC: You’re an English major. What do you want to do with that?
SW: Nothing with my English major actually. I want to do sports marketing and advertising. I did PR for a sports team two out of the last three summers. Sports are pretty much my life and since I’ve stopped playing tennis I make sure I play sports all the time. Like intermural stuff – basketball, flag football, soccer…
HC: What’s your favorite sports team?
SW: All Boston sports teams, but I really like the Boston Celtics.
HC: 10 years from now, what will you be up to?
SW: Hopefully I’ll be successful, working in the sports world – specifically doing marketing for a professional sports team. I hope to be married with kids and enjoying life.
*Article by Kelsey Veno
*Photography by Raquel Broehm