Seth Evans was introduced to Waynesburg University in 2019. Now, after four years, he prepares to graduate. 

“I originally heard about Waynesburg back in 2019 when my uncle introduced me to Lanny [Frattare],” Evans said. “I actually applied to go to the announcers camp here before my senior year of high school, so I had known a little bit about it. Then it slipped my mind when I started applying to colleges because the camp was canceled because of COVID. Waynesburg was actually my third visit, I went to John Carroll first then I went to Hiram.”

Evans said he eventually decided on Waynesburg because it felt like a place that wanted him. 

“As the process went through, it started becoming more evident the individuals at Waynesburg were more committed to having me here than any other universities,” Evans said. “That was kind of the deciding factor to Waynesburg being my top choice.”

Evans wrestled during his time at Waynesburg, but he didn’t truly commit to continue his wrestling career at the collegiate level until the end of his high school senior season. 

“It was at my regional tournament in my senior year of high school whenever I lost in the blood round, technically the super regional tournament then, but in a regular year, it would have been the blood round to go to states,” Evans said. “I realized I didn’t achieve the goals I wanted to in high school, and I just had that desire like ‘I’m not stagnating yet, I want to keep progressing to see if I can chase after my goals.’”

Evans was initially a sports media major in the Department of Communication, but made a switch about halfway into his college life to be a human services major. He says he felt a calling to serve which led to the decision after a visit to Charleston, South Carolina. 

“I remember I went down to Charleston, South Carolina March 25, 2022,” Evans said. “It was my, at the time, girlfriend’s recognition day at The Citadel. I was up in the air about whether sports announcing was for me, but when I was down there, I don’t know what it was, but I just felt an automatic draw to serve. Whenever I was down there and having a couple conversations, that’s when I made the decision, like I don’t know why I feel called to serve, and just knowing this came out of nowhere, I couldn’t answer it, nobody could answer it. I felt like God was tugging at my heart, so literally the day I got back from Charleston, I went straight to Josh Sumpter and asked how to change my major.” 

When Evans graduates in less than a month, there are two things he is hoping to take from his time at Waynesburg University. 

“One, I definitely want to say the relationships,” Evans said. “If there’s one thing that I am never going to minimize about my time here is the relationships I’ve built. I’m not loyal to a university, I’m not loyal to an institution. I’m loyal to people and there’s so many people who have changed my life for the better, and my life would not be where it is right now if it wasn’t for the people, so that’s definitely one thing. Another thing is I can handle a lot more in life than I thought I could. After my freshman year of college and having to go through changing my social life, changing some friendships, I was not in a good spot mentally, and after my fall semester of sophomore year, I was planning on transferring. I just did not enjoy my day to day, whether that be wrestling not going well at the time or I didn’t feel like I identified with people in my major at the time, but I wasn’t in this spot, so I didn’t feel like I identified with people in the [Communication] Department either, so there was a lot I didn’t think I would be able to handle for four years. Not only did I handle it, I’ve been able to realize if I can handle this for a sustained period of time, I don’t really see a whole lot of what life’s going to throw at me that I’m not going to be able to handle and adjust to.”