Every week, the Features Section publishes an interview with a particularly active, interesting, or notorious senior: the WesCeleb. But where do these people go after they graduate? In our WesCelebs Revisited series, The Argus reconnects with alums who got the special designation in the past, to hear about their time at Wes and see what they’re up to now! 

In his original WesCeleb interview, Owen O’Connor ’07 talked about dumpster diving, his environmental science research, and a potential future as a starving artist. However, none of these remarks could have predicted where he is now: acting as a project manager for Kingston City Land Bank, a nonprofit which supports first-time homeowners, and working towards a degree in statistical computing–O’Connor did not ultimately graduate from Wesleyan. The Argus caught up with O’Connor to talk about his poetic success at Wes, how many Owens he knows, and the unconventional path life can take after college.

The Argus: What is your memory of the interview?

Owen O’Connor: I remember that it happened. I mean, I remember it being [featured] in The Argus, but I don’t remember the actual interview. I knew Marissa, so it may have been an inside job, but I don’t remember the interview happening.

A: In the original interview, it mentioned that you were a Wesleyan Student Poet. Can you talk a little about that, and about your involvement with poetry on campus?

OO: Sure. I don’t know if you still have that, what do they call it, Wesleyan Student Poet competition? But, yeah, I competed in that two years in a row, and, as the article describes, we had some fun performances. I have sort of a love-hate relationship with poetry. I can remember this note from one of my Wesleyan professors in a poetry writing class that was like: “I don’t think that you like poetry.” And that might be true. Maybe I’m more of a theater person, which is why it references the performative aspect of it.

A: Do you still do anything with poetry now, after finishing Wesleyan?

OO: No.

A: Also in the interview, it mentioned an a cappella group called She Calls Me Daddy?

OO: Maybe kind of a dated a cappella group title.

A: Can you talk a little about that? 

OO: Well, the gist of it, from what I remember, was there were six or eight other a cappella groups there, and we had a group that basically got together without rehearsals and winged our performances, with varying effects (sometimes successful). Actually, I had totally forgotten about what it was referencing in the article, and I appreciate being reminded of that, of crashing Skull and Serpent Society’s parent weekend event. I had forgotten about that.

A: At Wesleyan, you were an Earth and Environmental Science and Music major, correct?

OO: Yes, that’s true, and I also didn’t graduate from Wesleyan. I haven’t graduated from any college, actually, so far. While I was there, I was a Music major and an Earth and Environmental Science major. Music was the one I would have fulfilled. I came in very focused on music, so I did a lot of music stuff in my first two years there. So I was pretty far along with the music degree.

A: And now you’re a project manager and a programmer?

OO: Yeah, you got it.

A: How did you end up where you are now, from Wesleyan?

OO: Well, I worked at the vegetable farm at Wesleyan, then I went from there to working at a different vegetable farm, and then I started an animal farm with [someone] who is now my partner. We ran this animal farm for a few years. When we shut that down, it was kind of a fresh start. I got into doing insulation contracting and home energy audits. I had some light construction background, but it started getting into building energy work. That theme has sort of stuck around for the past, whatever it is now, eight years or something. Then I had a general contracting company that was focused on energy-efficient general contracting. Now I’m working for this nonprofit that fixes up messed-up houses to sell them to first-time homeowners. It’s Kingston City Land Bank. It basically takes houses that have been abandoned, or the city has taken for back taxes, and figures out what to do with them. And, as you mentioned, I’m interested in statistical computing, and so I’m building towards doing more work with that. I’m in a computer science program.

A: Do you have any advice to give to Wesleyan students, who are at Wesleyan right now?

OO: Wow, I’m not sure if I’m qualified for that. 

A: I think you are definitely qualified. It doesn’t have to be the best advice.

OO: I feel like, if I gave my former self advice, I don’t even know if it would be a good idea if I took that advice. I would tell myself to do things differently, but also, I’m not sure that the path would’ve felt like it was the better path than what I did.… The time you have in college is unique, at least for me, is unique as far as the full attention you have to be able to explore things. And for some people, they can be in school full time. It’s just unique in life. I feel like, when we’re at college, everyone’s grumbling about how many papers they have, and whatever else. But in the big picture, it’s a pretty sweet time, and there’s a lot to appreciate in that. So that would be my advice, to figure out how to appreciate it.

A: I feel like that’s very valid advice. We definitely need to find time to appreciate [the college experience].

OO: Basically, I take full-time classes now, and I have a job and an 11-year-old kid, and everything else. And I look back, and I’m like, “Woah, all I did all week was my classes.” I don’t even know what I was doing all week.

A: At the start of the other interview, there was a question about how many Owens you know, and you said you knew two. Have you met more Owens since the interview?

OO: So, I knew two going into Wesleyan. I think I met all the other four Owens when I was there. I also feel like, since my age group, that the name — I mean, just anecdotally — has increased a lot in popularity. I mean, just from hearing people call their kids at the playground or whatever, it seems like there’s a lot more Owens than when I was a kid.

A: Got it. Is that why they asked the question, since it was kind of a rare name?

OO: I think so. The question totally made sense to me at the time. It was weird to me that there were all these people named Owen. I came from a small town, too, so it was like, unless you were named Sarah, or, I don’t know what else, there wouldn’t be that many of the same name, anyway. It made sense at the time.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Sofia Sarak can be reached at ssarak@wesleyan.edu.