Look no further than Facebook.com for evidence of the high esteem in which senior Trevor Williams' peers hold him.
The Facebook group entitled the "Trevor R. Williams Fan Club," sports the tag line: "This group is dedicated to the ideals set forth by a man named Trevor Williams. Through his outstanding character we all hope to develop stronger morals, greater social influence, and better working habits."
The group is currently 91 members strong, and it may be able to add a new heavyweight to the ranks: the NCAA.
Williams, a two-time indoor track and field tri-captain, has been selected as one of 58 nationwide recipients of an NCAA post-graduate scholarship. The 29 male and 29 female recipients, all of whom participated in the winter sports season, receive a $7,500 award to be put towards graduate studies.
Williams was thrilled when first notified of his award on May 10.
"[My first reaction was] excitement," Williams said in a recent e-mail to the Daily. "Excitement at future possibilities that it might enable, and at the generosity that [the award] reflects on behalf of the NCAA through the support of athletes in their academic pursuits."
To be eligible for the award, student-athletes must hold an overall grade point average of 3.2 and be a successful member of a varsity athletic squad. Recipients are nominated by a faculty athletic representative; they must have outstanding conduct both on and off the field, and they must intend to continue academic work beyond an undergraduate degree.
Williams said that the award is not only a reflection of his own abilities but a testament to the merits of the Tufts athletics program.
"It is a reflection of the diligence of the many athletes and administrators who work so hard for little tangible reward," Williams said.
Williams will matriculate at John Hopkins Medical School following Tufts graduation. Although he does not yet know which medical specialty he will pursue, he has focused his interests on health disparities in poor and politically repressed regions of the world, and the scholarship has brought him one step closer to that goal.
"While medical school is a tremendous financial commitment, the funds provided through the NCAA scholarship will help to defray the cost of attending," Williams said. "The assistance will advance my capacity to provide access to quality health care for individuals in medically underserved areas around the world."
Williams already commands a remarkable list of both athletic and academic accomplishments. He earned All-American honors and a school record with the Distance Medley Relay in 2005, and he provisionally qualified for Nationals with the 4x400 meter relay team in 2006. Having trained primarily as a 400-meter runner, he has competed in every eligible meet during his four-year career as a Jumbo.
"Trevor's a great guy," said Tim Bassell, who has been on the track team with Williams for four years. "He's very well-rounded - he brings so much to the team as a captain and consistently our fastest 400 runner, and he's obviously brilliant. He's a standup guy, really an All-American kid."
"Having led by example as a four-time captain and devoted athlete, I feel like I've shared with my teammates a love of the sport," Williams said. "I've learned more about the value of commitment to a cause than I could hope to teach in a lifetime."
Williams has found equal success in the classroom. He graduates summa cum laude today as a biopsychology major fluent in French, holding better than a 3.8 GPA and earning four A+ marks over his four years. He cites Professors Todd Quinto and Harry Bernheim as among the most influential forces in his undergraduate career.
"[They made] tireless efforts to further my academic and personal development through unyielding support of my intellectual curiosity," Williams said.
"Trevor is a special guy in a lot of ways," Quinto said. "He was one of best students in my honors calculus class, and was always modest and helpful to other students. I've been impressed with his academic performance and the ways in which he integrates his social goals - his interest in helping kids and public health - and his professional goals of medical school. He's going to do well for the University by doing good for the world."
"He's a brilliant young man who excels in the classroom no matter what the topic," said Bernheim, who taught Williams in introductory biology and physiology. "He's incredibly modest in his excellent accomplishments, which you don't often see in an individual. Most people who have done a lot are aware that they have done so and are somewhat impressed with themselves, but that's not at all the case with Trevor."
While the balance between full-time athlete and dedicated student is a difficult one to strike, Williams feels that the two have complemented each other.
"By challenging yourself both athletically and academically, the student-athlete benefits from the thrill of success in competition, while simultaneously gaining insight into the constructive nature of defeat," Williams said. "The awareness that evolves is uniquely profound."
A career in medicine geared toward public health will continue the community outreach that Williams began at Tufts, where he worked with children as a volunteer at Tufts Literary Corps and at Children's Hospital Boston. He co-founded and acted as a coordinator for the Tufts chapter of the Timmy Foundation, a group that funds relief trips to poverty-stricken areas of the world, and organized a spring break trip to the Dominican Republic this year.
He plans to remain involved with the Timmy Foundation after graduation, as the group is in the early stages of establishing a clinical facility aimed at providing care to Haitian refugees in the Dominican Republic.
Though his future path is not entirely set in stone, Williams considers himself charged with the responsibility of putting the grant money to good use.
"Such awards are only valuable in so much as they enable us to extend the generosities with which we have been graced to those who are less fortunate," Williams said.
The drive, ambition and concern for others that are a hallmark of Williams' past endeavors bode well for his future pursuits.
"I hope that in 10 years, I am changed by the myriad successes and failures that I have had as a physician," Williams said. "I am continually fascinated by the challenges and beauties of life, and [that I] have the opportunity to share these miracles with others."
