Throughout the spring and summer, we'll be honoring our senior student-athletes with a "Senior Salute" series. Today's featured senior is Wyatt Foss, a biology major from Lake Bluff, Illinois. Foss is a member of the swimming and diving team.

Q: Why did you choose to attend The College of Wooster?
A: Going into college, I knew I wanted to study biology. The Wooster biology professors were extremely welcoming, and I liked the idea of getting to do my own research in the field.

Q: What does it mean to you to be a Fighting Scot student-athlete?
A: To me, it means we are capable and responsible people. We are able to continue our passions competing in our respective sports in addition to focusing on our studies and other responsibilities.

Q: What are some of your favorite memories as a student at The College of Wooster?
A: Experiencing my first I.S. Monday, meeting my roommates, and meeting my other friends on campus.

Q: What's the best part about being a student-athlete at The College of Wooster?
A: Being able to create a structured schedule.

Q: What else were you involved with on campus besides your sport?
A: Nothing specifically through the college. Outside of athletics, I volunteer at Crisis Text Line and play guitar.

Q: Which College of Wooster faculty or staff member has made the greatest impact on you and why?
A: All of Wooster's faculty have been equally impactful.

Q: What other people or resources impacted your Wooster experience in a positive way and how did these people/resources set you up to be successful at Wooster?
A: STEM Zone helped me a lot with my intro classes as a first-year. It was very useful to get extra help and tutoring from students who had already taken a certain class, or professor.  

Q: Tell us a bit about your Independent Study project?
A: My I.S. looks at the evolution of the PP1 gene family. I'm using Paramecium tetraurelia as a model organism in determining if isoforms of the PP1 gene family have evolved distinct function over multiple genome evolutions, or if these genes have remained redundant in function. My methods for this experiment involve gene cloning and RNAi, the technique used to silence a target gene by feeding genetically engineered bacteria to the model organism.  

Q: Tell us a bit about something cool you did as a student at The College of Wooster?
A: Going into my junior year, I stayed on campus for half of the summer to work a student research job at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC). I worked in the entomology and honeybee laboratories, and I assisted research involving finding a sustainable pesticide that would result in a low mortality of honeybees and a high mortality rate of varroa mites.  

Q: Reflecting back on your time at Wooster, what is one piece of advice you would give your first-year (freshman) self?
A: Never feel bad or embarrassed to seek help or ask a question.

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Interested in becoming a Fighting Scot?
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