{"id":134119,"date":"2018-02-23T06:21:46","date_gmt":"2018-02-23T11:21:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=134119"},"modified":"2023-06-27T13:05:53","modified_gmt":"2023-06-27T17:05:53","slug":"student-athlete-strong-matthew-dagenais","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2018\/02\/student-athlete-strong-matthew-dagenais\/","title":{"rendered":"Student-Athlete Strong: Matthew Dagenais"},"content":{"rendered":"

UConn\u2019s student-athletes are often lauded for their on-field or on-court achievements, but there\u2019s an equally important \u2013 often unseen\u00a0\u2013 dimension to the student-athlete. UConn Today\u2019s Student-Athlete Strong series highlights the academic prowess of selected high-achieving student-athletes and provides an inside look at their lives beyond their sport.<\/em><\/p>\n

Matthew Dagenais \u201919 (ENG)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hometown and high school: <\/strong>Middletown, Connecticut; Middletown High School<\/p>\n

Sport:<\/strong>\u00a0Men’s Swimming<\/p>\n

Area of study:<\/strong>\u00a0Civil Engineering<\/p>\n

Anticipated graduation:<\/strong>\u00a0May 2019<\/p>\n

Why did you choose to attend UConn?<\/strong>
\nI chose to matriculate to UConn because I saw a passion and drive in the student body that I wanted to be a part of. Being immersed in a competitive, nurturing environment was exactly what I needed to start off the next chapter of my life. UConn presented an opportunity to me that I couldn’t turn down.<\/p>\n

What’s been your favorite class so far and why?<\/strong>
\nMy favorite class I\u2019ve taken is Geospatial Analysis and Measurement. It was a hands-on lab course that immersed its students in field work. In that class I was able to survey buildings on campus using professional tools, gaining knowledge that I will be able to implement once I get into the work world.<\/p>\n

What is the biggest challenge you face as a student-athlete?<\/strong>
\nWorrying about how I compare with others. A quote I think of often is \u201cComparison is a thief of joy.\u201d In our everyday lives we are being constantly compared. Here at UConn there are roughly 20,000 students, that\u2019s 19,999 others that can be put up against me. That\u2019s a daunting fact. But for me it goes further, I not only have that hanging over my head, but I have every swimmer in the American Athletic Conference to compare myself to; we all share one goal\u00a0\u2013 to win the conference.<\/p>\n

Those thoughts dominated me the first years of my collegiate career, but I had an epiphany recently. Why compare? Why worry about what others are doing? Focus on myself, focus on my own personal education, focus on my own swimming ability, and focus on my own life. If I do those things to the fullest, at the end of the day I can say I was successful, regardless of how my test score fits into the class average or how well the opponent swimming in the lane next to me has done.<\/p>\n

What are three words that describe you?<\/strong>
\nAmbitious, passionate, competitive.<\/p>\n

Describe someone you have met on campus who has had a significant influence on you.<\/strong>
\nIn my college selection process, I was able to sit in on some classes with junior and senior engineers. There I saw students at the end of their college career who were preparing for the leap into the work world. Not specifically speaking to anyone in particular, but just being in a room filled with bright, successful students talking giddily about the job they had just accepted, or the design project they had just completed blew my mind. I wanted that feeling, I wanted to be able to say ‘I can do that.’ So it was not just a singular person who has had a profound influence on me, it\u2019s the acclaimed atmosphere.<\/p>\n

What academic accomplishments are you most proud of at UConn?<\/strong>
\nBeing named UConn Scholar Athlete on the American Athletic Conference All-Academic Team.<\/p>\n

What does it mean to you to be a Husky?<\/strong>
\nBeing a Husky is something that I will take with me forever. It is having the values that make you the best possible person you can be across all disciplines, not just in the classroom. It is developing yourself to succeed in anything you put your mind to. We live in a world where we are measured by our successes. Why not put your best foot forward and be a Husky?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

‘Being a Husky … is developing yourself to succeed in anything you put your mind to,’ says Dagenais, a member of the Men’s Swim Team and a civil engineering major. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":120,"featured_media":134533,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1712,1866,156,2225,2234],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2103],"class_list":["post-134119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-athletics","category-engr","category-profile","category-uconn-storrs","category-university-life","series-student-athlete-strong"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-12 16:13:26","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/120"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134119"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":134640,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134119\/revisions\/134640"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/134533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134119"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=134119"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=134119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}