Great Commonality

Illustration of Matt Sigrist
Matt Sigrist ‘99

Matt Sigrist 99 and John Berry-Candelario 99

Matt and John met as first-year students on the football field. More than 20 years later, the pair have remained close friends. Here, they discuss how their experiences at Williams deeply impacted them, and how they continue to feel connected to their alma mater since graduating.

Illustrations by Angela Hsieh

John

In my experience, being in a classroom with a bunch of super high-functioning, very talented and incredibly motivated individuals who came from entirely different backgrounds than Washington, DC—it was almost like an earthquake.

Matt

Williams to me was just this wonderland of interesting people, of commitment to excellence across the board, whether it was in athletics or in the classroom.

John

I would piggyback on that, and say that element of meeting people who really reshape how you think about the world was completely impactful for me. What I had to balance in my mind, certainly both mentally and emotionally, was how can I take everything from this place and take it back to my own community and show them that there's a different way? At the same time recognize that there are challenges that they face that I could potentially be able to bridge. That was the biggest thing about Williams for me...being able to take from the experience and go back home with some really important life lessons.

Matt

I think both of us found ourselves being forced to be comfortable with a pretty steep learning curve in all aspects of life. And that has stuck with me. Just the sense of humility in the face of the challenges that you face and a belief that you can get there. I found at Williams a real peace about being present. And in particular, understanding that there are really important relational elements of achievement, that if you are constantly striving and reaching, you don't have an appreciation for. So, as you said, being in a place around such talented, thoughtful, present people just impressed upon me an understanding that we only achieve in life by connecting with others, and by finding commonality, and then striving together, in that order. Can you relate to that at all?

John

Absolutely. I think that actually encapsulates in my mind what Williams actually represents. Because there's an awareness of this need to take on and to learn, and to elevate oneself, to present oneself with challenges when you're there. There is this passage of ideas when you're sitting in a classroom, or sitting in the Quad or you're on the practice field. And that kind of elevation of your consciousness becomes pretty critical to your overall development—that's what Williams inspires in you. And I think that's what Williams has always wanted to inspire people to do—to take what they learned there, through those conversations, through that collective energy, and apply it in a positive way.

Matt

I think what both of us took away from the way that we made each other better on the football field, was finding joy in that competition. We can extrapolate beyond just our own little football experience, to any student’s experience. That being around like minded, excellent, curious other people raises your game. I fed off of that in some small way. It's a place that, because people are so at peace with being in the present there, they find themselves really attentive to the relationships.

John

I learned to love that place so dearly, because of the people, because of the instant connection that I have to people. I actually saw a Williams alum here at the UMass campus recently, class of ’77. He stopped me in the hallway because I have a little Williams tassel on, and we had an hour long conversation. We just talked about Williams and the evolution of that place from the time that he was there to when I was there.

Matt

I know that there is great commonality in the Williams people that I run across professionally. They are good people, first and foremost. They have time for a conversation, and they are happy.

John

Since moving back to Massachusetts, I run into Williams people left, right and center. But even before...I found there was no shortage of people who would reach out to me and say, “Hey, I know that you're living in this area, there's a student who is considering Williams and was wondering if you would mind having a conversation with them.” And I would always get jazzed up about that. I also get a number of emails from people who are interested in medicine and they want to have a conversation about “How do I get from here to there?” And every Williams student that I talk to, I say, give me a sense of what Williams is like for you right now. And the thing that keeps resonating is exactly what you and I are talking about—each of these students talk about this incredible shared experience, this incredible sense of people that surround them, that continue to challenge them, how they think, their backgrounds, but also allows them to have a voice of their own, and continues to elevate their own consciousness. So, whether it's current students or prospective students, it's something that I get really excited about. I would argue that probably most of us really get excited about talking about Williams.

John Berry-Candelario grew up in Washington, D.C. At Williams, he majored in biology and psychology with a concentration in neuroscience, and he was a standout athlete. Today, he’s a neurosurgeon and director of spine and spine oncology at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester, Mass. He’s also a Medical Corps officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve. Matt Sigrist is originally from Rochester, N.Y. At Williams, he was an economics major, Junior Advisor and captain of the football and baseball teams. Now, Matt is the head of school at Renbrook School, a coed, private day school in West Hartford, Conn.

Illustration of John Berry-Candelario
John Berry-Candelario ‘99
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