Comfort Zone

Connor Pawliczak ’25 is grateful to donors for helping to provide all students with a wide range of opportunities to explore their passions at Peddie. And over these past few years, that is exactly what he has been doing.

Freshman year at Peddie is a time of discovery, which usually involves trying something new. When Pawliczak first arrived at Peddie, there was one thing he knew for sure: He was an athlete, and most of his friends were athletes. He would be on the wrestling team.

But what he didn’t know about himself, he would soon find out. As part of the freshman Theater Foundations class, he attended Peddie’s production of “Into the Woods” and loved everything about it.

It didn’t really seem so far off from what he already knew – the actors, set crew and orchestra – they were a team. Just like on the wrestling mat, everyone was working together and relying on each other for support. “It was amazing!” he said.

In his sophomore year, Pawliczak enrolled in the Actors Studio class. Actors Studio led to the Declamation Contest, which happened to fall on the same day as the biggest wrestling match of the year. “I was able to run from the wrestling match to Ding Music Hall to perform the Shakespeare soliloquy, ‘To be or not to be.’ I did both things in one night!,” Pawliczak said.

“I think about that night a lot – when I’m in class or in sports. I loved Peddie my freshmen year but that night in January of my sophomore year, I realized this is definitely a place where things like this are not just possible, they’re common,” Pawliczak said. “The only person who doubted what I could do was me.”

In addition to bringing joy to his life, acting also taught Pawliczak how to manage stress. “Acting made me realize that I love the way it makes people feel. I enjoy seeing how the audience is moved by the performance,” he said. “I now apply that same logic to sports. I am not doing it for myself, and setting stressful high unreachable expectations. Instead, I am doing it for the team, so we can succeed together.”

After Peddie, Pawliczak plans to continue applying the philosophy of doing what he can for other people and letting that guide his decision making. Even further beyond Peddie, he wants to be a surgeon. “I feel my purpose has become to do my best for other people. The idea of saving lives gives me a profound sense of purpose,” he said.