University of Wyoming Honors College

Honors in the News

Thomas Fenn

Scholarship Spotlight

(This article originally appeared in the winter 2019 AlumNews section of UWyo magazine.)

Thomas Fenn has the brains and character to accomplish his academic and professional goals of becoming a physician one day. Now, with a boost from the UWAA Premier Scholarship, he’s relieved of some of the expenses of those goals.
Fenn is about to complete his studies in physiology, neuroscience and the Honors College, finishing in three and a half years. He’s embarking on applications for various medical school programs, including WWAMI.

He has done all this while working the last three years at the neuroscience lab at UW and a night shift at the emergency room at the Cheyenne Regional Medical Center. He wrote a scholarly article, currently undergoing peer review. He also has found time to volunteer with Big Brothers/Big Sisters and enjoy what college life at UW is also about: making friends.

Fenn came to UW from Sheridan in part because his parents are alumni. “We were raised that we’d come to school here, and we came to town for games a lot,” he says. Besides that, many of his friends were Laramie-bound.

He looked forward to combining his school time with plenty of outdoor recreation, including hiking, fishing and skiing. “I was a little hesitant about what I’d heard about it being cold and windy,” he says. “But it has worked out.”

Earlier in Fenn’s life, he’d even thought that a ski shop, not a medical degree, could be in his future. But that was more of a fleeting thought than a real Plan B. When he was younger, Fenn had an illness, as did his father. “During this, I saw the positive aspects of medicine,” he says. Since then, volunteering at medical clinics working with underserved populations showed him medicine was what he wanted to pursue.
One issue now is which medical field to enter someday—perhaps neuroscience, or maybe orthopedic surgery. But first he must determine where to go to school, if he should receive numerous acceptances.

“My parents probably want me to be in WWAMI because then I’d stay in Wyoming,” Fenn says. That is a good thing, because that’s what he hopes for, too. “Once I get into medical school, I’ll be locked in for 10 years. Come January, it’ll be time to relax, hang out and wait to see what happens.”