Meet AJ Thomas ’26 Thomas enjoys the balance between athletics, academics and making lifelong connections with fellow students.

Office of Communications and Public Affairs
April 15, 2025

AJ Thomas ’26
Hometown: Gaithersburg, Maryland
Major/minor: Computer science major and Japanese minor

Why did you choose to come to W&L?
I was being recruited to play basketball, and I came on a visit to see campus and meet the team and get a feel for Lexington. The campus and town were beautiful, and the team did a great job hosting me and introducing me to people. I knew W&L was home when after the day was done, the team and I hung out at Third-Year, and the conversations just flowed naturally. I had been talking with the team like I’d known those guys my entire life, yet I had only met them about five hours prior. I didn’t get that feeling anywhere else.

Have you discovered a course or topic that you didn’t expect to study when you first came to W&L?
I never thought I’d touch chemistry again after sophomore year of high school — not that I didn’t like it, but it didn’t align with my goals in my studies and future career path. Then I found myself needing a lab credit to complete my FDR (general education) requirements, and I just so happened to have made a strong connection with Dr. Erich Uffelman at numerous sporting events and ended up taking his class. I’ve come to really enjoy the chemistry class I’m taking now. It’s fascinating how much of it is applicable to daily life, and I’ve found myself going down rabbit holes just learning new things. It’s a challenging class but a breath of fresh air compared to my typical work in my major and minor. It also helps that the professor is amazing and enables my curiosity in this class!

Have you found a mentor on campus? Who is it, and how have they helped you develop as a student?
Dr. Uffelman is someone I really admire. I’ve never met a teacher so passionate and animated about whatever they’re teaching and even more so about the students in their class. He’s never failed to put a smile on my face and get me excited for each and every class (which is impressive since I have him at 8 a.m. and I’m not a morning person in the slightest). He refuses to let anyone fall behind in class and makes time with everyone to make sure they know everything going into a quiz or exam. He’s really the best!

What was your favorite class and why?
My Japanese language classes are my favorite classes. I’ve been interested in the culture since I was a little kid, so it’s been fun learning the language. Yamaguchi sensei, Ikeda sensei and Shirihama sensei are all amazing professors and have taught me so much and have made learning Japanese a joy. But I must say my classmates are my favorite part of the experience. The same group of about 15 of us have been learning together for four semesters now, and they are the funniest, most entertaining people to be around, and I’m so happy that we were all able to connect over our shared interest in Japanese.

What do you like about being a DIII athlete?
I love the work-life balance. I get to play the sport that I’ve been in love with for years at a collegiate level, study subjects I’m interested in at a high academic institution and have a social life with a lot of people that I’ll consider lifelong friends well after I graduate. It’s the best of everything; it’s a good, healthy mix of all three, and it makes me really happy.