A new generation is getting ready to take over in the world of business and politics. As the millennials and Generation Z continue to enter the workforce, they are bringing lots of new ideas and identities with them.

Forrest Walker Conner is one of these future business leaders. An intern on Capitol Hill, Conner is interested in how business and public policy influence each other. Conner is inspired by his experiences traveling abroad, and he wants to use these lessons to inspire young people to face adversity with confidence and determination.

An All-American Background

Forrest Walker Conner is a 2019 graduate from the Montgomery Bell Academy and a longtime member of the Westminster Presbyterian Church.

He was born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee, and began attending school at University of the South, Sewanee, in the fall of 2019. He considers the most difficult choice of his life to be his decision to major in Economics with a minor in Business.

Over the Hills and Far Away

Forrest Walker Conner has already traveled the world, jet setting with various foreign exchange programs since he was a child. During the summer after he finished 8th Grade, Forrest Walker Conner joined a study that examined Lithuania and other Baltic countries during World War II.

This study gave Conner the opportunity to travel to Lithuania, an opportunity that changed his life and opened his eyes. Over the next several years, Conner began participating in every foreign exchange program he could join.

His family has hosted exchange students from several different Central and Eastern European countries at their home in Nashville, Tennessee. Conner himself has had the chance to visit and study in multiple different countries, particularly Australia, where he went after his junior year of high school.

These experiences traveling abroad and meeting people from other countries gave Forrest Walker a deeper appreciation for life in America and the freedoms that Americans have. His travels in countries like Lithuania have given Conner an appreciation for the struggle that these smaller countries have faced in securing their stability, independence, and their place in global politics.

His Domain is at the top of the Mountain

Participating in all these foreign exchange programs also influenced Forrest Walker Conner’s decision to attend University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. University of the South is an Episcopalian liberal arts school with a scenic campus on the top of Cumberland Plateau. The campus is officially called “The Domain” and is affectionately referred to as “The Mountain.”

The seclusion of University of the South was one of the main selling points of the school for Conner. He feels that this is an environment where students, professors, and the community can come together to form closer bonds and relationships than they would on a busier campus in a big city environment.

Leading the Free World

Most college students must have a part-time job to make ends meet, and Forrest Conner is no exception. But his college job is more unusual than the average college student. Rather than waiting tables, tutoring math, or being a teacher’s assistant, Conner is working in Washington D.C.

Conner works as a paid intern at Capitol Hill in the Fund for American Studies program. Here he learns about public policy and economics and the ways that public policy and business affect each other.

Why is he so successful at a young age?

Forrest Walker Conner feels that he has been able to open many different doors for himself because he enjoys meeting new people, visiting new places, and having new experiences.

He has developed strong relationships with mentors in several different areas of his life. These include school, work, church, family, and friendships. He has learned a lot from all of these people, and he knows that he has a lot that he will continue to learn from them as well.

Forrest Walker Conner feels that the best advice to give to young people is to be brave. Conner talks about how middle school and high school are both scary times in the already turbulent period of a person’s life that is adolescence.

Forrest Conner understands that these challenges make it tempting for kids to withdraw and retreat within themselves, but Forrest Walker doesn’t believe this is a good idea.

Conner believes that it’s important for young people to take their chances and try things that are difficult and scary. Conner believes that the more one tries difficult and scary things, the less difficult and scary these things become.

Forrest Walker Conner believes that the more that young people rise to meet the challenges that they are faced with, the more prepared and equipped they will be for the challenges that life throws at them later.

He believes that if you stand in the fire and continuously rise to face adversity with confidence, soon there will be nothing that can scare you at all.

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