When Curiosity Sparks Community: Ava Knight ’26

---

Ava Knight ’26

When Ava Knight ’26 learned about Wheaton College in high school, it had everything she was looking for: a Christ-centered liberal arts education, rigorous academics, and a small student body. Now, as she heads into her senior year, she realizes Wheaton had even more to offer than she imagined. 

For a storyteller with a love for science, Wheaton’s liberal arts focus was perfect for Knight from the beginning. The first time she entered a classroom on campus, Knight knew she had found something special. The small student-to-faculty ratios created opportunities for meaningful relationships to form between students and their professors. Knight also saw how professors demonstrated investment in their students’s lives, not only their grades. 

Through an independent study during her junior year, Knight experienced this firsthand while conducting research under Dr. Raymond Lewis, Professor of Biology. “It’s so valuable to have professors who can vouch for your work ethic and experience and also care about you as a person,” said Knight. “We’ve built a great relationship, and that’s what I was looking for when I came to Wheaton.”

While completing her biology major and English minor, Knight has also found opportunities to study economics and international relations through on-campus classes and the FPE Abroad program in Europe. “It can be hard for biology majors to study abroad, but learning a variety of things is why I wanted to come to a liberal arts school,” said Knight. “I’m grateful that a summer study abroad helped make that possible.”

Knight’s investment in multifaceted passions isn’t limited to the classroom. Throughout the last three years, she’s been involved in many of Wheaton’s extracurricular activities, including singing with the Concert Choir, performing with Arena Theater, and serving as a “Deke” (a campus tour guide).  

After taking a break from performing following high school, Knight admits she was nervous about participating in the arts on campus her junior year. Cast in a production of Love’s Labour’s Lost shortly after joining Arena in the fall of her junior year, Knight felt like she’d been thrown into the deep end. But her fellow actors cheered her on and supported her as she re-entered the theater realm after years apart from it. Led by Director Mark Lewis, Arena’s bi-weekly gatherings have nurtured Knight as a storyteller and taught her profound lessons that have stretched her. One such lesson: “Go before you are ready.” In place of waiting for “the perfect moment,” whether in a theater exercise or life, Knight has discovered the power of taking initiative and actively creating opportunities for growth. “Arena has encouraged me to say yes to opportunities I may have hesitated to pursue,” Knight said.

Knight got to share about her Wheaton experiences with high school students when she served as a Deke during her sophomore year. She applied on a whim, but the campus host role became one of the most impactful experiences of her time at Wheaton.“I led walking tours weekly, which enabled me to hear the stories of prospective students and their families and also share my own story with them,” Knight said. “I also worked closely with the other Dekes, and we became a special, tight-knit group. Being on that team was a gift from God.”

To Knight, each of these student groups and academic pursuits all have something in common: the backbone of Christ. From structured prayer partners to spontaneous prayer in the corner of a rehearsal space, the communities she has joined are saturated with prayer, fostering spiritual and relational growth within them. Each space (and the people in them) has motivated her to grow in confidence, learn how to collaborate effectively with others, and refine her communication skills. Ultimately, Knight remains sure of a new conviction. “It’s okay to take risks,” she said. “The best experiences I’ve had at Wheaton happened because I took a step of faith and trusted there would be something there for me. You just have to open the door.”