I’m Chri
s Wells from Cartersville, Georgia, and I transferred from college in California to pursue my education in nursing here at the University of Dubuque. I began wrestling in my senior year of high school, and it wasn’t until then that I realized the importance of physical and mental health. During that senior year of high school, I was learning one of the hardest and most physically demanding sports, while balancing a job and dealing with issues at home. Wrestling taught me a lot about how people should eat to stay healthy and maximize athletic performance. I learned to eat quality food, and participating in wrestling kept my heart healthy and my body fat low, but all my time was being caught up in my sport, my job, and my schooling. I rarely slept or had time to do anything else that I enjoyed.
My mental health plummeted and growing up in a household where mental health isn’t valued as much, I thought nothing of it. I made it into college due to my wrestling performance that past season. My new coach at Lassen College in California showed me how important mental health is and how to manage it along with all of my other responsibilities. I then decided to major in nursing so I could help others and teach them what I have learned. That’s what led me here to Dubuque today. I’m grateful to be able to continue doing the sport that rescued me from my troubles and blessed to have this opportunity to become a nurse so I can help those around me.
