Mawuli Nevis ’25 has a love-hate relationship with wrestling. The sport has given him drive, discipline, and an appreciation for hard work. The choice to compete at the highest levels possible often requires a sacrifice and determination that forces other life choices to take a back seat.

Now that his wrestling career is complete with four varsity letters, 70 victories, and a trip to the national championships, Nevis, the 2025 Arthur Ashe Jr. Wrestling Sports Scholar of the Year, knows the reward isn’t about the accolades.

“It’s more about the journey than the goal,” he says. “I’m probably the hardest working person in any room. I’m not necessarily going to be the smartest or the quickest, but I can always rely on the memory that I put in the work.”

He didn’t make it easy on himself. When he arrived on campus in the fall of 2021, the Cincinnati native joined too many clubs in addition to his wrestling, found himself overextended, and had a miserable freshman year. A “trial by fire kind of thing,” he calls it, but he used it as a learning experience. It taught him to better handle stress and manage his time.

To hold himself and those close to him accountable, Nevis convinced his roommates to agree to a simple deal: anyone who skipped class had to buy dinner for the roommates that night.

“Oh, I guess I can’t miss any more 8 a.m. physics classes,” remembers roommate and friend Phenix Carney ’25. “Mawuli’s mindset is consistent growth. He’s definitely rubbed off on me in that way, too, just attacking what you can and working hard toward your goals.”

That drive can be seen in other ways as well. Nevis isn’t simply a wrestler or a fraternity member. He’s a biology major, an organic chemistry tutor, and worked in a National Science Foundation-funded lab. He worked for a local non-profit and has studied abroad in South America.

All these facets point him toward the goal of medical school and becoming a physician—after he spends the next year in Lima, Peru, as a Fulbright research fellow. He is even considering an M.D./Ph.D. program post-graduation because he likes the research so much.

“I think of him as speaking multiple languages,” says Kurt Knochel ’84, an emergency medicine physician in Cincinnati and a mentor to Nevis. “He speaks the language of science, the language of faith, the language of compassion, and the language of selflessness. These are the kinds of things that are going to make him a good clinician. A lot of doctors are smart and proficient, but not all are great clinicians because they don’t have the interpersonal skills that he does.”

Knochel tells a story of the first email he received from Nevis, who was looking for a mentor. In it was the admission that “I am as lost as I can possibly be when it comes to my future.”  

Knochel used it as a starting point for conversations that Nevis now credits for strengthening his faith, his focus, and his future.

“I am someone who can never be complacent about the current state of my being,” Nevis says. “I am not necessarily trying to be perfect, but rather I am always trying to be my best self. 亚洲通 only have one life, so I want to make the most of it.”