Dedicated People: Sebastien Wilson is helping Mastodons build confidence, connection, and health

For Sebastien Wilson, supporting the Purdue Fort Wayne community goes far beyond managing the fitness center.

As recreation coordinator and shuttle program coordinator, Wilson oversees a wide range of programs that impact countless students, faculty, and staff each year. From coordinating campus recreation opportunities and intramural sports to supervising student employees and providing personal training, his work is rooted in a simple goal: helping people realize their potential.

"I hope they feel included and confident," Wilson said. "In life, you just need to learn that you matter and that you're worth prioritizing."

A 2024 PFW graduate who is now pursuing an MBA at the university, Wilson experienced firsthand the impact that supportive faculty and staff can have on a student's life. Today, he strives to provide that same encouragement to others.

"PFW is made up of all those people who just want to see you succeed and be happy," Wilson said. "I just want people to always feel included like I did."

Wilson's responsibilities include overseeing the fitness center, intramural sports, personal training services, and the campus shuttle program. He supervises approximately 40 employees across these areas, many of whom are students.

For many of those students, working in recreation is their first experience with a professional job. "We look at it as an opportunity for them to grow in their career," Wilson said. 

Student employees learn much more than simply how to check in gym patrons. They handle customer service, answer phones, manage transactions, solve problems, and serve as a resource for visitors navigating campus.

"The fitness center desk is one of the first things people see when they walk into the Hilliard Gates Sports Center," Wilson said. "Our students end up learning a lot about campus because they're helping people find offices, services, and resources."

The result is a workplace that helps students build confidence and communication skills they can carry into their future careers.

While recreation programs help students build connections, Wilson's work as a personal trainer allows him to make an impact on individuals more directly.

Currently, he works with a mix of faculty, staff, and students through personalized fitness plans designed around each person's unique goals. Wilson emphasizes overall well-being and sustainable progress.

"What is really awesome about fitness is teaching yourself that you have control and that your goals are more obtainable than you realize," he said.

Wilson tracks a variety of measurable benchmarks with his clients, including body composition, strength, cardiovascular performance, and workout volume. Those metrics help clients see progress even when they encounter plateaus.

"I just want people to make sure they know they're making progress," Wilson said. "You can look at your data and see that you're succeeding."

However, for Wilson, the most rewarding part of personal training isn’t the data; it’s seeing people discover confidence in themselves.

"I love the fact that I can teach people to love themselves and teach them to take care of themselves," he said. "Seeing people's lives change is really cool."

Wilson believes recreation and exercise play a critical role in helping students succeed both inside and outside the classroom.

"When you're a student and you have all these things going on in your life—school, work, and everything else—you have to give yourself time to relax and have fun," he said.

Whether students participate in intramural sports, work out in the fitness center, join a kayaking trip, or pursue personal training, Wilson sees recreation as an opportunity to develop healthy habits, reduce stress, and build meaningful relationships.

"Some of the most important parts of college are networking, building connections, and making lifelong friendships," he said. "Going to the gym and participating in intramurals is a way to do that."

That perspective reflects the lessons Wilson learned through his own fitness journey and through the support he received as a student at PFW. Today, he channels those experiences into helping others become healthier, more confident versions of themselves.

Whether he is mentoring student employees, coordinating recreation programs, or helping a client reach a personal goal, Wilson's focus remains the same: investing in people.

Those daily interactions may seem small in the moment, but Wilson knows they can have a lasting impact.

"Those little moments do make big impacts on people's lives," he said. "So I just try to be kind and show the love that I received from PFW and feed that into other people as much as I can."

For the PFW community, that dedication continues to make a difference one workout, one conversation, and one student at a time.

To learn more about campus recreation offerings, including personal training with Wilson, visit the campus recreation website.