Conor Welch '07, of North Andover, MA, knows what it's like to be an American in Europe. He has participated in the University's program of study in London, and for his senior honors project in English, he's examining three novels set in Europe, written by American authors.

Outing Club President Welch, who has been elected to the national academic honor society Phi Beta Kappa as well as to the English honorary, the Irving Bacheller Society, is part of a family with a long legacy at St. Lawrence. His late grandfather, Alfred Viebranz of the Class of 1942, was a long-time trustee and benefactor, and his mother, Gayle Viebranz Welch, graduated in 1977 and is a member of the Alumni Executive Council.

But Welch, a graduate of North Andover High School, says that St. Lawrence has allowed him to "find my voice as an individual. In my time here I have found a niche, both academically and socially, where my ideas have been allowed to flourish," he says. "The faculty across the disciplines, but in particular in the English department, have been integral to this development, and working with them has been an extremely positive experience. I may not be a 'model student,' but I have very specific opinions and have always been willing to voice them in this intellectual community."

For his honors thesis, Welch is working with Professor of English Bruce Weiner. He's analyzing Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Marble Faun, Henry James' The American and Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises.

"These writers represent distinct moments in the history of American literature and each felt compelled to investigate the specter of European culture, from which American culture is basically derivative, as a means of defining American identity," Welch says.