Sigma Chi Conner Patrick, a biomedical engineering and Plan II Honors Program junior, said he likes to get to know different types of people at UT and be involved in university affairs. This shows through his work throughout his time at the university in both Greek life and Student Government. 

“I try to just get to know a bunch of people and really relate with them on different levels and kind of understand who they are,” Patrick said. “I like just trying to meet them and hear their stories.”  

Patrick currently serves as a university-wide representative in Student Government and as director of alumni relations for the Interfraternity Council. He was elected earlier this month to be the IFC's next executive vice president. 

He said in Student Government, he’s currently working with other members and faculty members to create a system in which students can receive flag credit for certain leadership involvement in extracurricular activities. ”Some talks have happened with certain faculty members, and they are fairly interested,” Patrick said. 

He said one of his favorite experiences in Student Government was getting to help with last year’s canned food drive, which brought in more than 8,000 pounds of canned goods.  

For the IFC, he said that he’d like to continue to build off the efforts made this past year to make it more organized, with a strong focus on goal-setting and oversight, and work to ensure that the controversial West Campus crackdown on noise ordinance violations by city officials doesn’t negatively impact this year’s Roundup festivities. “There’s a lot of change coming into place, especially with the noise ordinance policy,” Patrick said. “I just want to make things run a lot more efficiently.”  

Patrick, a native of Houston near Cypress, said he joined Sigma Chi during the spring semester of his freshman year and it’s been a great experience for him. “It’s really grown me,” Patrick said. “It’s helped me realize what I need to do to make myself better each day.”  

Patrick said he enjoys playing the piano, having taken lessons the entire time he was growing up, and likes to find different pianos at UT and try them out to take a break between classes. “In my opinion, the best one that I have played on after the concert pianos in the music school would be the one in Duren,” Patrick said. “Most of the dorms have one.” 

Patrick said he’s had six near-death experiences, including being chased by a bear, getting trampled on in a running of the bulls, falling off a cliff and falling off a mountain while skiing.  

While at UT, Patrick has also gotten to serve as his fraternity’s scholarship chair as a Longhorn legislative aide; an assistant director of philanthropy for Student Government; on UT’s ultimate frisbee team; and as a member of the Longhorn Service Council. 

He said after finishing his undergraduate degrees, he’d like to either go to medical school or go into the private equity or venture capital side of biotech industries.