AURORA - Wells College will award degrees to its first two male graduates, both transfer students, at its 139th commencement exercise at the Aurora Inn Saturday.

Shea Hagstrom and Jason Atwell have both laid the groundwork for successful careers, but their current resumes couldn't be more different.

“For the most part, I've really enjoyed it here. It's a small campus, so you know everybody,” Atwell said. “And the campus is really beautiful. I love being done here by the lake.”

When he first arrived on campus, Atwell said he encountered no animosity from the women there.

“I know that people were a little uncomfortable having us around at first,” he said. “I think there still are some that are. I mean, I didn't come in as a freshman, I came in as a junior, so I just kind of jumped into a class of women who were expecting to go to an all-women's college. I could see how it could be awkward and uncomfortable for them.”

Atwell grew up in the Rochester area, but his family moved to Baldwinsville in 2005. He attended the U.S. Military Academy at West Point for two years before seeking a transfer. Unlike most who depart, though, Atwell remained a soldier.

“Personally, I was starting to feel kind of burned out. It's an intense experience, and after two years of it I just wasn't really happy with where I was. I wanted to get out and try something new,” said Atwell, who later enrolled in the Army Reserve, and, while at Wells, took a course in military science through the ROTC program at Syracuse University.

He was commissioned May 18 as second lieutenant at a ceremony held at Wells. At least 10 faculty attended, along with more than three dozen friends, family and fellow students. “It was a good turnout,” Atwell said.

Atwell made a very late decision to transfer from West Point, in June 2005, and he said he'll always be appreciative to the Wells administration for their efforts on his behalf.

“By far the college most willing to work with me was Wells as far as financial aid and housing goes, ” he said.

A military intelligence officer, his battalion is expected to deploy to the Middle East over the next six months as part of the troop surge, and Atwell will leave in about 30 days for Fort Bragg in North Carolina for further training.

While at Wells, Atwell made many good friends and dated a Wells woman for most of the time he was there.

Perhaps a bigger struggle was being the captain of the men's soccer team, a Division III independent team that played area schools such as Keuka College and SUNY Morrisville. They won just one game over two years. His first year, nearly three-quarters of the approximately 30 men on campus played on the soccer team and many had precious little experience.

Hagstrom grew up less than 25 miles away from the Village of Aurora in Lansing, in northern Tompkins County. The oldest of four children, he was home-schooled and commuted to Wells.

“I think it was a good experience overall, being home-schooled. It allowed me to go into what I really wanted to do, what I really wanted to learn,” Hagstrom said.

At Honors Convocation on May 9, Hagstrom was awarded for “outstanding performance in computer science” in honor of his senior thesis, “Simulation of a Multidirectional Digital Image Sensor.”

Hagstrom's objective was to change the way a digital camera can be used by not “recording just the image data, but also recording the data about the incoming light and then you can re-use that information through computer processing.”

“Basically, it's adding another capability to camera design. With a normal camera you would take a single photograph and what you get is a single result. You can manipulate it digitally somewhat (using Photoshop, for instance) but you couldn't refocus the photograph. or change the brightness.”

Not only strong in math, science and computer science, Hagstrom has a good amount of artistic aptitude. After taking a pottery course about 1 1/2 years ago, he later became a teaching assistant on campus.

“I really do enjoy the throwing - using a pottery wheel - not so much as the hand building,” he said.

As for the entire last two years, Hagstrom said “it was a great learning experience. What I really liked here was the small class sizes. I felt I got to really know the professors and the other students,” he said, adding the average class size was usually eight or nine.

Hagstrom has applied to several graduate schools, all in the local area, and he's been accepted to three so far, and said he plans to continue his photography-based research.

Both Atwell and Hagstrom say that while they are excited about moving on to the next phase of their lives, they will always appreciate these past two years.

“I really liked it here,” Atwell said. “I think it was a very good experience, especially when you look at the contrast between the military school and the liberal arts. I know it made me a better, more well-rounded person.”