Connor Buczek

Classroom

Connor Buczek is graduating this spring from Cornell’s Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management. A 2015 CoSIDA Academic All-District selection and a USILA Scholar-Athlete, Buczezk was recently accepted into Cornell’s prestigious Johnson Graduate School of Management. With his acceptance, he became one of only two individuals—and the only one from Cornell—to be admitted directly into the school from undergraduate studies.

Character

Buczek is a young man of great character who leads his team through both words and examples. A two-time captain of the nationally ranked Cornell men’s lacrosse team, Buczek received this year’s Ronald P. Lynch Senior Spirit Award, which honors the student-athlete whose leadership on and off the field modeled the ideals of the Big Red athletics department. During the 2014 season, Buczek was named the team’s “Hard Hat,” which is bestowed each year to a junior that the coaching staff feels demonstrates a blue-collar approach to the game. According to his coaches, he is driven and selfless, and he is consistently a hard worker. He puts the team first and embodies how the coaches want Cornell players to act and respond on and off the field.

Community

Buczek is a stellar example in the community and is involved in many service projects. He was instrumental in planning a fundraiser to benefit Kyle Miller’s BeatIt Foundation in 2015, and in his four years at Cornell he has helped to plan, organize and execute fundraisers and events including the 21 Run for the Boiardi Foundation, the Clinic For a Cause to benefit the Dream Factory of Central New York, and the Save the Day Blood Drive. He is also a four-year member of the Big Red Readers and has volunteered at the Ithaca Book Fest (2011-14), the Turkey Shootout (2011-12), and the Fun Walk for Immaculate Conception School (2011-14). This past winter, he helped kick off the Salvation Army’s bell-ringing campaign in the Ithaca Commons, and he also volunteered with the BackPack Program for the Food Bank of the Southern Tier. Last year, he helped to coach at the Ithaca Youth Lacrosse Clinic, and in 2011 he helped with the Oswego clean-up after floods devastated the area.

Competition

A national standout on the field, Buczek is a three-time All-American—including consecutive first team honors in each of the past two seasons—who graduates as the top-scoring midfielder in Big Red history with 155 points and among the top 20 in Cornell history among all players for goals, points and assists. The 2014 Ivy League Player of the Year, Buczek was a three-time unanimous first-team All-Ivy selection and a two-time Tewaaraton Trophy nominee. This season, he ranked first on the team in goals (40), second overall in points (54) and third overall in assists (14) while becoming the first midfielder in Cornell history to score 40 goals in a season. He also became just the seventh midfielder in the history of the Ivy League to record both 40 goals in a single season and 100 goals in a career.