Interview with Peter Laino, Williams College

Interviewer: So jumping into today’s interview, there’s been a bit of a gap in my scheduled conversations. People have tests and whatnot going on. But today we’ve got Peter Laino joining from Williams College. You’re a double major in econ and biology on the alpine ski team, varsity alpine ski. And you just accepted a role at Trinity Life Sciences. So we’re going to unpack all of that stuff. Obviously, really excited to have you here. But first question I always start with is just how you ended up at Williams.

Peter: Yeah, for sure. So I think in terms of getting to Williams, I kind of always knew that I wanted to come here. Growing up, my sisters came to a lot of soccer camps here and I was too young for them. So I just was hanging around the area a little bit, getting to know the school a little bit. I fell in love with the school at a pretty young age, or at least the area. And then when it came time to apply, I knew I wanted to be at a place that was really great academically, but also where I was able to keep skiing. So Williams was just kind of like a perfect match for me. And I was really comfortable there just from knowing it. It was a pretty easy decision to do early decision here.

Interviewer: Oh, okay. So early decision. Yeah. I’ll ask about that too. So when you say like soccer camps and stuff, did you grow up in the area?

Peter: No. So I actually grew up in Switzerland. I was born in the U.S. but grew up in Switzerland, and my sisters, both my sisters played soccer. So they came back and did soccer camps in the summer here pretty much consistently every summer. And I’m not sure there was just not really a men’s equivalent. So I never really ended up doing that. And I was more focused on skiing. So I just spent a lot of time walking around the town with my parents.

Interviewer: That’s cool. It’s so small. And I’d never been there until I went to recruit students for my job. I was just impressed by the area and it isn’t near much necessarily like around campus. But the campus itself is pretty cool.

Peter: Yeah, it’s kind of exactly what I wanted too. I feel like I’ve always been more of a rural kind of person. Didn’t really see myself in a big city or even just a big school. So, yeah, it’s very small, but it’s really beautiful. So that’s exactly what I wanted.

Interviewer: So was Switzerland kind of your exposure to skiing, obviously? And then was it competitive from like a really young age? How did that work?

Peter: So, I would say I started—I really only started racing when I was around 9 or 10, but I’ve been skiing my entire life; my dad was on the ski team here as well, actually. So, kind of had that going for me. But yeah, then I moved back to the U.S. in 2017 to go to a ski academy in Vermont, which is when I started skiing a little bit more competitively. And that’s when I knew I wanted to continue to ski in college. And again, Williams has a great team. So it was just, everything fell in line.

Interviewer: I didn’t know that Vermont connection, you know, I live there, right?

Peter: I did not know that.

Interviewer: No. Yeah. Well, so I work at Dartmouth and then, I live right south of Burlington.

Peter: Oh, I’m from Charlotte.

Interviewer: Oh, there you go. That’s so funny. Your whole family’s in Charlotte now?

Interviewer: Yeah.

Interviewer: Okay, very cool. Yeah, you’re 10 minutes from me. I’m right in Shelburne.

Peter: Oh, that’s awesome. That’s so funny. I never made that connection before.

Interviewer: Yeah, again, another reason I do this. It’s fun to just learn more about students. But yeah, so did you go to GMVS?

Peter: I did. Yeah, I went to GMVS.

Interviewer: Okay, very cool. So I’m familiar with that because my wife, she stayed local. She had the option to go to GMVS, but she was big Alpine and Nordic, and then she actually ran. She chose to run in college. But anyway, that’s a different story. Yeah, so no, super familiar with the Vermont landscape. And obviously it translates really well to going to a school in the area. So that’s cool. Okay. Yeah. So skiing brought you there in some sense, the campus you’re connected in a lot of ways, family bounced around a bit, but so anyway, you did early decision, obviously that can help. And you have the legacy too. So it’s kind of that whole package. And that’s what I like to focus on. So students get a sense of like what draws high schoolers to like certain colleges, that kind of thing. But anyway, so that transition to campus, you’re on a team. Are you right in season right away as a first year or does it start later?

Peter: So I actually wasn’t on the team my first year. I wasn’t recruited out of high school. So I actually only walked on this year. I competed independently my first two years here. So I wasn’t initially in the kind of varsity community when I first got here, but if you are on the team, you kind of start off the bat doing captain’s practices with the captains, and you kind of just get really immersed into that kind of experience. But it’s interesting for me not having been on the team my first year, so I kind of get an interesting kind of best of both worlds where I didn’t really initially have that experience, but also now I’m kind of more familiar with how it works.

Interviewer: Well, congrats first. Walking on is no joke no matter where it is. So yeah, having both those experiences, I think that’s going to relate to some of the questions we have later about jobs and applying and just that experience you face, the adversity, you had a goal and you accomplished it. So that’s really cool. So yeah, again, you’re on the team now. And so you’ll have two full varsity seasons?

Peter: So one, I just finished my first one, and then next year will be my last.

Interviewer: Okay, very nice. That’s awesome. And last question on the sports. How big is the team at Williams?

Peter: So this year, the last couple years, it’s been a little smaller because there’s been some, unfortunately, some injuries. But this year is about, I think it was eight guys and six girls. And next year, we’re looking at a full roster of 10 guys and I think around eight girls. So, not a super big team, but definitely, I think a great size to have, have really good group of people on the team, but also feel free to branch out and meet other people as well.

Interviewer: And ease up some of that workload too.

Peter: Yeah, for sure.

Interviewer: Yeah. Good deal. Well, that’s good. Cool. Okay. Well, I just love the sports stuff and we could probably kill the whole interview doing that, but we’ve got stuff to talk about. So obviously student athlete, student first would love to hear. So you settled on a double major, just had a funny conversation with an admin from Amherst. They just set a formal policy that you’re not allowed to triple or quadruple major. Cause I guess people do that now, which, more power to them, but yeah, econ and bio is a really cool combo. How’d you settle on those? Have you always been interested in those areas?

Peter: Yeah no it’s a weird mix and I get a lot of questions about it. I think for me, bio is always just something I’ve been super interested in, in high school I always really enjoyed it. I think it’s a fascinating field so I knew that I wanted to, continue with it even if it’s something that I am now in my career kind of going into it, but even maybe later in life, if I don’t go down that route, I think it just, it’s something that I found interesting. And I always, advocate for people doing stuff that they’re interested in. So that was kind of the bio side of things. I wanted to at least dip my toes into it and ended up really loving the curriculum here. So I wanted to continue that. And then econ, I just think is a really important field. I think anyone who’s able to should take the intro classes. But I think, beyond that, it’s important to know how the economy works. I think it makes you more aware of what’s going on in the world. And so I just kind of wanted to couple those two things together.

Interviewer: Are there a lot of overlaps? I mean, I know topics-wise, no, but in terms of doing both majors, how’s that been manageable with your schedule?

Peter: Topics-wise, very little overlap, obviously, but yeah, I would say schedule-wise, they complement each other pretty well just because they don’t interfere with each other too much. You know, if you’re taking a lot of STEM classes, they might kind of interfere with time-wise. And, for biology, you’re going to be taking a lot of labs. But I’ve been really fortunate to be able to balance my schedule out really well.

Interviewer: Cool. Yeah, we’re kind of on that curriculum topic. There’s no order. I just like to kind of break down the theme. You’ve been exposed to two sets of really well-established faculty, obviously at a top school or just I’d say really in the top 100. You have a really high level of expert in their field that are teaching these classes. Have those been similar interactions? Have you been kind of ingrained in those communities on the faculty and staff side equally? Or has it been, have you focused on one or the other?

Peter: No, I think it’s the great thing about Williams is the faculty are super involved and want to be involved with their students. And, definitely on the econ side, well, actually on both econ and bio, all of these professors are doing research and they’re all wanting to get their students involved with their own research. And so they’re really open to talking to you and wanting to get lunch with you. And, that’s something I wish I’d taken advantage of earlier. But I feel like now I’m trying to, in my last two years, do that a little bit more and just, even if it’s just picking their brains and seeing what they can teach you, it’s definitely, I would say, super important and super interesting to get to know your faculty.

Interviewer: Yeah. And just from what I’ve seen, I was there for two days, I think. But just the way the campus is set up and the size, like you’re bound to just run into people. And I think that’s just exactly what a lot of students should seek out, even if they go to like a really big school. But just put you on the spot really quick. Test your memory. Do you have a favorite class that you’ve taken in either?

Peter: Yeah, this is a tough one because there’s so many great classes I’ve taken. I would say for econ, definitely the intro classes are great. Again, great to just get a general sense of what’s going on. They’re super helpful, even if you’re not going to major in it. For bio, I really enjoyed taking genetics. I thought that was a really fascinating class that I took. We worked on kind of identifying a gene within a fly, which might not sound super interesting, but it was kind of cool to do your own research that no one else has done before. But even apart from my major classes, I think there are classes that you take that you don’t even take for any reason and then they end up being super interesting. Like, I took a computer science intro class that was amazing because it’s just something I’ve never done before, and also, you know, good skills to get, but yeah, whatever major you’re going to be in, there’s going to be amazing classes here. There are just too many opportunities.

Interviewer: Yeah, I want to focus on what you just said, like developing a skill, something you’ve never done. Higher ed, from a structural standpoint, doesn’t always do the best job of introducing students. But again, back to like these conversations, I think you just highlighted such an important thing. Like, I was a history major. I did English because it was convenient and there was a lot more overlap than econ and bio. But if you can sit down and say like, hey, I’m a humanities guy. I still need some of that, like, hard skills or business focus. I think educating students to seek that out anywhere, whether you’re at a small liberal arts or anything, it’s possible to find it. So I just like to highlight what you just said. I don’t even know if you noticed, like, you said, like, such an important piece. So yeah, really random backstory. I took this Darwinism class that was part of my class outside my major. And the faculty was like, his whole career—I forget. Apparently, he’s famous with fruit fly genetics, which I was like, that doesn’t sound cool at all. But like you start to learn about it. So I’ll have to pull his name up after. But my mom was like, wait. That guy’s like famous for this whole thing. So anyway, that was my exposure to it. And obviously, I didn’t pursue it career-wise, but like you just said, it was this random thing where I was like, this is so cool to learn. So I think that’s super important. You just touched on the faculty, their willingness to meet. So, let’s start with the community and what it’s like to live in the area. Is there a central part of campus where you meet with faculty or friends all the time?

Peter: Yeah, I would definitely say there’s kind of a more central part of Williams, around, you know, Paresky and Paresky Lawn, near Sawyer Library. But what’s really nice about Williams is that it’s so small that everyone is kind of involved, so even if you’re in your little corner of your dorm, it’s close enough to have people come visit, and you’re close enough to visit other people in their dorms. I love doing that because you can explore new buildings you haven’t seen before. So, while there are definitely central areas, nothing is ever too far away where you can’t ride your bike or take a walk. Everything’s within a 10-minute walking distance.

Interviewer: That’s nice. Are the dorms on campus? Do you stay on campus all four years, or do people live off-campus?

Peter: You have to stay on campus for your first three years, and then your senior year, you can live off-campus. But it’s pretty limited. I’ll be living in a dorm next year with a couple of my friends just because we didn’t want to deal with the hassle of off-campus housing. I was driving around and saw some cool little spots, but it’s very blue-collar, industrial—kind of five minutes off-campus.

Interviewer: Yeah, I was going to ask if there were tons of off-campus housing. And then, really quickly, what was that amazing breakfast place? I think it’s the only one on campus, right next to or across from the ice cream stand?

Peter: Oh, uh, Spring Street Market or Tunnel City is probably what you’re thinking.

Interviewer: Yeah, I went there for like five meals in two days; it was so good!

Peter: Haha, yeah. Tunnel City and Spring Street Market are places where people go to get a meal or a coffee and then just do work or meet with others. It’s a good place to hang out.

Interviewer: So, that’s like the downtown Main Street area. Are there academic buildings close to that? I know athletics is kind of mixed in there, but where are the academic buildings?

Peter: Yeah, there are some. If you’re walking down that street, to the right, there’s a whole central part of the campus where you’ll find bio, chem, physics—all the Division III stuff. The humanities side is across the street from Route 2. So, not too many academic buildings down there, but everything is pretty close.

Interviewer: Got it. Last thing about the community—obviously, Williams is small and close-knit. Are students ever exploring different parts of the region? It feels like you’re close to New York, and you’re on the edge of Massachusetts, so it’s not far from places like Albany. Are people venturing out to those places?

Peter: Yeah, Albany is not too far, but we don’t go there too often. We’ve gone up to Burlington a couple of times, which is farther away, but it’s a great spot. People definitely go to Albany, Pittsfield, and sometimes even Boston if you’re feeling ambitious. There’s a ton of stuff to do in the area, even if you’re not going to a city. Tons of outdoor activities—hiking, skiing in the winter, all kinds of things. Even though it might feel secluded, there’s so much to do here. It’s all about access, and everything is within reach.

Interviewer: Yeah, that’s great. I agree. It’s nice to step away from academics and just go outside for a bit. I think that helps you stay balanced.

Peter: For sure.

Interviewer: Well, we touched on community and curriculum. Let’s dive into the career side of things. You mentioned you have some exciting plans after graduation. How have you approached exploring your career during your time at Williams? Were there internships or resources that helped you?

Peter: I definitely had a bit of an advantage with two older siblings who helped me figure out when to start looking and what to pay attention to. My first summer, I interned at a leasing company and did some finance work there, which sparked my interest in finance. By sophomore year, I started thinking longer-term—looking ahead to two summers down the road, not just the next one. I started reaching out to the career center, talking to people I knew who were in the field, and going to info sessions.

Interviewer: That sounds like a solid approach. Was it through networking or cold emailing that you found most of your opportunities?

Peter: Yeah, the biggest thing is just getting started early because things creep up on you faster than you expect. I initially wanted to go into investment banking but quickly pivoted to consulting, which felt more in line with my interests. I went to a lot of info sessions, reached out to a couple of alumni, and ended up finding some companies that I thought were interesting.

Interviewer: Is it easy to make those connections at Williams because of the smaller community?

Peter: Yeah, it’s a lot easier to keep those relationships going. It’s not necessarily easy to get a response every time you cold email someone, but because the community is small, once you establish a connection, it’s easy to keep it going. People from Williams want to help you succeed. They know you’re a hard worker, and that makes it easy to ask for help without feeling like it’s a transaction.

Interviewer: Absolutely. So, it sounds like you took a well-rounded approach. You attended events and tapped into the career center’s resources. And now, it looks like you’ve found a role at Trinity Life Sciences for the summer. Is that an internship or a full-time job?

Peter: It’s an internship for the summer, but I’m definitely very interested in the field, so I’m strongly considering going back after I graduate.

Interviewer: That’s awesome. What’s your role at Trinity Life Sciences, and what will you be working on?

Peter: I’ll be an associate consultant, focusing on life sciences—specifically biotech and pharmaceuticals. I’ll be working on things like pricing, marketing, and helping clients with market strategy. It’s more niche consulting compared to general consulting, but it’s an exciting opportunity, and I’m really looking forward to it.

Interviewer: That sounds like an exciting role! Is your work more research-based, or will there be a client-facing component?

Peter: It depends on which sector of the internship I’m placed in, but as an intern, I probably won’t be super client-facing. However, as you move up in the consulting field, client interaction becomes a big part of the job. While I may not be as involved in that at the start, I’ll definitely get exposure to it, along with market research and analysis.

Interviewer: That’s great exposure. And is this in a city?

Peter: Yeah, it’s in Waltham, Massachusetts, just outside of Boston. Waltham is big for biotech, so it’s a great location.

Interviewer: That’s really interesting! So, are there other Williams students involved with Trinity, or did you find the opportunity on your own?

Peter: Trinity has a Williams outreach program. They send alumni to give info sessions, and they do the same with other companies like Bain and McKinsey. Williams is a target school for a lot of companies, but I also learned during this process to not only focus on the companies that come to campus. There are so many great companies out there that you might not hear about otherwise. LinkedIn is a great tool for seeing where Williams alumni end up and which companies they work for.

Interviewer: That’s great advice. It sounds like you’ve really taken a proactive approach, and it’s clearly paying off. So, just to round things out, what’s your biggest tip for making the most of your undergrad years?

Peter: It might sound a little generic, but my biggest tip is to take advantage of the four years you have. Don’t just focus on academics—take classes that sound interesting or quirky, even if you won’t use them again. Professionally, take advantage of info sessions and coffee chats. Socially, go to events like ice cream socials, soccer games, and football games. There are so many experiences, and even as a junior, I feel like I’ve only scratched the surface of what I could do here. Just go in with an open mind and embrace the experience, even when it’s overwhelming.

Interviewer: That’s fantastic advice. Thank you so much for your time and insight, Peter. I know a lot of students are going to benefit from hearing about your experiences.

Peter: Of course, thank you!