Branch 151
(August, 2009)

In the past school year, I have been exposed to very fulfilling experiences while living on the Penn State Beaver campus. This past year, I had the pleasure of being an RA in the residence hall on campus. At first, it was very strange and I didn’t know how to interact with so many different personalities on my floor, let alone that whole building. From the experiences in the residence hall, I learned a lot about myself. I have learned to be patient with people, to be level-headed in an emergency, how not to be so irritated by people, and how to create a community on the floor with such a diverse group of people and personalities. Also, I was the VP of the Alpha Phi Omega petitioning group that is on the Penn State Beaver campus. To give you some background of Alpha Phi Omega, APO is based on scouting, and its three principles are friendship, leadership and service. As Vice President, I was given the role of helping the President in any way I could. For example, I planned fellowships, events, set up booths, etc., but the greatest reward that I got for all of this was that I was helping people understand that they could change the world. We all have the power to do something great inside of us. Some of don’t know that the power is inside of us, and others just simply ignore it. This year, I believe that I finally found that power inside of me, and I’m going to use that power to help others and to make this world a better, more unified world through servicing others and building friendships with people.

My major is a LAS degree, which is Letters, Arts, and Sciences. In this degree program, you can take courses from different disciplines and learn how the other courses interrelate to fit your educational pursuit. You can even create your own major. My major’s theme is Behavioral Analysis and Juvenile Delinquency. With this degree, I intend to do one of two things; either work as a caseworker in the school district or do research. I hope that either direction that I choose to go, I will be helping people in some way.

Ben was recommended by Director Joseph Fabri