Ben Van Pelt

Hometown:
Frankfort, Illinois

Major:
English and Political Science with a Certificate in Religious Studies

Why I Chose UW-Madison:
In high school I played football and one of my football coaches, my freshman year football coach, went here. He was a really smart guy. He influenced my life a lot, a big role model for me, and that's how I decided to choose to attend here. It was actually the only school that I applied to, no matter how much my mom wanted to sway me to stay closer to home. I remember my grandma actually offering money for me to stay home!

Dream Job:
My dream job? I want to change the world. I don't know how necessarily I'm going to do that. Maybe with a book. Maybe I’ll be a politician, but I don't want it to corrupt me, chew me up and spit me out as it's done to so many other people. Maybe CIA. Maybe law school. I’ve got some options open right now that I'm venturing to pursue.

How I Pay for College:
I work about 11 to 12 hours a week as a personal trainer at Recreational Sports, and then I work at Wando's, probably about 14 or 15 hours a week. So it’s close to 30 hours. My load is kind of burdensome . . . a scholarship has made it possible for me to stay in school and keep my grades up and be able to maintain my hobbies along with it.

What I’ve Missed While Working:
My mom. She’s doing really well now. I talk to her every day, but I can't get home to see her as much as I'd like to because of how many jobs I work. The summer before my senior year of high school, she was diagnosed with Stage 3 ovarian cancer. They gave her three to six months to live. She ended up having surgery upon surgery. I took it upon myself to stay there with her the whole time. That alone, I think, has shaped who I am and has really made me a stronger person.

Why Scholarships Make a Difference:
Give people a chance. I couldn't afford to come to school here, that's for sure, and I was blessed and very, very grateful with what I received. I'm trying to make the most of it, I really am, and I think that if you give that chance to a lot of other people, they would, too. This is a great institution. I've learned a lot here. I've grown up a lot here, really found out who I am, or at least I think who I am. I’ve made great friends, have had really good times. If people have the background and want to come here, I think they should have the opportunity. Having people here who can't necessarily afford it also adds to the diversity of the campus.

Thanks to Great People:
One of my favorite professors is Professor John Zumbrunnen – Political Science. He challenges me, but at the same time, he makes me laugh. And he's a family man. I respect him and look up to him in that regard. He’s got four kids that he's juggling around while teaching here. Both of my creative writing professors have been awesome. Jesse Lee Kercheval would critique my stuff and do the constructive criticism enough to where I was getting stuff out of it but not to where she was being too mean and completely ripping apart my writing. In Amy Quan Barry’s class, I had no intent of wanting to write any piece of poetry. I won't lie. But poetry was her strong suit. She really opened that up for me, and I wrote some things that I'm very happy with, some things that I may want to publish.