Christine Alvarado
Associate Professor of Computer Science
Ben was in my CS42 class in the fall of 2010. CS42 is the most advanced of HMC’s introductory computer science courses. This was perhaps my favorite class that I taught in the seven years I was at HMC, and I remember Ben fondly. He was always engaged with an unfailing positive attitude. He was the kind of student that made me truly love my job.
Casey Cannon '16
I’m an incoming freshman, but when I was trying to decide between Harvey Mudd and Pomona, I visited Sontag during finals week and met Ben and his friends. They were very helpful and Ben told me about the Braineaters (how often they meet, etc.) although he was relatively quiet for most of the time. Meeting these Mudd students really made me want to come to Mudd.
Karl Haushalter
Professor
I have fond memories of Ben as a student in my Chem 24 laboratory class and feel incredibly fortunate to have met him. Ben added tremendously to the personality and character of the class by always approaching each lab task with gusto, humor, and diligence. He was a natural leader among the students in the class and someone that his peers felt comfortable approaching for help. I remember during the semester hoping that he would become a chemistry major or at least take some additional chemistry classes so that I would have an opportunity to work with him again. He was an outstanding young man and he will be deeply missed by his teachers and classmates here at Mudd.
Hufsa Ahmad '11
ASHMC President 2010-2011
Dear Ms. Lewis, Mr. Huppe, and everyone else who was blessed enough to know Ben,
I’m sorry for your great, great loss. He was a freshman when I was a senior, and he was freshman class co-president when I was ASHMC President. He was also a dear friend.
I remember him very vividly, as an avid, adventurous, enthusiastic young frosh that really did make me smile on many, many occasions. He was always gung-ho about everything, a real leader. I looked forward to hearing him speak during ASHMC meetings (and he spoke a lot indeed). He really believed in the things he was advocating for and really cared about his class and the school.
He and Jack Ma were also the only two people besides me to dress up for the Halloween ASHMC meeting too. Their costumes? Ben was Jack Ma; Jack Ma was Ben. I remember laughing very hard and thinking about how I loved their cheerful nature. And I remember Ben’s smile very, very clearly. It’s a smile that’s contagious, even on bad days (even on the really bad days—trust me!).
Of course, he cared about Sontag. I can’t remember how many times I chuckled when he would come to me and tell me about the latest “classy” Sontag fad. It didn’t matter that I wasn’t part of Sontag – he integrated me in dorm anyway. He was one of the proponents behind having me be a “bodyguard” for one of their classy Sontag dinners in the Hoch – which was creative and hilarious. (How could I say no to him and the other freshmen?) Overall, he was one of the largest forces behind creating or emphasizing a Sontag culture. It was really great to see.
Without a doubt, he has impacted the lives of many. He will always be missed, but never forgotten.
Sincerely,
Judy Fisher
Director of OCS
I met Ben a couple of times and on both occasions, I was very impressed with his maturity and commitment to Harvey Mudd, his classmates and his future career. The first meeting was with his peer Jack Ma. As Co-Presidents of their class, they were eager to partner with the Office of Career Services to do a possible program to help their peers. They had done an assessment of the first year class that was quite impressive. I found Ben to be very level headed with some issues concerning such a program. The next meeting was on April 23 and had to do with an internship he had found on his own at a nonprofit in Washington that I believe had to do with sustainability. The employer was seeking a writing sample, and we talked about some papers he could possibly use. I was looking forward to working with Ben the next two years. He reminded me why I like working at Mudd so much – the students are the best!