Ben Walker

PROFILE: Described by one of his professors as a “powerhouse” student, Ben Walker is on his way to big things in business, the non-profit world, or perhaps even education. Ben is a renaissance man who is as comfortable working with a team to solve an electrical engineering conundrum as he is composing music and poetry or just hanging out with friends playing poker. His kind-hearted, gentle, and considerate demeanor is not a put on. Thanks to a loving and caring family back in South Florida he learned the golden rule at a very early age and attempts to live it on a daily basis. Some people spend an entire lifetime searching for the right line of work. Ben can pinpoint the exact event when he discovered the direction his life would take. It was when he was 10 or 11 and home-schooled children were brought together for a lecture on electronics. While his fellow students scratched their heads wondering what it was all about, the light switch in Ben’s brain clicked on. 

INSPIRATION: While at Broward Community College, Ben met a professor who had a profound impact on his life. Dr. Irmgard Bocchino became “my boss, friend, and mentor.” Dr. Bocchino was the person who made Ben aware of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation and encouraged him to apply for an Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship. “She taught me to aim high, to raise my personal expectations, and to believe in myself. I cannot imagine having won this scholarship without her advice, her support, and her belief in me. I will always be grateful.”

ASPIRATION: To work as an electrical engineer, specializing in a relatively new field called “power electronics.”

MAKING A DIFFERENCE: Ben takes the greatest pride in the teaching he has done that has made an impact on other people's lives. This includes being a tutor, a substitute teacher, and most recently a science fair judge at a local middle school. “It is more important, I believe, to take pride not in talents, but in choices. I have had so many incredible teachers who have used their talents to challenge and inspire me, and I am excited by the thought that I might, even in a small way, do the same for others.”

ACCOLADES: Ben was the Broward Community College 2005 nominee for the National Barry Goldwater Scholarship. In addition, he won 1^st Place (team competition) and 2^nd Place (individual competition) in the 2005 Florida Two-Year College Math Olympics. While at the University of Colorado he received several honors for his work through competitions held by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

INTERESTING FACT: For the last three years, Ben has worked as a Recovery Specialist with “A Child Is Missing,” a national non-profit that helps locate missing children.