Those That Serve – Feature On Graduate Student John Benson
Many graduate students come into Newhouse in a traditional way by enrolling right after their undergrad program. But a few grad students choose to get work experience first and then come back. John Benson is one of those people.
I reached out to John on Veteran’s Day last weekend. Even though he served for six years on active duty from 2011 through 2017, he is not part of the military program at the school currently. The G.I Bill funds his continued education and he is currently attached to the Navy Reserves where he will continue to serve until 2022.
John’s undergraduate program was at St. John’s University in Minnesota. A small, private college west of St. Cloud. After graduating in 2007, he went on to be a production assistant at KELO TV in his hometown of Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
However, John always wanted to join the military and decided to head into a career of service. In June 2011, he joined the Navy and initially trained in the nuclear program and then landed a role as a Mass Communications Specialist. His first duty station was at the historic USS Constitution in Boston. There he was a jack-of-all-trades in publishing from writing articles, taking photos, and shooting video to providing media escorts, being a tour guide, and printing content for the ship’s visitors and local media. Since he had to do it all, he is familiar with how the whole system works top to bottom.
In October 2014 he was deployed to Bahrain where he was working in Public Affairs at Naval Support Activity. While in Bahrain, he was responsible for taking photos, writing articles, and publishing the base newspaper twice a month. During his deployment, he applied to the Multimedia, Photography, and Design program at Newhouse. Upon completion of his deployment in 2016, he moved out to Syracuse to start work on his Master’s in July of this year.
The military highly values those who continue their education. They like if you are continuing to build upon your skills, but even online classes weren’t enough for John. He wanted more and started looking at various schools including the Rhode Island School of Design and USC, among others, but eventually landed at Syracuse University. Military personnel who had utilized the military program in the past had planted the seed for John to inquire about Newhouse while in Boston. Though he chose not to come in via the program, his military experience is shown in his work ethic and publishing knowledge.
As a communicator, the military was tough. When trying to get a story sometimes interviewees were not as responsive as a civilian would or could be. This challenge turned into strength, as he had to get a story no matter what, and will continue to be beneficial overall as he continues to work towards his goals in the future.
This is also not his only master’s program either. He is currently completing an online program in Strategic Communication through Liberty University, so by the end of the summer he’ll be a double master’s degree recipient.
Still, though, he wants to learn more and is considering a doctorate in documentary film-making from Temple University. He could go another direction as well and that is sports. When pressed, he thinks it would be fun to develop a company that live streams fringe sporting events such as paintball, martial arts, and many others.
More importantly, service has always been in his blood. Prior to joining the military, he was a full-time AmeriCorps volunteer for two different programs. From August 2008 through July 2009 he worked as a Construction Assistant with Habitat for Humanity in Lafayette, Louisiana. Following that year he worked for the Palm Beach Literacy Coalition in Boynton Beach, Florida from August 2009 through July 2010. He still enjoys teaching and still does in communication courses here as an Instructional Assistant.
We also discussed going from a restricted lifestyle to that of college again. Both of us went to a small private college, worked on a ship where our meal times were monitored, then back to the free flow of college and how our views and work ethic changed between these times.
We agreed we are grateful for a more free-flowing living situation, our work ethic has become more stringent, personal relationships take more effort living off-campus, and any time for rest and quietness is not taken for granted.
I asked him if he felt it more beneficial to come back later, with all these experiences and lifestyle adjustments that he lived through, not going into a graduate program right after getting a bachelors, and he thought it was. Using all his prior background he’ll be able to step into a higher leadership position immediately out of school and for that, he’s thankful.
It will be interesting to see where John’s life continues to lead after his time here at Syracuse. No matter what career path he chooses though, it will most likely include serving others.
