Meet Benn Stancil

Major: Double Major in Mathematics and Economics
Hometown: Belmont, North Carolina

Benn Stancil was one of only 10 seniors nationwide selected to receive a fellowship at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He also received a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship, but declined that award to accept the Carnegie Fellowship.

Tell us about yourself.

I’ve never taken a lab in college (a fact that I’m quite proud of), and I’ve never been in Salem Hall. Also, while studying abroad in China, a friend and I once ate lunch at someone’s house, thinking that it was a restaurant.

What are your plans after graduation?

I’ll be working as a Junior Fellow in international economics at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. It’s only a one-year program, and I don’t know where I’ll be after, so I still have some figuring out to do.

Have your plans changed over the last four years?

When I first enrolled, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to major in, but I knew that I had enjoyed math in high school. I decided to stick with math until I didn’t like it, and that time still hasn’t come. My study of economics was more accidental; I took a couple of intermediate classes on a whim and realized that I really enjoyed the subject.

How have you grown during the last four years?

I’m leaving a completely different person than who I came in as, and I hope that at least some of those changes were moves forward. Wake Forest has exposed me to many new experiences and people, and I have learned to allow these things to shape who I am. Instead of resisting personal change, I have learned to be open to the things that define me.

Why did you choose Wake Forest?

For three reasons — I wanted both the small school atmosphere and Division I sports, and Wake Forest has been important to my family for years (both my parents attended Wake Forest, and my brother graduated from Wake Forest in ’07). In my four years, the sports didn’t disappoint, although I never would have predicted which specific sports were the most exciting. The family aspect also worked out; my parents are still talking to me, which they likely wouldn’t be if I had gone to UNC.

What makes a Wake Forest education unique?

By simply talking to a professor here or a student there, you can find opportunities for countless things at Wake Forest, from playing sports to doing research to traveling around the world. That, and we have a very lenient parking policy.

Who has influenced you most?

Dr. Kenneth Berenhaut in the math department has been enormously important to my experience. I worked with him for two years and a summer, and he’s helped me in countless ways, doing everything from helping fund trips to conferences to advising me on how to start a car in a Canadian winter. In the process, he became one of my best friends on campus.

What was your favorite class?

I took a couple of philosophy classes that I really enjoyed. As a math and econ major, it was nice to get away from data-driven computation (that is, until professors started expecting me to write papers). Also, in an attempt to avoid verb conjugations and tenses, I took Chinese to fulfill my foreign language divisional. Ultimately, this decision not only made a tiresome (or so I hear) divisional interesting, but it gave me the opportunity to travel to places I wouldn’t have been able to otherwise.

Did you conduct research with any of your professors?

After my sophomore year, I conducted research with Dr. Berenhaut during the summer. We continued working together for two years, and our work culminated in my thesis for my math degree.

Did you study abroad?

I studied abroad during two summers, once in London and once in Shanghai. My time in China taught me to appreciate the opportunities Wake Forest has provided for me; my time in London taught me to appreciate things priced in dollars.

What was your most meaningful extra-curricular experience?

Playing on the club baseball team. It was everything sports should be: lots of games, only a few practices, and good guys as teammates. Plus, we had some talent over my four-year span and were pretty good, so winning didn’t hurt.

What is your favorite memory of the last four years?

Winning the ACC football championship and winning big basketball games this year certainly stand out as prominent memories, but some of my best memories are from club baseball road trips. We often traveled to other schools for weekend series and these trips always proved to be entertaining, on and off the baseball field.

What will you miss most about Wake Forest?

I’ll miss the feeling that comes with sharing so many joys and sufferings (small-time sufferings, of course, such as exams and computers) with the people at Wake Forest. Despite Wake Forest’s definite divisions, I still feel that there is a sense of community among its students that will be hard to replicate in any post-college experience. More tangibly, I think I’ll miss club baseball and intramural sports as much as anything.

Words of advice for incoming freshmen ...

Have two people that can pass on your intramural football team and take math classes — you don’t have to write papers.

— Office of Creative Services
May 14, 2009