Title
Episode 03: The Breadth and Depth of Student Involvement with Ben Pontz ’20
Document Type
Audio
Publication Date
1-13-2020
Department 1
President’s Office
Abstract
In this episode of Conversations Beneath the Cupola, podcast host, Gettysburg College President Robert W. Iuliano, is joined by guest Benjamin Pontz ’20. Pontz is a political science and public policy double major, music minor, and a very involved student across campus. He serves as a drum major of the marching band, an Eisenhower Institute Fielding Fellow, and the Editor-in-Chief of The Gettysburgian, among many other pursuits.
Iuliano and Pontz begin the episode by acknowledging the turning of the tables. An active member of The Gettysburgian, Pontz is often the interviewer, not the interviewee. He has written more than 188 articles for The Gettysburgian, and of these, his beginning to end coverage of the College’s newly approved business major and the newspaper staff’s editorial endorsement of the College’s institutional philosophy on freedom of expression are among his favorites.
Beyond The Gettysburgian, the Eisenhower Institute, and the marching band, Pontz is the news director of the campus radio station and holds a host of campus jobs. Pontz attributes his ability to be so active on campus to the breadth and depth of opportunity that exits at Gettysburg College. Between academics and extracurriculars, Pontz has a lot on his plate, but his “secret” to making it all work is careful planning. He identifies several goals for himself each year and checks in on them every week to ensure he is making progress.
At the end of the interview Iuliano asks Pontz to reflect on what he would change about his Gettysburg College experience if he had the chance. Above all else, Pontz wishes he would have spent more time talking with his professors about their fields of expertise, though he admits he’s unsure what would have needed to go in his busy schedule to allow it.
Recommended Citation
Iuliano, Robert W. and Pontz, Benjamin, "Episode 03: The Breadth and Depth of Student Involvement with Ben Pontz ’20" (2020). Conversations Beneath the Cupola. 3.
https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/podcast/3
Comments
A full transcript of the podcast is available on the podcast website.