Page 3 - Marching Along - Spring 2017
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Chapter Spotlight: Ben Duncan

Editor’s Note: Representing the active chapter as Spotlight is Ben Duncan. From the
hometown of Tallahassee, Ben is a senior at UF and is working toward his degree in
mechanical engineering. Our former risk manager and administrative vice president, Ben
is also involved on campus with Gatorloop as co-founder and co-captain, and the Integrated
Product and Process Design Team as mechanical team lead. His work experience includes
the UF College of Engineering as teaching assistant, and with UF Academic Technology as
a technical consultant. His internships include Siemens for energy management in Atlanta,
and he has one coming up this summer at Lockheed Martin for missile and fire control in
Orlando. For fun, Ben enjoys golf, hiking, hunting, and fishing.

                                                                                                that I plan to give back as much as I can. Networking
                                                                                                with alumni, and receiving advice on internal affairs
                                                                                                have been forefront in our chapter’s continued
                                                                                                success. Without involvement from alumni, the
                                                                                                lessons learned from previous years never make it to
                                                                                                the active chapter. I plan to stay involved to see the
                                                                                                future generations of Betas shaped into great men.

                                                                                                Outside of school, what do you do for fun?
                                                                                                  In the little bit of time I get outside of school, I
Ben (center) and the Gatorloop team at the SpaceX facility in Hawthorne, CA, attending          love being outdoors and developing my golf game.
                                   the first Hyperloop Pod Competition.                         I am an avid sportsman, enjoying hunting, fishing,

What led you to join Gamma Xi?                       last summer. Extracurricular experience, business and hiking in my free time. Almost everything I do
Coming into college, I was determined to do rush professionalism, and planning were all integral in for fun takes me outdoors to be in nature. Also, I
right. I visited most fraternity houses on campus and securing the internship with Lockheed Martin this come from a golfing family, so I get out often to
met as many brothers from each chapter as possible. summer.                                     practice and keep my game in shape.
Night after night, I found myself coming back to
meet more guys. It seemed that everyone I met had    What are your plans for after graduation?
unique backgrounds and stories, with shared values     I will graduate in the fall of
that I agreed with. The Men of Principle of Gamma
Xi are what attracted me to the chapter.             2017, thereafter I plan to spend five
                                                     months hiking the 2,180-mile-long
                                                     Appalachian Trail from Georgia
How did you secure an internship at Lockheed to Maine. As for a full-time job, I
for this summer?                                     hope to pursue a career in system
One of the greatest resources of my college engineering working toward an
career has been Gamma Xi’s network. Using the MBA program in the upcoming
advice from older Beta engineers, I got involved years.
early in developing my professional presence. I
volunteered as an undergraduate researcher, took     Why do you feel it will be           Ben (left) with his girlfriend while hiking the backcountry
leadership positions in the fraternity, and founded  important to stay involved with          of Providence Canyon State Park in Lumpkin, GA.
the Gatorloop design team. These experiences         the chapter as an alumnus?
helped mold me into a competent engineering
student and helped to build my resume. I pursued       Alumni are the key to having a
internships at the annual career fairs and was       successful, stable chapter ready to
fortunate to secure an internship with Siemens       take on challenges. The Gamma Xi
                                                     Chapter has given so much to me

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