Sean DeLima attended Cambridge University’s 2010 summer school program entitled, "International Politics in a Global Age”.

A special thank you to Dr. Irmgard Bocchino and the Broward College Honors Institute for helping to facilitate my time at this program! My four weeks in Europe - will stand still for an eternity in my memories; the perspectives, relationships, knowledge, and experiences stand as the foundation of my new range of thought."

The information I gathered from the Cambridge University Summer School Program - through plenary lectures, classes, and conversation - has truly provided me with an invaluable international perspective. Being able to interact with citizens of some 32 countries (during and after classes), allowed me to gain clarity on topics such as socialism, the environment, the European Union, and above all, Indian and Chinese politics. During my free time, the bicycle-friendly campus landscape gave me an opportunity to explore the terrain at my discretion – I had an opportunity to ride through the former residence of Charles Darwin, read and write in the former backyard of Stephen Hawking, explore the historical infrastructure around Cambridge, and investigate the museums, the eateries, the parks, the River Cam, and numerous other points of interest. The weather, likened to that of spring-time in the Northeast United States, complimented my experience; as a Floridian, experiencing non-humid 70-degree days and cool nights in July was a virtue! I will always cherish the time spent at this lovely establishment, and look forward to rekindling the experience at some point in the future!

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Since winning the Jack Kent Cooke Scholarship, Ben Walker embarked on an adventure that just months before would have seemed entirely impossible. Leaving South Florida, where he grew up, he arrived in Colorado in August, 2007 to continue his undergraduate studies in engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Colorado brought with it a new way of life, western style, and a new colder climate. Ben adjusted quickly to the winter weather conditions and came to love the area almost immediately. He has no plans to leave Colorado, even after he finishes his studies.

At the end of his first year, Ben organized and took on the leadership of an undergraduate team of electrical and computer engineering students who entered an IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) sponsored design competition. Assisting the CU team were two summer interns from India, who visited Colorado, and four students at the University of Tokushima in Japan, who collaborated via videoconferencing. Ben spent much of his first summer working on this research project. The project continued during the next academic year and into his second summer. The team, despite many challenges, were finalists at the final competition in Chicago (July, 2009) and brought back two of the six cash awards. The project was an enormously useful learning experience on both technical and organizational levels. In addition to this research, Ben held an internship during his second summer in 2009 at Boulder Electric Motor Company, a local service shop for electrical machinery. Field work frequently took him far into the mountains, at times to remote areas a two-wheel drive pickup truck was never intended to go.

During his Junior year, Ben discovered two new and interesting topics in the field of electrical engineering, namely power electronics and control theory. He immediately directed his senior level courses and labs towards this topic, and has decided to pursue an M.S. degree in these topics at CU Boulder. Serendipitously, this college is nationally ranked in power electronics and Ben feels fortunate to be able to stay in Colorado and still attend an outstanding M.S. degree program. Ben finished his undergraduate coursework in May 2010 and has recently begun his Master’s studies. As a member of the college’s concurrent B.S./M.S. program, he will not receive any diplomas until his Master’s studies are complete.

During this past summer of 2010, Ben has worked as an intern for National Semiconductor in Longmont, Colorado, in the power applications group. Presently, he is wrapping up his work at National Semiconductor and planning a new personal project with several professors to build a control system for a small remote-controlled helicopter, which would be an expansion of his successful senior project that he developed with four other senior engineering students. He currently plans to write a Master’s thesis in power electronics instead of doing the additional coursework option. Ben feels abundantly fortunate to have been given so many unexpected opportunities and credits the Broward Community College Honors Institute and Phi Theta Kappa with turning him into “scholarship material” and encouraging him to “reach for the stars.”