Senior of the Year: Benj Cohen

It’s difficult to stay humble when you’re the head of two large clubs, one of the top rowers in the country and one of the most well-known students on campus, but four year senior Benj Cohen walks around with a certain touch of humility.

Cohen was first drawn to Exeter by the idea of Harkness, which he still claims is the “best way to learn.” The learning system seemed more engaging and interesting than a normal high school class, and its close student interaction helped Cohen find friends right from the start.

While Cohen enjoyed the classes at Exeter, it didn’t take him long to get involved in many other groups and extracurricular activities outside the classroom. Dorm life, in Cilley Hall, was one of the first areas of Exeter that caught Cohen’s attention. In the dorm he began to develop many close friendships, especially with his proctors, whom he strove to emulate.

“I feel like living in Cilley was the best thing that happened to me because during my first year at Exeter the proctors were really awesome dudes and really good role models for me,” he said. “They just seemed really engaged in everything they were doing, involved socially and just awesome guys to be around.”

One of the characteristics Cohen soon picked up from his proctors and other dorm mates was “how to be a really good friend to people in the dorm.” According to Cohen, seeing how other people in the dorm treated each other helped him learn how to connect better with people and have more fun with them. Whether it was 2 a.m. games of Halo or wrestling in the hallway during frees, he created many fond memories in the dorm and learned how to be a more affable guy.

Senior Jay Lee, who spent four years in Cilley with Cohen, described this side of Cohen’s personality. “Since prep year, we’ve grown to become like true brothers, and he’ll always have my back as much as I have his, especially when either one of us is going through a rough time,” Lee said. “This friendship has been priceless, and living with him has made [our friendship] memorable and strong enough for a lifetime and more.”

Cohen now serves as a proctor in Cilley Hall and enjoys the opportunity to hang out with new students and help them out as his proctors did for him.

Cohen’s ability to connect well with other students drew him to other areas of Exeter. Like in Cilley, Cohen found himself a home on the crew team. While he was one of the last kids to make the team, he found a new passion for physical activity and competition through crew and transformed himself into one of the top rowers in the nation.

Since his prep year, he has created a long list of accomplishments during his crew career. Lower year, he and the rest of the team won the New England Championship, a feat which he considers his biggest at Exeter. Outside of school, he has participated in many worldwide crew events, such as traveling to Spain with the world development team two summers ago and representing the U.S. in the youth olympic games last summer. Cohen’s hard work and success in crew serves as motivation for both himself and his fellow teammates.

Upper Josh Forbes described Cohen as “awe-inspiring” when it comes to crew, and his ability to work and lead.

“He’ll act like another coach—instructing us on our form or telling us what workouts to do,” Forbes said. “Anyone who knows anything about the ‘cult’ of crew knows that Benj is its smiling, Jewish patriarch here at Exeter, and he’s always willing to help anyone from novice to fellow members of B1.”

Besides being a leader on the boat, Cohen also carries his leadership into student government as the president of Student Council (StuCo). He first joined StuCo with one goal in mind, “to make our school better.” Since then, he has lead many initiatives that have been spot on for making the community happier.

This year he helped create a new gender-neutral dress code policy with the absence of ties as well as a StuCo app to further student feedback.

For many students involved in StuCo, Cohen’s passion for the club is clear and admirable. Senior Emily Lemmerman was impressed by Cohen’s constant engagement, even when questions directed to him become repetitive.

“Benj has an incredible commitment to StuCo, which definitely shows through in his patience as he explains the dress code for the umpteenth time,” she said. “His approachability as a leader has also been really important to the mission of council this year.”

Director of Studies Laura Marshall agreed with Lemmerman. Throughout this year of working with him she has seen his strong desire to help improve the lives of the student body.

“It’s been great working with Benj,” she said. “I think he has had a very ambitious year. He has tried to accomplish a lot and has accomplished a lot. He is very dedicated and cares a lot about the student experience.”

Crew and StuCo aren’t the only two areas where Cohen has sacrificed hours to work toward a goal. Cohen has been involved in The Exonian’s Business Board since his prep year and served as the chair of the club his upper year. One of his favorite parts of the club is seeing a group of students unite around a shared passion every week, without any alternative incentives.

“No one is payed in Biz Board, yet we came in every week working to increase subscriptions and working around the same goal,” he said. “Getting everyone to unite around one thing and working together as a team to get it done is the most valuable thing that I have learned from these experiences at Exeter.”

Cohen not only serves as a good leader to his peers, but also as a great listener. According to Allison Battles, the advisor of Business Board, while Cohen was always “set on achieving certain goals,” he was always open to feedback from his co-workers.

“If a peer would bring him an idea he would always listen to the idea and try to work it in with the overall goals of Business Board,” she said. “He was willing to listen and come to an agreement if there was a different point of view, as well as to see both sides and make a compromise for everybody.”

However, while many students view Cohen as an inspiring leader and hard worker, Lee believes he has a great “soft side” as well and knows how to balance work and fun perfectly.

“He’s sort of like Peter Pan in my opinion, never wanting to leave Neverland and loving his youth,” Lee said. “And it’s not like he’s a child all the time; most of the times, he is that diligent student that everyone sees him for, and then the next moment he’s like a playful child.”

Lemmerman agreed. According to her, Cohen’s biggest strength in StuCo is getting things done while still keeping a light hearted and fun attitude.

“He balances hardworking and laid-back in a really great way,” she said. “He’s friendly and thoughtful, but never too serious. I’ve definitely learned from him the confidence to go the last mile in anything I do.”