Page 15 - ME News Fall 2021

PAYING IT FORWARD
DONOR SPOTLIGHT: Harrison Benjamin, ME ‘56
Harrison “Harry” Benjamin and his wife
Patti give to the ME Scholarship Fund
each year because they want to help
students with funding their education
so they can worry less and focus on
their studies, finding what it is about
engineering that most fascinates them. The Benjamins also plant the seed for giving back early, telling their students that not only do they hope that someday they will have a career they love, but also that in their own financially fruitful years to come, the students will “pay it forward” and support scholarships themselves when the time is right.
Growing up on a small farm in rural Hastings, Minnesota, Benjamin was the only student in his grade in a one-room country schoolhouse from first through eighth grade. He loved science and math from
the start. “My education and time in ME laid the groundwork for an exciting and rewarding career,” said Benjamin. “I enjoyed my six years on campus, even though it was a very challenging experience. I had to fund my way through college and was a scholarship recipient myself.
I received scholarship awards of $54 per quarter, which covered
my quarterly tuition and fees. Imagine that! I paid for the rest of my education with summer employment.“
Benjamin retired after a long and fruitful career at Control Data Corporation. He says he always clearly recognized that his engineering education gave him the tools to solve business problems of every description, not just “engineering” problems. How better to learn research, structured analysis,
creative thinking, decisive
and timely planning, team
participation, mentoring, etc.,
than to get an engineering
education?
“Getting a mechanical engineering degree is getting an education in problem solving!”
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