Capturing the Small Town Life

The first fact Benjamin "Ben" Wang will share with you is that he considers himself to be a proud citizen of Maryland. His experiences within the state, including his high school roots and friends, have allowed him to explore new opportunities around him, and that included discovering what possibly laid ahead when he enrolled at Washington College, including switching to a Business major.

Brian Palmer (left) and Ben Ben (right) at Dry Tortugas Island.

His experiences within the state, including his high school roots and friends, have allowed him to explore new opportunities around him, and discover what possibly laid ahead when he enrolled at Washington College, including switching to a Business major.

“[While] I don't really know what exactly I want yet because I changed my major to Business last semester, I like the professors here,” Ben said. “Since we have smaller class sizes, you really get to talk to and know your professors well. They really care about you.”

Ben found his connections with those in his new field of study to be helpful in not only figuring out which new directions to take or which skills to sharpen, but also how to adapt to unexpected circumstances within his college career.

“When we moved online last semester [due to the COVID-19 pandemic], I had a hard time adjusting,” Ben explained of his experience. “My professor reached out to me when I was behind. He also tried really hard to make sure we get the most out of online classes.”

Prior to the pandemic, Ben took the chance to further expand on his passion: taking photos. Because he enjoys “capturing moments” at a variety of different angles, he had the opportunity to do so in a recent five-member group to the Dry Tortugas Island in Key West.

“We got a school van, drove down to Key West and took a ferry to the island Dry Tortugas [where] we spent a few nights on the island,” Ben explained. “We did Architectural photography, Astrophotography, and Underwater photography, [and I feel that] I learned a lot.”

During the spring semester, Ben was one of the few students on campus, where he kept him self busy outside of Zoom classes by working for the Athletics Department as a photographer.

“It is a smaller and beautiful campus [since] it is away from the city,” Ben said. “It is nice and peaceful. It is good to be back in Maryland.”

As a former lacrosse player, his passion for photography began with athletics after an injury took Ben off the field.

"Athletic's games were closed to spectators this year because of COVID, so it was nice to have exclusive access to the sidelines and capture moments to share with community,"  Ben explained about his role. "I like to be involved, but I don’t have to be the center of attention. That’s the beauty of photography: you get to observe what is going on and be a part of it." 

Ben is a Rebecca Corbin Loree intern for Enrollment Management and Marketing this summer, where he is expanding his knowledge of digital and video editing software, as well as learning the ins and outs of marketing. 

“I get to see behind the scenes of how marketing runs. People don’t always realize all the thought, time, and people that go into a project to make it look seamless.”