There’s a Heart Here

Benjamin Keil ’24

Benjamin Keil graduated from HCC with an associate degree in chemistry. He is now a pre-med student at Commonwealth Honors College at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. A UMass teaching assistant and a member of the sailing team, Keil is working on his honors thesis exploring healthcare and equality in the United States. He gave a talk at HCC in April, from which these remarks were adapted.  

‘My parents didn’t particularly believe in college, or any kind of school system, really. My father had dropped out, started his own business and was successful with that. School just wasn’t for him, and I grew up hearing that. My parents wanted me to be an independent thinker.

I was homeschooled. Pros and cons. I became an independent thinker, yes, but I grew up with a certain judgment about school. I didn’t want to go to college.

Instead, I worked. Trader Joe’s for five years. Two and a half years with a volunteer medical outreach program in Guatemala, and before that at the Institute for Holistic Health in New York. 

I was kind of a wanderer, but I know I wouldn’t have been interested in school if I hadn’t wandered first.

I reached a point where I thought, what am I afraid of? I was living in Amherst and started classes at Berkshire Community College. I took classes online because I was afraid to go in person. I felt like online would be easier. 

But online classes were not so fun for me, and one of my advisers recommended HCC. It was much closer and had a good reputation. That made sense to me. I didn’t want to apply to UMass out of the gate, because I didn’t have the confidence yet. HCC turned out to be a really good stepping-stone into that next level of education. 

In the beginning, I didn’t know what was going on. I didn’t know how to navigate the system. I didn’t understand anything. When I had questions, I would go to the Pathways Program. Pathways allowed me to move through with ease. 

As a STEM Scholar, I wasn’t able to fit Learning Communities or Honors classes into my schedule, but I still feel like I got those experiences through the STEM program. The philosophy, the psychology — we were going in these really broad directions and asking really deep questions, like, what does the future of STEM look like? What does the future of education look like? And, honestly, that overprepared me for the honors classes I’m now taking at UMass. 

Pathways also connected me with the UMass Summer Bridge Program that really helped me integrate. That allowed me to get some writing and classes out of the way. I got free meal passes. They showed me around campus. I made connections with professors. 

HCC had really helped me build a solid foundation. I felt there was always someone there to help me. I gained the confidence that I’m a good student, and I did not have that confidence going in. When I first came to HCC, I hoped I could study medicine. When I left, I knew I could. 

I’m 34 now. I’ll be in medical school and residency until I’m like 44. I don’t care. I’m excited because I love to learn. I gave myself the time to mature, and it took me a long time. Each to their own. 

When I first started college, my father just kind of looked at me, like, what are you doing that for? I was like, Dad, I’m gonna do it. I love you, but I’m gonna become my own person. 

Once my father started to see me flourish here, he changed his mind about college. 

I learned a lot at HCC. There’s a receptivity here that’s much harder to find at other places. There’s a passion. There’s a depth. There’s a heart here that is just really beautiful, and I believe there needs to be more of that in the world. I’m trying to carry that on.’