Interview with Parker Benningfield, Bates College

INTRO:

Interviewer: …I want to make the most of our time, so congratulations. You’re the first person to do this and I’m super pumped. And obviously leveraging our previous relationship helped me get you to agree to this, so thanks again. I think it’s going to be really fun and get people some access they haven’t had previously. So, again you’re the first person to do this, but we actually have around 25 interviews planned. And I’m shooting for somewhere around, like, 100 or so as a target. So, just going to book conversations, run with them, see what happens, and try to get some viewership. And maybe down the line, I can actually compensate people. So, you’re the guinea pig. So, we’ll go from there. But, yeah. That’s good. No, any other, like, thoughts or questions about kind of the goals of this or anything? Because we’ll just jump right in.

Parker: No, I mean that sounds like a pretty good plan. If you need anything. If you need anything else from me, if I can help out at all, I’d be more than happy to help.

Interviewer: Amazing. Yeah. No, you guys are the best. I’ve just been DM-ing people and messaging people on LinkedIn. And they’re just like, this is really cool. I want to do it. So, I’m also practicing because I’ve, like, never really interviewed aside from recruiting students, so I’m excited because I just get to listen instead of, like, presenting and persuading, which is cool. So, yeah, anyway, we’ll make the most of it.

INTERVIEW:

Interviewer: So, you’re not from Maine, but…

I would love to just hear about that whole process, what brought you from, Charlotte, NC and Austin, Texas to Bates, and I guess how you chose the school. And there are some obvious reasons, but I would love to hear about your background and get some more insight into your journey.

Parker: Yeah, for sure. So, I never knew about Bates until I started. I’m a student-athlete here at Bates. I’m a football player. And I was trying to go through the recruiting process. And my biggest thing is I had to get a good education while also being able to play football. And so, you know, the NESCAC was kind of talked about a little bit from my high school. There were student athletes that were going to the NESCAC, but they’re mostly going to Tufts or Trinity or stuff like that. And my mom was actually from Providence, Rhode Island. And so she kind of knew a little bit about the scene up here. And I knew I wanted to be on the East Coast. I knew that for a fact. So I had identified my target region. And then, you know, I was sitting down going through the recruiting process. And then I uploaded film online on different platforms especially on Twitter. It’s all Twitter, if you’re a football player you know that. And Coach Coyne, our head coach here at Bates, he got hired. And he said he was looking for any uncommitted 22s. And I, you know, a coach I knew forwarded my film to Coach Coyne and then I had a call with him and it was good. You know, I had a lot of my choices for schools mapped out and then I took a visit here at Bates in about, say, March, and loved it. Everyone was super nice. And then I had a second visit for committed students day or admitted students day. I went to that and I met some other kids that were just, you know, coming in for maybe for other sports or not really just coming to, you know, for whatever their reasons were. I knew probably from my conversations with people that it was going to be good, that it was the right fit. And what I would say for sure about me going and picking my schools is, you know, I had my basic criteria, which was, location, cost, academics, and I knew with Bates, it was going to be a little bit easier to pivot a little bit. And I knew if I didn’t like the area of study, I could change pretty easily which was a big thing for me about the liberal arts. You can kind of plug and play yourself and see where it goes. For example, I thought I was going to come in and be a rhetoric major, then switch to film communications and film major with a computer science minor, but took my first computer science class, realized it wasn’t for me at all. I did take an econ class just, you know, because I thought it sounded interesting and next thing you know, I’m studying econ and then I’m doing film on the side. And, you know, it was just perfect. So I think those are the ways I kind of knew it was the right fit for me.

Interviewer: Yes, so you had some direction. And then as a student athlete, there’s some kind of clarity from having schools that are interested in you or not from an athletic standpoint, like going through the process, certain ones you just, you don’t connect with as much. So, it sounds like that made it a bit easier, which is good. And then, touching on the liberal arts side of things, it sounds like you really wanted the high academic focus and then also the athletic focus as well in terms of your athletic goals and competitiveness.

Was it easy to decide and kind of narrow down which major you wanted? Was it just based on those classes you took? Or did you kind of project forward to thinking like, oh, this major is going to be better for my career, that kind of thing?

Parker: It definitely was a mix of both. So let’s start, you know, you asked about like school and the academic side. The number one thing was I needed to be in a place where if football didn’t work out, I had something else to do because football is so much of your life, but there are other things that are important to me, too. So I was majorly focused on choosing Bates and you know the schools I was looking at because it was clear that my school had to have football. For me, there was no choice about it because if I couldn’t play, I could be a manager on the football team or something like that. So that part was clear. That was number one thing. And then you know, I was thinking a lot about my studies. So when I was high school, I was taking film classes and I really liked the editing process. I really like, you know, video production. So I knew I wanted to stay connected with that in some way or shape or form. Yeah. And then for like figuring out other areas of study, I knew I could have a little bit of a entrepreneurial like mindset. I’ve run my own like freelance work. I, you know, I do video and film on the side doing productions. So that was a big thing for me as well. It’s just like, OK, well, how can I kind of melt all my interests and all my passions into one cohesive degree, one cohesive experience? So, I took econ as like, oh, you know, I think most kids when they’re freshmen in college, like, oh, econ, I’ll go work in investment banking or some type of like finance type of thing. But to me, it was like, oh, well, you know, it was kind of interesting. I found econ 150 and I could just see what it was like and just dive into the subject. And then if I didn’t like it, then next semester, like my freshman winter, I could do like psych or I could do politics. I could do something else that I know is considered like a like a stronger major when considering the trends in the postgrad workforce. So that flexibility was kind of big for me. So just trying to find a way that I can balance it out and try new things. I consider future career paths like going into some kind of coaching or politics. You know, you could make political ads or, you know, campaign econ to work in business and work in marketing there. Like, those are the most cohesive ways I could think of it at the time. Like, OK, I can combine this part of me and this part of me. I can slam it together and it’ll be easier to do everything I want to. I can kill several birds with one stone.

Interviewer: Yeah, I like that. So, so Bates obviously checks a ton of boxes for you in that way. And then being so strong with its network and resources, you can kind of tap into those things. So, you show up to Bates, you overcome the challenge of like narrowing down all these amazing schools. It’s based on location and fit and culture, all those things. So you get to Bates, you’re a student athlete, you’re in this econ track and you figure out like, I got to try stuff out before I can really decide, OK, I want that to be my major. Where do you go from there in terms of managing that? Like, obviously, not everyone’s a student athlete, but a lot of students at good schools do clubs, they’re doing internships, they’re doing things during the semester or term that goes outside of their curriculum and typical academic commitments.

So, you’ve got kind of your academic commitment, your athletic commitment. Are you adding more stuff to that? Are you adding more to your plate in your first year or are you kind of getting settled and then seeking out other experiences?

Parker: I would say, I mean, definitely, I’d say I started doing more in the winter following my first semester. I really started stacking things up. Freshman, my freshman fall, I really focused on football. And then my coach asked me if I wanted to be a part of the SAAC, Student Athlete Advisory Committee, so I joined that. Now, I guess that was the extent of my activities I did in my freshman fall. I just tried to get really settled. I tried to adjust from being in Texas and being in the South and North Carolina to now being in New England.

It was like complete culture shock and I was just trying to understand how to be a student athlete. My story can be familiar to athletes and non-athletes because Freshman fall is very difficult because you’re trying to balance a lot of different things while living in a new place. So then the spring started, and I felt a bit more settled so I started stacking up a little more with experiences. I got a job on campus working in the athletic department and I took it from there. I think it goes for everybody that the more you do stuff the more you figure it out. You figure out how to manage your time wisely. If you have four hours on a Tuesday in between classes, you’re not just sitting there napping or doing nothing. It keeps you busy and you start building your community. That was big for me. Then my sophomore year, I really started taking up harder classes and class schedules. I joined the investment club. I started being really active in investment club, stepping up more in my job at the athletic department and just really elevating side business with freelance video production as well. You just kind of figure it out from there.

Interviewer: Yeah, for sure. Yeah, just kind of diving into different experiences. I definitely fell victim to some of that extra nap time where I was not making the most of my week days. I was back in my dorm, taking a two-hour nap, and you woke up, maybe you’re late for class or something.

In trying to avoid that, has there ever been anything that you’ve dropped from your plate, from your workload? You take on a job or a project or something with the investment club, and you’re just like, I can’t do this. You kind of paused it for a moment.

Parker: I don’t know. I mean, I guess a class, that wasn’t really necessary in a certain semester. But honestly, when I really think about it, I really haven’t. I’m pretty good with my time management and easing into my Freshman fall made things feel manageable. I think athletics really helped me. Because being part of different societies are really important to you. If something’s important to you, people will make time for it. You will make time for it no matter how important something is to you. Yeah, yeah. And I think what a really big thing for me was also just kind of my perspective shift. Like, when I came into college, it was, oh, everything is due tomorrow. It created urgency. And then, you know, another big thing was also like journaling. I’d write down thoughts and my calendar to keep a practical perspective on everything I was managing. Like, okay, I know I have class from 9:30 to 10:50. And then I have a volunteer at 1 o’clock. Like, I haven’t really dropped anything, really. I mean, most, if you want to talk about dropping something, maybe like dropping a harder class or maybe something that’s a little more rudimentary that you can kind of leave it on the back burner. Yeah, you know, or just adjust and kind of go back into it later.

Interviewer: I know I withdrew from a class freshman year and then took it again later. And so, I guess the beauty in your answer is that if you structure your time well, it can all fit. And you just touched on three or four different things where, again, you establish when things need to be done by. It’s not a situation where everything is the number one priority. And again, whether you’re doing sports or not at the college level, I think if you can set up that structure where you’re doing enough throughout the day, just like you said, I think that’s where you’re going to find success. And those pieces will fit instead of like, oh, my gosh, I need three majors and all the classes for the core curriculum are at the same time. It’s not going to work, that kind of stuff.

Parker: So, yeah. Absolutely. And the biggest thing with me is, like, you’ve got to remember, you have 24 hours. You have 24 hours a day for a reason. Like, make use of it. Like, and another thing that’s been really helpful for me, at the end of the day, if you’re really struggling, you’re really stressed, just get one of the daily tasks done. Get a notebook, write five positive things that you did in the day, and it can be as simple as “I woke up on time,” or “I made my bed.” Just being very mindful and trying not to forget that you also have to balance your mental and emotional health as well. If you over-stack yourself with stress, you’re going to get overwhelmed. So try to identify your boundaries early, look at your day from the bigger perspective, the bird’s eye view and try to be grateful for five positive things. That really helps me a lot.

Interviewer: Yeah, yeah. Kind of stacking the small things that you’re proud of accomplishing. I think that’s a great mindset. I’m really kind of hung up on these great examples from you. So, like…

certain classes you’ve taken and the investment club, is there a certain class or internship or club you’ve done that you think will translate best to post-grad, whether it’s grad school or career and getting ready for the job market?

Parker: Yeah. Let’s talk about, let’s walk through investment club. Yeah. So, the thing that I wish Bates had a little bit more of is professional and technical development. That, because a lot of the stuff with the econ department is very theoretical, or behavioral knowledge, which is cool, which is really cool to learn about. But when you try to look at the job market, you’re trying to find relative skills. So, I joined the investment club. So, I was like, okay, well, maybe I could get a little bit more out of my time here at Bates and get some more professional development in combination with all Bates has to offer academically. So maybe it’s more that Bates does have professional and technical development, but you have to apply what you learn in the classroom to non-academic opportunities. So, my sophomore year, I joined the investment club and did a sector pitch. So, we have our company valuation. I was thrown into a group, the technology group, and I had to pick one company that’s publicly traded and pitch it to my peers about why it would be a good investment. My pick was NVIDIA. And now, it went great. But, you know, the group decided not to go with that company and we went with Oracle instead. And so, I joined that. And then, so, from there, you pitched your research and project. So, you go to your peers, and then you choose the company from there, as you do the pitch as a team. And then, our team pitch was Oracle. And that’s where I really learned a little bit more, like, the stuff that, you know, when people say, oh, what did you learn from college or, like, what did you learn from this year? It’s not about the technical skills. You learned a lot about team building, time management, another one I’ll harp on, qualitative and quantitative analysis. And so, I worked on qualitative analysis, and it really helped my presentation skills. It really helped me dissect the company through a full valuation. I had to understand the company strategy, which I would say directly translated into my time at Tuck, at the Tuck Bridge Program, where I was, you know, where I finally got to go and do NVIDIA again for a similar project, which was awesome. And it really helped, again, like, working with team members in a non-athletic environment, like, trying to figure out our different priorities, what we want to get out of the experience, how we wanted to pitch it, how, or the angle we want to take. So, I’d say that definitely helped me in those type of opportunities. Yeah. Another example, I would say is the athletic department. At the time, I was looking for more consistent work for my freelancing in video production while trying to apply what I learned in class and through these valuation projects. And I remember scrolling through Instagram and seeing the Bates Instagram page and I felt like, I was like, okay, I could definitely elevate this a little bit. I could definitely give us a more unique look rather than just kind of like a template with a couple text boxes. So, I applied for a job and got it. And I said, hey, let me help make your graphics. Let me help make your video. Let me help you do all that. Yeah. And that helped me make some connections with more people in the athletic department, which is really cool, rather than just kind of the bubble of the people I knew around me. And then it also helped me get some more clients for my freelance work. People could look at this experience as a credential and it helped me build my portfolio and establish myself as someone who knew a thing or two about graphic design and film. And it also really helped me for a job shadow I had with Purposeful Work, which is our career center. And I got to shadow a day at Fox Sports, which was probably one of the coolest, kind of the coolest experience I’ve had up to this point. Just sit around and watch how shows are made. Kind of the back end of that. That was really sweet. Another experience was the Bates Film Festival, where I got to interview an Oscar-winning director, David Siv, and I learned about his journey, becoming, you know, a documentary filmmaker, being one of the up-and-coming professionals, starting his own production studio and what not. So what I say is like the experiences, I guess to sum it all up, like the experiences I’ve had, have definitely prepared me for more professional technical skill development. And when I really sit down and think about it, my academic background has helped me with my critical thinking, my research skills, and formulating arguments. And then, outside of academics, with extracurriculars, improving my time management, presentation skills, and interpersonal communication, I have been able to blend it all together.

Interviewer: I think that’s such a good run-through of how you got your feet wet with certain things and you really led yourself by your own interests and then kind of a combination of just your own ambition and showing up and seeking these opportunities out. You gained all these experiences and you give some great specific examples, and just to highlight from like a Bates standpoint and certain reputations that colleges get as being non-business or their liberal arts or the opposite, you’ve been able to track down those business opportunities through student clubs and external, non-academic experiences. So, yeah, no, I think that’s amazing. And so, there are all these great resources and it’s just really about tapping into them. So I think kind of going back to what you you talked about like the skills you’ve developed and the different projects and the people you’ve met.

What was the biggest shock from moving to New England for the first time? Was that influential? Did that have an impact on trying to access the community? Or was it just the culture is so great at Bates that it didn’t really matter that you were coming from a different place?

Parker: It’s a good question. I think when I look back now as a junior, I’m about to be a senior, the culture shock may have been a lot of my own perspective. You know what I mean? I was like, oh, this is really difficult. Everyone seems like they can get right into things and manage their life on campus. But I realized when I was talking to my friends, I was like, they were all scared. I’m not going to cuss, but like, you know, we were all scared out of our minds. We didn’t know what we were doing. We were just trying to figure it out. You know, we were 17, 18 years old and living away for the first time. Well, I guess it’s weird. You have all this like freedom that you don’t really think about until it happens. So that was a big shock. And then I realized that the more I signed up for new experiences, the more my schedule felt structured and the more I became connected. Like I remember when I was a freshman. I was like, oh, I’m going to go get a really high GPA. And I’ll only focus on getting like a job in like banking or finance or something like that. And I realized, like, you know, once I really started doing it, I mean, I could do well in a finance or finance-like world. But what I figured out is I needed to identify what drives me. What makes you like get ready, like get out of bed and say, ‘OK, let’s go, let’s make the most of the day.’ And I hope I’ve answered your question here. That’s where I really felt like film and entertainment was like massive for me, especially working in sports, like making videos and graphics for new recruits that were going to commit to a college team, like, ‘oh, wow’, like you’re contributing to someone’s athletic legacy. There was this one kid, he actually went to Rochester like you, and he worked his butt off for years to go play at the collegiate level and I got to help paint that story when I made him a video for his basketball highlights for their senior day. It’s amazing to me when you get to go document the moments that these athletics will have forever until the end of time like even when they’re done playing their sport. It’s important stuff. That’s what kind of drove me to pick up different things. Then I realized another thing, I’m not great with kids so the next thing I tried was being a mentor. Funny enough it was from sitting down on the couch and watching Modern Family. It taught me about the Big Brothers, Big Sisters program. And I was like, OK, well, Lewiston is known as a gritty town, it doesn’t always get the best reputation. But once I continued living here it really felt like the outside world had that perspective. I don’t know how the best way to describe it. It was like the wake up and go mentality I mentioned. Let’s go challenge ourselves. Let’s go meet some different people. Let’s go like try to help the community out, try to give back to others in the four hours I can commit to this. So I signed up and be a volunteer at the program. And it’s been probably the most like life changing experience as well. Like just kind of perspective, like perspective setting. So that was a big thing. I mean, New England is, you know, it’s beautiful. You can’t beat it. And I know for sure I will probably not leave the area for a little bit unless some crazy opportunity comes in. And it’s like, OK, maybe I’ll take it. Maybe I’ll think about it. Maybe I’ll move in or out.

Interviewer: Yeah. I’m super biased. If you remember, I grew up in Vermont and didn’t stay away for too long. But no, I think everything you’re touching on answers the question really well. And overall, the theme is that whether you’re going to college 20 minutes from where you grew up and your family’s still there or you’re going halfway or all the way across the country, it’s a huge shift at 17, 18, 19, however old you are. And the biggest thing is finding your community, which as a student athlete, you already have a family with the team you’re on. Not to say that you’re going to get along with everyone or your roommates or that kind of thing. But as long as you go out of your comfort zone, no matter how extroverted or introverted you are, you’ll find some people that have some interests and that will get you involved and you can kind of develop a community that way. So I think that’s huge. And then the other thing you mentioned, I think it was a previous question, but I just want to hear more specifics around your academics. I just I love hearing you talk about your interests on the academic side, the career side, and you said the career center is called Purposeful Work or the Center of Purposeful Work.

Parker: Yeah, it’s called Center Purposeful Work.

Interviewer: Amazing. Yeah. So obviously, most colleges have some version of a career center and access to business partners and opportunities.

Is there anything that’s kind of like major-specific or like certain events you can access or what are some of the resources that you’ve benefited from through that center at school?

Parker: So, yeah. So Purposeful Work. They have a job shadow program every year. So around like October, they release the list. It’s either parents or alums or anyone that somehow connects a little bit to Bates. They open their offices or their firms or whatever to us for a day, sometimes a week, whenever, however long the program wants, however they want to structure their program. So you send in your resume, you send probably like a 1-page paper. And you send them a little bit of information about why you want to look into this industry. And by December, they match you with one. They choose one they think that you will probably accel in and it is somewhat competitive. Like there was this one, a bank that is probably I think everyone and their mom applies to. And so they can be competitive and they can be a little bit difficult to get. But I was very fortunate. I got into two job shadows my sophomore year. I got into one at a wealth management firm, and then like I said Fox Sports one working in broadcast and that’s where I really got to see two very different industries. I was really kind of interested in seeing where my strengths were and seeing two examples like, okay, well here’s the strengths of me going to this and like you know, wealth management, here’s the strengths of me going to broadcasting and production, so it really helped my friends and I get into different channels and figure out where we want our career to go. Like the name suggests, it’s all about purposeful work, like what is the purpose of you going to a job and hopefully make the big bucks or do you see your occupation in your job as something a little bit different or where do you see the purpose in your job. They also have internships where they connect firms and companies with the office and they say okay will you have an internship slot for Bates students instead of competing against the millions of applicants across the country.  

Interviewer: That makes a ton of sense. I think everyone’s kind of trying to figure out how  you connect classroom to career. How do you provide that on campus in a way that’s meaningful to all different areas of interest? I think you’ve kind of touched on everything that’s important like how do you select a school? How does that process work? How do you gauge where you want to be and what you want to get out of the experience and I think that’s a really good way to get a lot out of undergrad. So yeah, just for the sake of time, I have one kind of wrap-up question and it’s just a chance to kind of give advice to high school students or college students who may not be sure about things.

Is there anything that that you didn’t know that you now know, or like one bit of advice you have for high school or college students? What’s the best way for people to find success in undergrad? What’s the best approach in your opinion?

Parker: Take advantage of everything. I would say take advantage of experiences as much as you can. And another thing is don’t get too scared about like ‘oh this is my life, this is not gonna work.’ Don’t be afraid of failure, you’re going to fail all the time. I fail all the time; everyone fails. Just go out and try things. Get a job, find it, see if it’s good for you. Go try something else out, like go work and like, you know, go volunteer at a school, or go work in the soup kitchen. Just always be doing something. The other thing I’ll say is I have friends that you know college wasn’t for them that’s fine they’re doing great things. I’ve got a friend that was doing college and realized he thought he would do better in the military. Now he is in the military and he loves it and he loves his life. Other friends decided to start working out of high school and start a family and they are doing great too. We were all afraid of failure but it’s just part of it and now things are going well. I’m not trying to get preachy but that’s just, that’s how you gotta look at things.

Interviewer: It’s great advice. Instead of being overwhelmed with all the resources and you touched on a bunch of them from Bates, and instead of worrying about doing everything all at once, like you’re saying, just pick one, do it, continue doing it or don’t, and then do the next thing. I think that’s great advice, and just for the sake of our time, we’ll kind of wrap up there and pause questions. Thank you so much!