University of Delaware senior Ben Levine knew he wanted to enroll at the University after his first visit to campus. Levine grew up in Massachusetts and still loves his home state, but he was ready to explore. UD allowed him that opportunity and had programs that piqued his interest. Thinking back to his self-guided tour in 2020, he remembered the beauty of the campus, the fun social life and two engineering professors in particular who left a lasting impression. 

“For whatever reason, they sat down and talked with me for 20 minutes, and that was my deciding factor to attend UD,” Levine said. “The fact that anyone, let alone two professors, were kind enough to stop what they were doing to talk to some random high schooler meant a lot to me.” 

Now set to graduate in 2025, Levine, who majors in environmental science in the College of Earth, Ocean and Environment (CEOE) with a concentration in ecoscience and a minor in marine science, has made the most of his time at UD. 

Through his work with the Environmentors — a group of CEOE students who volunteer to represent the college by working on service projects and mentoring first-year students — Levine helped at prospective and admitted student events like Decision Days and Blue and Golden Days, and formed close bonds with students and faculty across the college. 

Perhaps his favorite experience since arriving at UD was getting involved with UDance, a student-run philanthropic organization dedicated to fighting childhood cancer, when he served as the philanthropy chair for the Sigma Chi fraternity, of which he was a founding member and later the secretary. Sitting in on one UDance meeting as a sophomore forever changed his UD experience, and for the next three years he served on the UDance executive board.

“Being on the UDance executive board was not something I thought I was going to do or spend my time here doing,” Levine said. “I was a representative for UDance for my fraternity, and they asked me to step up and be the Greek Life Chair, and saying yes was the best thing I could’ve ever done. That was 100% my UD highlight. All my best friends are because of my involvement with UDance. I helped personally raise $8,000, and being on the executive board for an organization that helped raise millions of dollars during my time was just so awesome.” 

In addition to being involved in on-campus organizations, Levine also had the opportunity to conduct research in Costa Rica for two summers. 

Through an email from his advisor, Pinki Mondal, associate professor in the Department of Geography and Spatial Sciences, Levine learned about an internship opportunity in Costa Rica with the Bioma Sea Turtle Project researching nesting sea turtles on the west coast of Costa Rica. 

“The really nice thing about our college is we get a lot of emails about possible internships, professional opportunities or graduate opportunities so that everybody in our college has an ‘in’ for doing something,” Levine said. “I saw this email, my friend and I applied, and I went as a student for one week two summers ago.” 

After that initial week, Levine applied for a three-month internship that took place during the summer of 2024. As part of his experience in Costa Rica, Levine collected data on the sea turtles that were nesting, measuring them and counting how many eggs they laid, as well as measuring the depth of the holes they were digging. 

Much like his experience with UDance, Levine said his time in Costa Rica was a credit to the University. 

“Going to work in Costa Rica was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I owe to UD,” Levine said. “There are so many opportunities given to you here. UD gives you the toolkit to become a great person — you just have to say, ‘Yes.’ If anyone asks you to participate in anything, just go for it. You only have four years to be this version of you, so enjoy every part of it and try every single opportunity.”