Eric Welch '00 named 2011 Outstanding Alumnus
“Eric is a vision of what your child could accomplish in future years,” Joan Davidson, Consultant to the Placement/Transition Department, said, as she introduced Eric Welch as Benchmark’s 2011 Outstanding Alumnus to parents, faculty, and friends attending the school’s Celebration of Accomplishments in June.
“Eric took advantage of Benchmark’s program while he was here. He also took what he learned here to achieve academic success in high school and college. He has achieved success in his life experience and he has continued to maintain a connection with our school,” Joan stated.
Entering Benchmark in 1994, as a nine-year-old struggling reader, Eric’s teachers said he was diligent, genuinely kind, and turned in his homework regularly, but struggled with decoding and had difficulty learning basic math facts.
Eric worked hard to be successful at Benchmark, and while it was not an easy experience, he felt comfortable because he saw that other students were struggling with learning as well. “I learned that it was okay to fail, if you learned from the experience,” he explained.
By his sixth and final year at Benchmark, Eric was reading at a high school level. He was aware of the strengths and challenges that made up his learning profile, and he had developed a strategic approach to writing with the help of Middle School Supervisor Mrs. Linda Six.
Following Benchmark, Eric attended George School, which offered a strong arts program, as well as the academic support he needed. He soon found he had an affinity for the visual arts and, he said, “it felt wonderful to be successful”!
He graduated from George School in 2004, and was accepted to The University of the Arts in Philadelphia. When he received a “100” on his very first project, he knew he was in the right place. Eric declared Industrial Design as his major his sophomore year. It was the same year that he found himself at the top of his class for the first time in his academic career.
In his four years at The University of the Arts, Eric was nominated for the U-Arts Alexander Award, earned Honorable Mention in the Philadelphia Museum of Art Co-lab Design Award, and developed a line of snowboard graphics with Burton Snowboards for his senior thesis. In addition, he was given the Senior Class Gift Award for the School for the Visual Arts, a grant he used to design sustainable furniture for Habitat for Humanity.
Eric graduated from The University of the Arts in 2008, with a B.S. degree in Industrial Design and joined The Franklin Institute as an intern in the design department. He was promoted to Exhibit Designer in 2010, and is currently designing an 8,000 sq. ft. exhibit called “Your Brain” which is set to open in 2013. He was also given the honor of designing and creating an artifact case to hold a metal star made from a piece of The Franklin Institute’s Fels Planetarium. The case and the star are on board the space shuttle Atlantic waiting for launch this summer.
“It’s great to be back,” Eric said, as he accepted the Outstanding Alumnus Award. Then he addressed the students in the audience: “You won’t be struggling forever. The problem-solving strategies you learn now will help you come up with creative solutions to the challenges you will face all of your life.”
Benchmark alum Colin McAdoo '98 returns to the Media Theatre to play Cousin Kevin in "The Who's Tommy," March 30 to May 22. Colin, a graduate of NYU's Tisch School, recently played Woody in Disney’s newest musical, “Toy Story – The Musical.” Additional credits include: "The Buddy Holly Story," "50's Night with the Billings Symphony Orchestra in Montana and Jacob Hamlin in "The Great Unknown NYMF 2010." Off-Broadway credits include: "We The People: America Rocks," "The Goddess Wheel," and "Hart to Hart." “We The People” was recently nominated for a Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Achievement Off-Broadway. Colin, named Benchmark's 2006 Outstanding Alumnus, returns to the school each year to help ready students for the annual Middle School Musical.
Award-Winning Photojournalist Receives Benchmark Outstanding Alumnus Award via Skype
Jonathan Saruk (’94) was named Outstanding Alumnus of 2010 at Benchmark School’s Celebration of Accomplishments ceremony in June. Jonathan was present via Skype and his parents, Anne Faulkner Schoemaker and Dr. Michael Saruk, accepted the award for him. An award-winning, internationally-known photojournalist, Jonathan’s images take viewers around the world. From the cruel reality of a death of a 12-year-old during a violent demonstration on the West Bank to an inside look at brick factories in Kabul or the training of Afghan soldiers and the harshness of war, Jonathan Saruk’s photographs tell a story. He brings the world home; capturing the intimacies of a moment in time and in life, most often in the midst of conflict and human suffering.
Jonathan entered Benchmark in 1991. It was noted that he “hated to read and write.” By his second year his Language Arts teacher commented that Jon had become a “competent writer.” By year three, teachers noted that when Jon “gets involved with a book, his enthusiasm reflects a real enjoyment of reading.”
Following Benchmark, Jonathan attended Salisbury School, a boarding school for boys in Salisbury, Connecticut. He achieved honors by his junior year, was elected a prefect, and was a member of the Crew team.
Although Jonathan was accepted to a number of colleges, he opted to defer college for a year. He volunteered as a teaching assistant on a Navajo reservation, worked with the elderly and became a volunteer fireman in the fall of that year. In the spring, he entered a French language immersion program, studied, skied, and traveled. He ended his year by biking from Seattle, Washington to Omaha, Nebraska.
Next, Jonathan attended Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas as an English Lit major. He spent his junior year in Copenhagen, Denmark and an interest in journalism began to take root. After graduation, he interned at the Philadelphia Inquirer and WHYY in Philadelphia before attending the Journalism Institute of New York University. As a newspaper intern in New York, Jonathan worked with photographers and became interested in their craft. He took photography classes at NYU and then headed to Nepal and Brazil after graduation to try photojournalism on his own. He realized he needed more training and was awarded a scholarship from the New York Times to attend the School of the International Center of Photography in New York
Jonathan has since traveled to Israel, the West Bank, India, Chile, and Laos. He was embedded with U.S. and French troops in Afghanistan. His still images have been published in the New York Times, The Times (London), Newsweek, Time.com, and The Christian Science Monitor. His video work has been broadcast on HDnet World Report. Recently named a Selected Winner for the Magenta Foundation’s Flash Forward 2009, he was also honored last year by International Photography Awards for his work in Afghanistan. In 2008, Jonathan attended the Eddie Adams Workshop and won an award from the Associated Press.
Jonathan was married in February to Rafaela Persson in Malmo, Sweden, where they currently reside. They are expecting their first child this summer.
Jonathan Saruk’s portfolio of images can be seen online at www.jonathansaruk.com.
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As a child I did not know of ways to express who I was or what I thought I wanted to be. At Benchmark I had my first significant experience in the art room. This allowed me to realize that it’s okay to explore and discover … because Benchmark provided such a welcoming, non-judgmental and creative environment.
- Casey Lynn Barth '89