This week, The Argus sat down with Brooklyn native Ben Shifrel ’25. As Chair of the Student Budget Committee (SBC), a tour guide, and captain of both club tennis and club hockey, Shifrel told us about making important changes in student government, life on Middletown’s (very wide) Main Street, and the friends he made along the way.

The Argus: Why do you think you were nominated for WesCeleb?

Ben Shifrel: I don’t really know. I will say I have a history of being confused for other people on this campus, [such as Student Budget Committee Vice Chair Ben Sheriff ’25]. So it’s possible that you guys messed up. But I’m involved in a lot of different groups, [and] a lot of different activities around campus.

A: I know one of those groups is the Wesleyan Student Assembly (WSA) SBC. How did you get started in student government?

BS: I’m often embarrassed that a lot of people’s first memory of me is me coming up to them and saying, “Oh, please vote for me for WSA.” But it was something that I wanted to get involved in as a freshman. And I thought it would be a really good way to get involved in the school: see how it works, maybe make my friends’ lives a little bit better, and have fun with it along the way. I’ve been on the SBC most of my time on WSA, and we talk with every club on campus.

A: What have you learned through your time with the WSA?

BS: One thing that I’m really proud of from the SBC—there are some groups that were very institutionalized in the way that they can access funding. And other groups, specifically identity groups, were less institutionalized, and I made a lot of changes to our constitution that allowed those groups to get access—they request more and we approve them at higher rates. In addition to changing the rules for the better, we’ve also gotten some pretty absurd requests. A certain group that will remain unnamed requested funding [to buy] an exotic pet to be their mascot. I think it was an alpaca. We said no.

A: One other organization you’re really involved with is club tennis. Tell me how you got started.

BS: That’s been such a fun, fun part of my time at Wesleyan. I was hitting with a few people the first week of school, some brand-new friends that I met. And then we tried out, and we’ve kind of grown through the club together, and now we’re the captains. It’s been really fun to lead and just have fun playing a sport with my friends. In high school, I played tennis, and I was a big singles guy. It’s a very mental thing, and you can kind of propel yourself and just think really hard. But, in college, I’m much more of a doubles person, and it’s a completely different sport, both in strategy and in the way that you interact. I used to hate it because I was afraid to let down my partner, but now it’s become a lot more fun—it’s a way to work with another person and not take it too seriously.

A: Thinking to the future, you’re a College of Social Studies and government double major—are you looking to go into government at some level?

BS: It’s an interesting time for the government, for sure. I’m still figuring it out. I’m really interested in policy and law. Politics are really interesting to me, but I don’t know if I’d ever want to be in the government. But maybe if I were affecting policy and things that can actually make a difference; that’s something I’d be really excited to do in some capacity. So we’ll see where that takes me, especially in these days.

A: Would you feel much more enthusiastic about going into politics if [Kamala] Harris had won?

BS: I would feel more hopeful about the future. This is a really important time for politics, especially the politics that I align myself with. But I do feel there’s an opportunity in this mess for a reinvention of a certain type of politics. If I were to get involved in some sort of policy or law position, I think that would be a really formative thing. So it’s exciting and hopeful, even if it does feel a little bit darker.

A: Geographically, where would you like to live?

BS: I’m a city guy. I’d love to be in New York, but, you know, I’m happy in most cities. Middletown is great too. I don’t know if I’m going to stay, though. My first choice school was a big school in a big city and I actually ended up committing to that school before reversing course and ending up at Wesleyan. And at first I was really disappointed, because all I wanted was to go to school in a city. And I think that, well, maybe Middletown isn’t New York or another city like that, but it’s a bustling metropolis in its own way.

A: Widest Main Street!

BS: Widest Main Street, that is true.

A: In Connecticut? In the world? I’ve never known what the end of that fact is.

BS: Just widest Main Street…. But it really feels like Wesleyan is its own place for me. Wesleyan is about the people. It’s so wonderful to have all of my best friends be my neighbors and my housemates.

A: As you’re reaching the end of your time here, how do you feel you’ve changed since freshman year?

BS: This is, I think, probably bad advice: I was an orientation leader this year, [and the Office of Student Involvement] really made us hone into our students [the] rule of seven: don’t do everything, don’t try everything. [But] I’m like, that’s where the communities are. So obviously I joined too many groups and had to drop them. But also, whether it’s a professor, or a classmate, or somebody in my band, or a teammate; that’s where the community is found. Everybody is always doing so many interesting things that if you just, like, listen to them and try to understand what they’re up to, that’s where the fun is, and that’s where you can learn about yourself.

A: What do you enjoy about tour guiding?

BS: It’s let me love Wesleyan. When you talk about the best parts of the school, it makes you want to access those [parts]. A few times this year, some freshmen have come up to me and said, “Oh my god, you’re my tour guide!” And that’s such a nice thing to hear, although I hope they like Wesleyan. I never [explicitly] tell people to come here. I mention that I didn’t want to come here, but I love it here. When you’re 18, you don’t really know everything. Now that I’m 21, I do know everything. But no matter what, you’re going to find your people and find your place.

A: You have these people in this place, but to what extent are you worried about maintaining friendships when you’re not all neighbors? Do you have a plan for keeping in touch with people? Or is everyone going to move to New York, and it’s going to be fine?

BS: Yeah, absolutely. Everybody will be living right next to me for my whole life. No, it’s a great question, I feel like if you are close with people, then the connections will happen. And, obviously, life gets busy for everybody, and it’s tough, and that does worry me a little bit. That does scare me. But what I do know is that with the connections that I made here with the people I care about, if we’re ever in the same city, we’ll go grab a drink and we’ll catch up, and it’ll be lovely. I’m not worried about losing the connections, even if we’re not constantly calling. But hopefully we do, hopefully we do, and hopefully they live in my house forever.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Thomas Lyons can be reached at trlyons@wesleyan.edu.