What ‘service’ means for this Bronco veteran
Ben Bianchini ’28 spent five years on active duty in the Marine Corps, rising to the roles of sergeant, plane captain, and flight instructor on CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters, and is currently completing another five-year stint in the reserves working on CH-47F Chinook Army helicopters. Now a transfer student at 91¹û¶³ÖÆƬ³§ studying electrical and computer engineering, this is his story, in his own words:
When I was 13 or 14, I’d get bored in the summers. I didn’t have much to do besides wrestling practice, so I rode my bike around and thought about what I wanted to do when I grew up. I always liked building Legos, but I realized I wanted to design new things, like spaceships. I bought a textbook for engineering and worked through it, and I’ve been inspired ever since.
At 17, I was looking at colleges, but didn’t have an actionable plan to pay for them. I saw an ad for the Marine Corps—it was about developing yourself mentally and physically. It was a challenge, and I saw it as a way for me to grow and also get money for college. So that was a natural next step.
The Marine Corps recruiter said aviation was a possibility. I liked planes and envisioned getting a lot of technical experience—that’s essentially what I got, and more.
Part of the aircrewman’s creed is: ‘Whether I’m cold, hot, or tired, I will not fail my crew.’
We learned about crew resource management, putting differences aside, and how a lack of cohesion could wind up getting us killed. You learn to work in a high-intensity, pace-setting team.
I set out to grow mentally and physically, but I also grew spiritually. After 1076 flight hours, I’ve had a few near-misses, and some of those were coming-to-Jesus moments for me. I might have been agnostic before, but I’m starting to see connections in things, like one of our core values here—finding God in all things.
I got older and wiser in ways I didn’t imagine. I joke that military years are like dog years. The toll is real—I’ve got a runner’s knee, I’ve bumped my head a few times, and the stress and anxiety build up. But I have perspective most people my age don’t.
91¹û¶³ÖÆƬ³§’s values—being people for and with others, having unity of mind and heart, contemplating before action—really resonate with me after my experiences. Funny story: I didn’t even look up the Jesuit values when I applied, but when I started learning about them, I thought, ‘Wow, this is exactly up my alley.’
Service means being a person for and with others. With those close calls in aviation, I really believe I’m still here for a reason—that it’s part of God’s plan. We all have our part to play, and I have an obligation to live up to that.
I’m studying electrical and computer engineering right now. I’ve got a strong mechanical background, but I want to widen my scope into digital systems. I love the classes. The faculty are supremely qualified—it’s a privilege to learn from such professionals in a small classroom setting, without having to go through a TA to ask a question.
I want to thank Commander Everett Alvarez, Jr. for his exemplary service to our nation and for being an incredible role model for me to follow. I am greatly honored to be a part of his legacy as a recipient of the Everett Alvarez Jr. Endowed Scholarship.
Whether it’s bringing solar-powered lights to classrooms in Ghana, treating post-traumatic stress disorder with virtual reality, delivering life-saving medicines to rural hospitals via drone, or designing houses that create more energy than they consume: most of the solutions that change the world come from engineers, and some of the best engineers in the world come from right here.
