ABOUT BEN
Benjamin Frye Strawbridge is an American journalist and writer, based in Durham, NH. He serves as a news editor and Senate Correspondent for The New Hampshire student newspaper at the University of New Hampshire, where he majors in journalism at the College of Liberal Arts.
Strawbridge was born at Portsmouth Regional Hospital on Dec. 12, 1997. After spending two years in Rollinsford, NH, his family moved to their present home in Dover, NH, where he participated in K-12 education.
In sixth grade, Strawbridge developed an interest in acting and performed in a number of multi-act plays and musicals for nearly ten years in middle school, high school and local summer camps; as a high school senior, he scored the lead male role of Emmett Forrest in the high school's 2016 performance of the musical Legally Blonde, among a number of other main and supporting roles.
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Strawbridge also took time in high school to experiment with independent film-making; his resulting works included 2016's short film debut Blackout, which he directed, shot and edited; and a public service announcement entitled "A Word on Social Media." Both works are available on his YouTube channel here.
Strawbridge was accepted into the University of New Hampshire in January 2016 and graduated from Dover Senior High School that May, ranking 57th out of a class of 311 students. After taking on several temporary on-campus jobs as a freshman and sophomore, including a dining assistant and Media and Collaboration Assistant at the Parker Media Lab, he joined The New Hampshire in the fall of 2017 as a contributing writer, covering campus events and guest speakers.
In January of 2018, he was promoted to staff writer, where he began his weekly coverage of the Student Senate's 39th session, which convened at a time of controversial lecturer layoffs at UNH's College of Liberal Arts and increased conversations amongst the UNH community on how to create and support a more diverse and inclusive environment for students and faculty.
In April of 2018, Strawbridge was promoted to his present role of News Editor, adding him to the organization's editorial staff. His role consists of reviewing and editing stories from other TNH reports to conform them to the AP standard, on top of his continued Student Senate coverage.
On April 18, 2018, Strawbridge joined current and former TNH journalists as they accepted the Outstanding Media Award for best publication on campus at the 2018 UNH Student Leadership Banquet.