Past Faculty Member Ben Snyder Inducted to Michigan Interscholastic Track Coaches Hall of Fame
Long-time history instructor and track coach Ben Snyder was inducted into the Michigan Interscholastic Track Coaches Association Hall of Fame last Friday night. The event was well attended with over six-hundred seated at the Holiday Inn-South Convention Center in Lansing, MI. In attendance were all living past presidents of the association as well as most coaches who were attending the clinic. Certainly, it will be an occasion long-remembered.
Snyder's impact on Cranbrook Schools can still be seen every day on campus - He instituted our World Affairs Seminar, a one day program where kids teach kids about relevant topics linked to a central theme. Perhaps Ben's greatest legacy, the program of greatest significance, is the Horizon's Upward Bound (HUB) program. Ben also developed the Great Books program, one that continues to be practiced today.
As Cranbrook's longest single-term T&F coach, Ben's qualification is evident through a record of two state and ten regional and multiple invitational championships. Such wins were achieved by many outstanding individuals such as thrower John Wallace in 1970, (57+/156+), and of course, Charlie Monk 1:53.1 in 1972, not to mention Tod Williams, the 440 state champ in '61 earning the distinction with the state's slowest win in that event - 61 seconds in ankle deep water on a cinder track in a horizontally driven rain.
Below is the text written by current track coach and science instructor Greg Miller used to present Snyder with this award:
It is my pleasure to introduce to you Benjamin M. Snyder as a 2008 inductee into the MITCA Hall of Fame for his outstanding coaching record in Track and Field at the Cranbrook School for Boys.
Growing up in Philadelphia no doubt helped spur Ben to the study of history, a discipline in which he earned his undergraduate degree. That academic interest was followed by three years of service during WWII in the USAF. During that conflict, Ben won distinction when honored with the Distinguished Flying Cross for an act of bravery while serving as a bombardier in the South Pacific. Little did anyone know that these two words, service and distinction would frame Ben's future career in education.
Following a Masters Degree from Harvard University, sixty years ago, Ben's long strides drew him across the bricks of the Cranbrook quad for the first time. For its architectural beauty, the Cranbrook campus is listed in the national registry of historic places and standing in the center of its famous patterned red brick quadrangle, amidst the academic and residential buildings, ones mind can't help but find itself in the middle of a Harry Potter story. Though those steps may be long forgotten, the footprint Ben has left at Cranbrook is one that will be long remembered.
Starting as a history teacher, Ben evolved his career to one of invention and creativity. He developed a Great Books program, one that continues to be practiced today. Ben also instituted our World Affairs Seminar, a one day program where kids teach kids about relevant topics linked to a central theme. The 2008 edition on sustainability, is two weeks from today. Perhaps Ben's greatest legacy, the program of greatest significance, is the Horizons-Upward Bound (HUB) program. This federally funded, full academic year program brings financially disadvantaged, but academically able kids from Detroit to Pontiac to Cranbrook each Saturday for a half day of class. It also includes a six-week on-campus experience each summer. As might be imagined, many great kids have moved from this program into life opportunities that would not otherwise have presented themselves without such a program.
Of course, the program tonight centers on Ben's induction into the Track and Field Hall of Fame. As Cranbrook's longest single-term T&F coach, Ben's qualification is evident through a record of two state and ten regional and multiple invitational championships. Such wins were achieved by many outstanding individuals such as thrower John Wallace in 1970, (57+/156+), and of course, Charlie Monk 1:53.1 in 1972, not to mention Tod Williams, the 440 state champ in '61 earning the distinction with the state's slowest win in that event - 61 seconds in ankle deep water on a cinder track in a horizontally driven rain.
We are all aware of the tension that exists between public and private education. We do, however, have in our hearts one mission - that is to help our students learn the important life lessons of being an individual such as goal setting, planning, persistence, and of being a team member such as responsibility respect and team work. In his own words, upon the occasion of HUB's twenty-fifth anniversary, Ben commented "I firmly believe that fine independent schools should have a public mission of sharing resources with those who have less, and Cranbrook offered me the opportunity to put that conviction into practice. I stayed at Cranbrook because I believed there was nowhere else I could be more useful.
Service and Distinction. At Cranbrook, Ben is the gold standard.
Please join me in congratulating my friend, my colleague, Ben Snyder.
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Snyder's impact on Cranbrook Schools can still be seen every day on campus - He instituted our World Affairs Seminar, a one day program where kids teach kids about relevant topics linked to a central theme. Perhaps Ben's greatest legacy, the program of greatest significance, is the Horizon's Upward Bound (HUB) program. Ben also developed the Great Books program, one that continues to be practiced today.
As Cranbrook's longest single-term T&F coach, Ben's qualification is evident through a record of two state and ten regional and multiple invitational championships. Such wins were achieved by many outstanding individuals such as thrower John Wallace in 1970, (57+/156+), and of course, Charlie Monk 1:53.1 in 1972, not to mention Tod Williams, the 440 state champ in '61 earning the distinction with the state's slowest win in that event - 61 seconds in ankle deep water on a cinder track in a horizontally driven rain.
Below is the text written by current track coach and science instructor Greg Miller used to present Snyder with this award:
It is my pleasure to introduce to you Benjamin M. Snyder as a 2008 inductee into the MITCA Hall of Fame for his outstanding coaching record in Track and Field at the Cranbrook School for Boys.
Growing up in Philadelphia no doubt helped spur Ben to the study of history, a discipline in which he earned his undergraduate degree. That academic interest was followed by three years of service during WWII in the USAF. During that conflict, Ben won distinction when honored with the Distinguished Flying Cross for an act of bravery while serving as a bombardier in the South Pacific. Little did anyone know that these two words, service and distinction would frame Ben's future career in education.
Following a Masters Degree from Harvard University, sixty years ago, Ben's long strides drew him across the bricks of the Cranbrook quad for the first time. For its architectural beauty, the Cranbrook campus is listed in the national registry of historic places and standing in the center of its famous patterned red brick quadrangle, amidst the academic and residential buildings, ones mind can't help but find itself in the middle of a Harry Potter story. Though those steps may be long forgotten, the footprint Ben has left at Cranbrook is one that will be long remembered.
Starting as a history teacher, Ben evolved his career to one of invention and creativity. He developed a Great Books program, one that continues to be practiced today. Ben also instituted our World Affairs Seminar, a one day program where kids teach kids about relevant topics linked to a central theme. The 2008 edition on sustainability, is two weeks from today. Perhaps Ben's greatest legacy, the program of greatest significance, is the Horizons-Upward Bound (HUB) program. This federally funded, full academic year program brings financially disadvantaged, but academically able kids from Detroit to Pontiac to Cranbrook each Saturday for a half day of class. It also includes a six-week on-campus experience each summer. As might be imagined, many great kids have moved from this program into life opportunities that would not otherwise have presented themselves without such a program.
Of course, the program tonight centers on Ben's induction into the Track and Field Hall of Fame. As Cranbrook's longest single-term T&F coach, Ben's qualification is evident through a record of two state and ten regional and multiple invitational championships. Such wins were achieved by many outstanding individuals such as thrower John Wallace in 1970, (57+/156+), and of course, Charlie Monk 1:53.1 in 1972, not to mention Tod Williams, the 440 state champ in '61 earning the distinction with the state's slowest win in that event - 61 seconds in ankle deep water on a cinder track in a horizontally driven rain.
We are all aware of the tension that exists between public and private education. We do, however, have in our hearts one mission - that is to help our students learn the important life lessons of being an individual such as goal setting, planning, persistence, and of being a team member such as responsibility respect and team work. In his own words, upon the occasion of HUB's twenty-fifth anniversary, Ben commented "I firmly believe that fine independent schools should have a public mission of sharing resources with those who have less, and Cranbrook offered me the opportunity to put that conviction into practice. I stayed at Cranbrook because I believed there was nowhere else I could be more useful.
Service and Distinction. At Cranbrook, Ben is the gold standard.
Please join me in congratulating my friend, my colleague, Ben Snyder.
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