"Ben and I met in Kindergarten at Eastwood, and from there our friendship slowly blossomed through sports at recess and video games at his house. In football, I would play quarterback and could throw the ball up anywhere, and Ben would just run under it and make the catch. He made me look like I actually knew what I was doing. In 5th grade we started playing Impact soccer together on which we fought from the bottom conference to the 2nd highest. We rode through the ups and downs of Impact, taking us to Las Vegas and San Diego to get our butts kicked by Californian kids, all the way until senior year of high school.

It was in ninth grade that we became much closer friends. I remember one day when Alan, Ben, and I were walking to Ben’s to play video games… as we always did… I was lamenting that we weren’t hanging out with “popular” kids. Ben and Alan, instead of being offended as they probably should have been, encouraged me to accept my inner nerdiness. It was the best advice I could have gotten at that stage in my life. Little did I know, I was getting to hang out with the coolest people around and looking back would never have traded them for anyone. And as we conglomerated more and more nerdy friends, I grew to love the community we had created around us. It really is special that so many of us have stayed close through so many of these years.

I was pretty sad when I learned Ben was moving away to Arizona for college, but just a year later, he was coming back. And even better, he was down to live with Ty and me in a sketchy duplex on Westminster Ave. That sketchy house brought us a thousand unforgettable memories. Ben was a super easy guy to live with, and honestly, every time I saw his car was at home I got kind of excited to hang out. We’d talk about science and awesome things he was learning in engineering and imagine what future technologies would be like. Ben has been an incredible friend to me for so many years. He is patient, considerate, and easy-going, yet smart and determined in his goals. During our second year on Westminster Ave, Gabriella started hanging out with us. Mind you this was despite the smell and the mess and the general sketchiness of the house, which tells you she really must have had a thing for Ben to put up with it all. Gabriella was such a kind and fun presence to have at our house, and though I didn’t understand fully why she wanted to hang out with us, I was happy that she did. I have loved watching him and Gabriella grow together and feel that they are both so lucky to have each other. I can’t wait to see their future bloom!"

                            -Jeff Collins