Kevin Bender '12, Culinary Arts
Degree: AOS
Major: Culinary Arts
Biography:
Kevin Bender has been stepping onto tennis courts since he was 10 years old, but it was a different kind of court that caught his eye when he was first considering career choices.
“I was at the University of Michigan, double majoring in communications and French, and the game plan was to go to law school,” Kevin recalls. “In fact, I was accepted to a couple of colleges. At the time I was working in a restaurant, and the closer I got to law school the more I realized it wasn’t right for me.”He enjoyed being at the restaurant so much that he decided running such an establishment was a great long-term goal. “I figured maybe I could become a lawyer first and then own a restaurant later on,” he says. “Then I thought, ‘that’s stupid!’ Why go through all that schooling for something I didn’t really want to do?”
As it turns out, one of his mother’s co-workers had a son going to the CIA, so Kevin looked into it. “I wanted to do it right, to go to the best out there,” he says of his decision to apply for the CIA. “Within three weeks, I was accepted. Then I read a player’s spotlight on the website and found out the college had a tennis team too. That was a pleasant surprise!”
More like a necessity, given Kevin’s busy class schedule. “At orientation, we were warned that it was a rigorous program, and the first few weeks I was absolutely exhausted,” he says. “Tennis is a good outlet for that. I might have gone crazy if I didn’t have it.
“This place teaches you discipline, and you realize that you really have to put the work in,” he continues. “You learn to manage your time, with classes in the a.m. and tennis in the p.m. But it’s totally worth it when you feel that sense of accomplishment at the end of the day.”
And there’s a great payoff at the end of the tennis season as well. “We get to play the season-ending conference tournament at the National Tennis Center in New York City, where the U.S. Open is held,” Kevin says. “Everyone’s really looking forward to that!”
Exciting times indeed for a guy who’d rather be on center court than in court.
