Berks' Best 2023 Social Studies winner Benjamin Zobian puts his belief in selfless service into practice

May 19—As far back as fifth grade Benjamin Zobian has questioned the meaning and purpose of his life.

"When I was 10 years old," he wrote in his Berks' Best application, "I watched a video about how in a billion years the sun will get so large and so hot that all of Earth's water will evaporate, making life forever impossible on our planet. The concept of mortality struck me then, as I realized that my time on Earth was finite."

He was sent into a funk as he contemplated life and death. The funk abated after a couple of weeks, but the central question — "What is the point of my life if it's going to end someday?"— cycled in and out of his conscious thought for several years.

In his early teens, a TV comedy series, of all things, deepened his exploration of philosophy and morality.

The critically acclaimed series "The Good Place," which aired on NBC from 2016 to 2020, focused on a character who is sent to the wrong destination of the afterlife and needs to pretend that she is a good person to avoid being sent to the alternative place.

"Over its four seasons, the show explored many of the main facets of philosophy, ultimately dealing with the great question of what it means to be a good person," Benjamin wrote.

Benjamin resolved to embrace altruism and service as his purpose in life.

To that end, the Wyomissing High School senior who is the Berks' Best 2023 Social Studies winner has set a goal of becoming a medical doctor. He would follow the footsteps of his father, Dr. David C. Zobian, a pediatrician.

Benjamin has put his belief in selfless service into practice throughout his high school career.

As a Boy Scout, he helped develop the skills of his fellow Scouts as senior patrol leader. He plans to cap off his Scouting career with a project connecting his love for the environment with service by building bat boxes for Wyomissing, where he resides, to mitigate the bat population crisis.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, he helped out at vaccine clinics at his school, Olivet Boys and Girls Club locations and the Daniel Torres Hispanic Center in Reading.

He also took part in a disaster-relief mission to West Virginia to repair and rebuild flood-destroyed homes.

Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he created an online fundraiser and led his troop to raise more than $3,500 to be sent to two international humanitarian organizations — Doctors Without Borders and the Red Cross — to aid their efforts in the war-torn European nation.

Benjamin's leadership traits, compassion and respect for others' opinions made him a valuable part of classroom discussions in his Advanced Placement U.S. Government and Politics classroom discussions, said Chris Kersikoski, his social studies teacher for four years at Wyomissing.

"Ben has many qualities that made him a pleasure to have in class and interact with on a personal level," Kersikoski said in his recommendation letter to the Berks' Best judges. "He is intelligent beyond his years, and is able to discuss modern-day issues concerning the world and our nation with extreme ease. His ability to connect class material to events happening currently, was a skill very few of his classmates were able to match."

Benjamin seems to ascend to leadership roles in whatever activity he's involved in at school, whether on the soccer field, TV studio (director/producer of daily news show) or stage.

As a junior, he overcame his shyness to audition for the school's musical production of "Beauty and the Beast," and landed the lead role of Lumiere, a suave French candelabra. This spring, he played the lead role of Horton in Wyomissing's production, "Seussical the Musical!"

Benjamin credits his decade-long involvement in the Boy Scouts, his family and his various summer jobs — from making at-home diabetes home test kits in a sterile environment to babysitting a younger boy to cooking fries at Boehringer's Drive-In in Adamstown — for molding him.

His maternal grandfather, Dr. Thomas B. Souders, an amateur historian, has nourished his intellectual curiosity and instilled in him a love for art, history, math, music and self-education.

When Benjamin's father was hospitalized and nearly died of COVID in March 2020 in the early days of the pandemic, Benjamin stepped up to take some of the enormous weight off the shoulders of his mother, Megan Souders-Zobian.

"She was working, homemaking, and worrying about him all at once," Benjamin wrote. "I needed to step up. I did the laundry, cooked our meals, washed the dishes, and babysat my sister. I took dozens of outdoor walks with Mom to keep us both sane, breathing in fresh air through masks."

He said his mother tells him that he held the family together during those challenging times.

After high school, Benjamin plans to plans to explore his passions and intellectual interests in morality, ethics and science in college and then medical school.

"For the next four years, I'm going to head to college and major in history while also pursuing a pre-medical education track," he wrote. "In this way, I want to both prepare for my planned career as a doctor while also pursuing my love for history and science."