Ben Souder

Hi! My name is Ben Souder. I’m a 22-year-old college student, currently enrolled at the University of Kansas in the school of Journalism and Mass Communication. My area of focus is in Digital Marketing Communications.

I was born in Overland Park, Kansas and I’ve lived there my whole life. I’ve grown to be very proud as a Kansan, though I will admit it’s not the most exciting state. My house had a strong devotion to KU basketball. Every week the Jayhawks were playing, we would all sit down and watch. Eventually we started a tradition where we would all pick a different player and do five pushups for each point that they scored. It was a fun way to stay engaged in the game, especially for my sisters who weren’t the biggest basketball fans. Because my childhood was deeply rooted in KU, the decision of where to go to college came easy to me. The in-state tuition also helped with that choice!

With all the KU basketball I watched as a kid, it should come as no surprise that I played basketball for most of my life. The fact I measure in at 6 feet 3 inches may have also persuaded me a bit. I also played soccer my whole life, and dabbled in football for a few years. In middle school I fell in love with cross-country and track. Running with all my friends was fun, even if we did have practice before school. In track, I bounced around a few events before landing on high jump. I competed in high jump for my junior and senior year of high school and, while I may not have been the best at it, it was enjoyable for me.