Benjamin students have many role models at our campus via their teachers, coaches and administrators, but on Tuesday, October 28 students got the chance to meet a formidable role model from outside our School – Congressman Patrick Murphy (D). Congressman Murphy is a newly re-elected representative of our Congressional District (Florida’s 18th), stretching from Ft. Pierce to Palm Beach. He just recently won his re-election against Republican candidate Carl Domino on November 4, 2014 with 59 percent of the votes. A born-and-raised Floridian who earned a degree at the University of Miami in Accounting, Congressman Murphy already has a very impressive resume at the age of 31. He was the youngest member of Congress when he was first elected in 2012 at the age of 29.

He came to The Benjamin School to prepare the eighth graders for their trip to Washington, D.C. during the first week of November. His invite to TBS was precipitated by Student Council Advisor Mrs. Loretta Corey. Mrs. Corey’s husband met the congressman on a plane, and Mr. Corey, in turn, gave the information to Mrs. Corey. Mr. Marshall Mullnix, the Middle School History Department Chair, then did a great job organizing the congressman’s visit. “Our goal was to, number one, have Congressman Murphy meet our eighth grade because he would not be in Washington, D.C. at that time period [of the D.C. trip], and we like to have our eighth grade know what their representative is doing and so forth, and what his jobs are, or how he handles his jobs, and, for that reason, Congressman Murphy wanted to come early because he could not meet us in D.C,” explained Mullnix.

Representative Murphy’s grandfather told him some great words of wisdom that he shared with the students on the day he visited: “The harder I work the luckier I get.” Murphy shared this saying with the students to explain to them that the harder you work the more likely you will be in a position to succeed and take advantage of lucky breaks when they present themselves to you. In his speech Mr. Murphy urged students to participate in many extracurricular activities and to “go the extra mile.” He also stressed the need for students to push themselves in academics and follow their heart’s desire.

Representative Murphy is also very concerned with the environment, and in an exclusive interview with The Neersyde, he explained why: “I have

always been involved [with the environment]. I think just growing up in the Florida Keys, I grew up around the water. I grew up fishing and diving, enjoying the outdoors. It has always been a part of my life. As I got older and older, and things like the BP oil spill happened, it was like a natural calling to go and do my part and to help clean it up.” (The BP oil spill occurred in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010, gushing oil for 87 days until it was capped on July 15, 2010. It was the most environmentally catastrophic oil spill in U.S. history. Following the oil spill, Murphy took it upon himself to spend six months in the Gulf of Mexico helping to clean it up).

Patrick Murphy also explained the differences between this year’s campaign for reelection and his first campaign in 2012.  He indicated that the campaign this year was much “cleaner” than the one in 2012. On this subject he went on to say, “This campaign versus my last one is much different. [The 2012] campaign was one of the most expensive campaigns in the history of Congress. It was a very dirty campaign with a lot of negative ads. So, that was much different. There was a lot of finger pointing, and that was different because there was a president at the top of the ticket; therefore a lot of people were going to show up to vote. I didn’t have to worry about getting the vote out because they already knew that because there was a president at the top of the ballot. I have kept all my ads positive, every single one.” (The previous  2012 campaign to which Murphy refers in his remarks was his victory over Allen West).

Representative Murphy’s speech meant a great deal to many of the Benjamin students. “I really liked having a congressman taking time out of his day to talk to our school because he is very busy trying to help our community and communities around us,” said Benjamin sixth grader Nicolas Lutz.

Remember, our district is in good hands with Representative Murphy. This speech is on par with some of Benjamin’s most memorable speakers: Karl Willner, Michael Hingson, and Garth Stein.