Ben Lichtner, Valedictorian

sfX intern Ben Lichtner, half of the dynamic Bens duo with Ben Goldsmith, earned valedictory honors for the class of 2008 at Santa Fe Prep. The two Bens worked on the sandtable project, developing software to sense the terrain in the sandtable and display topological relief shading on it. They also worked on the fire model, which allows the user to set fire on the terrain and control its intensity with a wind vector and strength.

His achievement was noted in the May 31, 2008 New Mexican:

BEN LICHTNER

Santa Fe Preparatory School

Ben Lichtner credits his academic success to his parents and his teachers.

“They just encouraged me to focus on doing well in school,” Lichtner said.

He remembers a teacher he had in ninth grade, P.J. Liebson who was particularly inspiring.

In his spare time, Lichtner likes to read, play video games, go for walks and camp. In school he was involved in the Chess Club, the Tetris Club and the Science Fiction Movie Club.

Lichtner has mixed feelings about the honor. “I feel good, but I think it’s kind of weird,” he said. “I think grades are a weird system for measuring.”

Lichtner said that while measuring success on the basis of grades is good, the school doesn’t take into account other important things, such as being a good person.

Lichtner plans to attend Brown in the fall to major in physics and math. He plans to do a little creative writing on the side.

His parents are Mary Cogen and Peter Lichtner.