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/ Men's Gymnastics
Photo by: Christopher Mitchell
Summer Spotlight: Ben Winkel
5/23/2019 8:23:00 AM | Men's Gymnastics
Ben Winkel has been on the Gopher men's gymnastics the past four years. Now, the senior from Afton, Minn., is moving on to bigger and better things following his collegiate career. Using his engineering degree, Winkel is ready to start his professional career at Polaris. Take a look at this question/answer session as Ben prepares for life after college.
Tell us about your Gopher experience and specifically with the men's gymnastics program.
I grew up about a 20 minute drive east of the cities. The gymnastics community is already small enough, but growing up so close meant that I had a lot of connections to the University of Minnesota. I came into a team that I was very familiar with, which made it easy to adapt to college life. Every gymnast has a love-hate relationship with the sport. Having a team like we have here makes it so much easier to get through those tough times. I ended up getting a fairly uncommon injury that required surgery in the middle of season my Junior year. Recovering from that took the better part of a year, and I don't know if I could've or if I would've even wanted to come back if it wasn't for my team. I couldn't imagine myself having gone anywhere else or been a part of a different team.
How were you able to secure your position with Polaris?
When I was in the search process, I tried to spend a few hours each week looking and applying for jobs. A few weeks after applying to a position at Polaris, I had a phone interview with the director of engineering. This interview didn't go well. I felt that I answered all of the questions well, but my phone dropped the call, twice, during the interview which was very stressful. However, he was understanding about the situation and said that I will be contacted to set up an onsite interview. I was surprised, but it was a great sign to see that superficial issues which weren't exactly in my control were overlooked. My visit to the research and development facility consisted of a tour, interviews with about six different people from various design teams, and lunch. I was lucky enough to have received an offer for the position at the conclusion of lunch. I had a few other interviews at other companies to do, but I ended up accepting the offer about a week after the onsite interviews.
Did you have any previous internships that helped you gain experience lead into this opportunity?
I was able to complete a full-time internship the summer after my Junior year, however, it was quite different than what I will be doing at Polaris. At the time, it was in a similar position to what I thought I wanted to do, but it turned out to be quite different than I anticipated, which drove me to look for something a little different. Even though the experience that I gained was not necessarily technically relevant to my new path, learning about project development procedure and how to collaborate with engineers in other disciplines was extremely valuable.
How were you able to balance an engineering course load, gymnastics and the ability to land a spot at Polaris right out of school?
I think that having to balance classes and gymnastics, especially during season, is a big reason why I was able to do as well as I did. I was forced to learn how to manage my time well and work efficiently. These are two skills that employers love to see and are a big reason that I was able to get my internship and my job over other applicants that may have had more technical experience.
What advice do you have for other younger student-athletes majoring in engineering?
Being a student-athlete makes you stand out as an applicant. This has very little to do with what you accomplish as an athlete, but the skills you learn as a result of the student-athlete lifestyle. When applying for jobs or going into an interview, this is something you can use to your advantage to get the edge on other students who may have done more technical work.
If possible, try to get some experience interviewing before you interview for your top choice. Interviewing is a skill like any other; practice makes perfect.
If you can find a way to make yourself stand out even more, do it. I was also able to complete a minor in computer science. I highly recommend it for anyone in engineering. Having a background in computer science will only become more and more useful as technology progresses.
Also, most importantly, don't forget to set aside some time for yourself. Whether that means watching TV/movies, hanging out with friends, or just doing nothing, it's a good way to reset yourself so that you can put all of your focus on studying or playing your sport when you need to.
Tell us about your Gopher experience and specifically with the men's gymnastics program.
I grew up about a 20 minute drive east of the cities. The gymnastics community is already small enough, but growing up so close meant that I had a lot of connections to the University of Minnesota. I came into a team that I was very familiar with, which made it easy to adapt to college life. Every gymnast has a love-hate relationship with the sport. Having a team like we have here makes it so much easier to get through those tough times. I ended up getting a fairly uncommon injury that required surgery in the middle of season my Junior year. Recovering from that took the better part of a year, and I don't know if I could've or if I would've even wanted to come back if it wasn't for my team. I couldn't imagine myself having gone anywhere else or been a part of a different team.
How were you able to secure your position with Polaris?
When I was in the search process, I tried to spend a few hours each week looking and applying for jobs. A few weeks after applying to a position at Polaris, I had a phone interview with the director of engineering. This interview didn't go well. I felt that I answered all of the questions well, but my phone dropped the call, twice, during the interview which was very stressful. However, he was understanding about the situation and said that I will be contacted to set up an onsite interview. I was surprised, but it was a great sign to see that superficial issues which weren't exactly in my control were overlooked. My visit to the research and development facility consisted of a tour, interviews with about six different people from various design teams, and lunch. I was lucky enough to have received an offer for the position at the conclusion of lunch. I had a few other interviews at other companies to do, but I ended up accepting the offer about a week after the onsite interviews.
Did you have any previous internships that helped you gain experience lead into this opportunity?
I was able to complete a full-time internship the summer after my Junior year, however, it was quite different than what I will be doing at Polaris. At the time, it was in a similar position to what I thought I wanted to do, but it turned out to be quite different than I anticipated, which drove me to look for something a little different. Even though the experience that I gained was not necessarily technically relevant to my new path, learning about project development procedure and how to collaborate with engineers in other disciplines was extremely valuable.
How were you able to balance an engineering course load, gymnastics and the ability to land a spot at Polaris right out of school?
I think that having to balance classes and gymnastics, especially during season, is a big reason why I was able to do as well as I did. I was forced to learn how to manage my time well and work efficiently. These are two skills that employers love to see and are a big reason that I was able to get my internship and my job over other applicants that may have had more technical experience.
What advice do you have for other younger student-athletes majoring in engineering?
Being a student-athlete makes you stand out as an applicant. This has very little to do with what you accomplish as an athlete, but the skills you learn as a result of the student-athlete lifestyle. When applying for jobs or going into an interview, this is something you can use to your advantage to get the edge on other students who may have done more technical work.
If possible, try to get some experience interviewing before you interview for your top choice. Interviewing is a skill like any other; practice makes perfect.
If you can find a way to make yourself stand out even more, do it. I was also able to complete a minor in computer science. I highly recommend it for anyone in engineering. Having a background in computer science will only become more and more useful as technology progresses.
Also, most importantly, don't forget to set aside some time for yourself. Whether that means watching TV/movies, hanging out with friends, or just doing nothing, it's a good way to reset yourself so that you can put all of your focus on studying or playing your sport when you need to.
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