Fall 2023 Issue
Origins
Long before alumnus Ben Dziobek ’22 double majored in environmental and political sciences at Stockton, he spent his childhood at the beach and took weekend bike rides through Allaire State Park.
He recalled, “[My father] would bring a pair of boots and he would just let my brother and I explore.” It was these weekend explorations that evoked a spark for environmental advocacy and led him on a path to becoming a science communicator.
Dziobek has been using his voice and wit to get his fellow Gen Z involved in tackling environmental issues. His first public platform was serving as president of the Environmental Club at his high school.
That's where that passion started for me. I saw people really caring and asked, ‘What can we do?’ We're not going to sit around and do nothing,” he recalled enthusiastically. “[That’s when the] nitty gritty environmental work really started.”
Through his leadership, the club took a “more action, less talk” approach. Instead of sitting around discussing the issues, they hit the ground running by creating trails and revitalizing areas of Camp Evans Army Base within Wall Township.
With this experience under his belt, Dziobek did not hesitate to jump on a new opportunity when he received an email his freshman year from environmental science professor Daniel Moscovici, who was looking for a volunteer to start an environmental advocacy group on campus.
“…I wanted to see what we could do to really push for advocacy on and off campus - that's what the Environmental Club really became,” he said.
Dziobek started the Stockton Environmental Club from the ground up in 2019 and saw rapid growth over three years, which he attributes to making everyone in the room feel part of the team. He explained, “…when we created a project, I chose someone in the back of the room that I didn't know, and I would say, ‘You're going to be the liaison.’ The strategy worked. The students would take ownership over an initiative and would recruit their friends, who would, in turn, become new members.
The club would use social media and other public forums to educate the community with energy-saving tips, upcoming N.J. legislation changes, and advance the mission of Gen Z advocacy on the intersectional issues facing the environment. The Stockton Environmental Club also thrust the University into the national spotlight during the pandemic by working with schools like Princeton and Harvard to host ‘Students for International Divestment Day.’ They gathered concerned global citizens from six continents to push countries, states, universities, and anyone else in between to ditch investments in fossil fuel companies.
In addition, they had regular road clean-up days, fundraisers, as well as partnering with Tree-Plenish [a non-profit organization that works with colleges and high schools across the country to provide free saplings for planting to replenish the earth with trees] to replenish the Pine Barrens with native Eastern Red Bud and Red Maple trees with the help of the local community.
“We had the community RSVP for the trees. Different people from Galloway and the AP environmental science group from Absegami got involved. We had a huge event where tons of people from the community came, and we went out and planted 300 trees,” Dziobek explained.
The club saw big growth and success. By the end of his junior year in Spring of 2021, the Stockton Environmental Science Club had grown to 150 students and won Club of the Year. Upon graduation, Dziobek passed the baton to his vice president and environmental science major Sophia Bradach ’23.
Diving into Politics
Where It All Began
Dziobek had envisioned a career working in the field as an environmental scientist when he started at Stockton, but the trajectory changed course during his sophomore year while listening to Dr. Catherine Tredick’s lecture. As she spoke about the importance of data collection in the field of environmental science, she emphasized that those who communicate the data are so important in today’s world. This struck a chord with him. Having a background in advocacy throughout high school, he knew this would be a perfect fit.
Politics interested me in taking the route of what I learned in the field and bringing it to the state, our county and towns,” he recalled. “The sustainability program offers so many classes in environmental law and environmental policy. It's a totally cool and interesting path that you can go on.”
With his eyes set on a new goal, Dziobek knew he had to get involved politically. He spent the next three doing exactly that. Through his work with the New Jersey League of Conservation Voters (NJLCV), and participation in their advocacy to support offshore wind and advancing car-free environments – his article on the importance of moving away from fossil fuels was published in The Atlantic City Press in February 2022. In addition, he interned with his local legislative District 11 office under Democratic Senator Vin Gopal, Assemblyman Eric Houghtaling and Assemblywoman Joanne Downey.
“We're the generation of mobilization… We can't sit on the sidelines and say we support [a cause] anymore because we don't have the time to just support. We have to be intrinsically involved in this movement,” he passionately said.
After several years of hard work, his perseverance led him to the State Capitol, where he works in Governor Phil Murphy's Advance and Briefings Office alongside two-time Stockton alum and Head of Briefing, Sophia LoPresti ’20, M.A. ‘23. In that position, Dziobek advanced the Governor at various public-facing events across the state. As of the publication of this article, he has taken on a new position as Community Outreach Specialist at New Jersey Future, where he will function within a collaborative team to implement and manage program-specific and general organizational communications plans.
Learn more about New Jersey Future. 
Advice for Students
Get involved. Find your local Democrat or Republican young party organization within your county; they need us to get involved because there's not a lot of us. It is a career path that you really need an in, so reach out to the political science department and ask about internships with legislative offices around the state.
Show up at events. Say your name. Hand people a sticky note with your name and phone number on it. Make them put it in their phone. Do not stand on the sidelines. Ask questions to show that you are really interested – that will go a long way in politics. They realize this person wants to get it and will take you along with them. Building relationships is paramount in this field, so get to know them personally. Talk your way into circles to get them to notice you.
Photo credit: Marco Verch Professional
Get out of your comfort zone. A lot of people my age have social anxiety and think people are going to judge them. Little slip-ups last 30 seconds, and then they're gone. No one is going to remember that you said "the" instead of "and" or something like that. It's the fact that you are showing emotion. You care and are showing initiative. As long as you're in the room and saying something, someone will most likely teach you, or you'll observe the way to do it correctly. Trial by fire is really the only way in politics.
Learn policy. Take some foreign policy classes or environmental policy classes. They're more difficult, but they're exciting, and you get to learn how to think about things a little bit differently. And take courses in the humanities, learn about people and how they interact with the world. Good policy is not just about statistics on a piece of paper, but rather tackling issues that everyday Americans face.
