Benjamin Lashbrook ’26, a History major with a minor in Cultural Anthropology, made it until senior year before realizing that having free, unscheduled time on their calendar was not necessarily a bad thing. 

The recipient of the History Distinguished Achievement Award at the 2026 Honors Convocation ceremony, Lashbrook knew that he wanted to stay busy during his college career, but it was recently that he started feeling overbooked and overwhelmed.

“Through my years at Arcadia, I’ve had a habit of overloading my schedule with extra positions and roles,” said Lashbrook. “I thought that I had to keep adding on responsibilities to be relevant on campus, which I know now is absolutely incorrect. It was not until this year that I managed to finally schedule myself free time to just have fun!” 

Lashbrook served as an orientation leader, peer mentor, alumni ambassador, admissions ambassador, and history student program ambassador during their time on campus. They also worked as a historical research assistant and in Enrollment Management as an intern.

Even when overseas–Lashbrook completed two study abroad experiences in London–they were constantly in motion, visiting eight new places in a single semester, both across the United Kingdom and wider Europe: Bath, Brighton, Glasgow, Rome, Paris, Budapest, Vatican City, and Mallorca. Deciding where to go was mostly based on where travel was cheap, but when visiting Rome, their passion for history was the driving force.

“As a history nerd, I wanted to take a tour of the Roman Empire’s sites of note. Seeing the Colosseum was a bucket list item I managed to check off.”

With their newfound free time, Lashbrook has had more opportunities to become their drag alter ego, Fart McQueen. Lashbrook helped organize Arcadia’s Next Drag Superstar, an event that took place in April, bringing together students for a fun night of music, dance, and competition.

“As Fart McQueen, I kept the crowd entertained between performances, and I kept the good vibes going by performing live music and cracking stupid jokes,” they explained. “Not only that, but I got to crown my close friend, IZZAR, as Arcadia’s Next Drag Superstar.”

In the future, Lashbrook hopes to work their way up in the museum world, as they have applied for several entry-level positions at museums in the United States and the U.K. They won’t make the mistake again of forgetting to schedule free time for themselves, though, especially through Fart McQueen.

“I hope to enter curatorial work or museum administration,” they said. “Or become a vlogger and make Fart McQueen an international name, whichever comes first.”