LEFT:
Krista Comer and José Aranda’s introduction as new Baker masters with sons Jesse and Benito
RIGHT:
José Aranda and Benito (back row) with Baker students during Beer Bike
BENITO ARANDA-COMER ’17 COLLEGES B A K E R / D U N C A N A N D B R O W N YEARS 2 0 0 4 – 2 0 1 0 , 2 0 1 3 – P R E S E N T
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he first time his parents were chosen as masters, Benito Aranda-Comer was 10 years old. “The Baker College students brought my dad a big cookie cake, so I was pretty excited about that,” he said. “Rice is one big playground to a kid. I liked to host a lot of friends here. We’d go to basketball games and football games. For me, it felt like limitless opportunities to enjoy the unique situation I was in.” But he was also nervous. “Being very young and understanding that my parents had this serious role in the college, I was happy to go to meals, eat and leave,” said Benito. “I was really aware that these students were so much older than me. I wondered what they thought of me but didn’t exactly have the communication skills to ask. But the Baker students showed me what it meant to be a nice young adult, especially to children.” Being the son of college masters also has helped focus Benito’s
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own academic experience. “I want to be able to say that I tried my hardest. I remember looking at the Rice students and seeing them stressed out or upset or very happy — anywhere in the spectrum. The takeaway I got from that is that they tried. They showed up because they wanted to work and learn. They wanted to change and be a certain kind of person. It was admirable to me. I decided I wanted to be that person as well.” After five years at Baker, Benito’s parents — José Aranda, the department chair of Spanish and Portuguese and associate professor of Spanish and Portuguese and of English, and Krista Comer, associate professor of English — were asked to stay on as masters for an additional year, as Baker was combined with the new Duncan College during fall 2009–spring 2010. In 2013, when they became masters at Brown College, Benito started his freshman year as a student at Baker
and primarily resides there while classes are in session. “I think some people at Brown are cognizant of the fact that I’m the Brown masters’ son, but some people don’t even know. I don’t want to be treated differently,” he said. Whether at Baker or at Brown, Rice is home for Benito. There’s a level of comfort and confidence that he has developed during his years on campus. “When I got into Rice, I realized that my formation as a young adult happened here,” he said. “There have been a lot of things that have helped me grow as a person and made me the person I’ve become. A lot of it has to do with living at Baker and my parents being masters. What I’ve never taken for granted is that I feel like I can do anything at Rice. I can go to class, I can learn, I can meet people, I can foster my imagination and friendships with other students. It’s a special spot. All the people make it what it is.”