Ben Spielberg ’06
The Alan R. Craig Endowed Scholarship Committee
- Mark and Ann Baiada
- Barbara Caldwell
- Michael Carter ’91
- David Craig
- Ian Craig
- Julia de la Torre
- Larry Leverett ’91
- Fred ’65 and Caroline Brunt Moriuchi ’66
- Anastasia Pozdniakova ’96
Public Engagement Officer, San José Unified School District
Ben Spielberg is a prolific writer and active political volunteer whose career has included positions of campaigning and advocacy. Ben graduated from Stanford University in 2010 and taught middle school math and science in the San José Unified School District for three years, followed by a year as a math instructional coach. He was highly involved with the San José Teachers Association and served as the Executive Board’s Outreach director from 2012-14.
Ben moved to Washington, DC in 2014 with his wife; from 2014-17, he worked at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) in Washington, DC. Ben left CBPP to run Marc Elrich’s Democratic primary campaign for County Executive in Montgomery County, Maryland. “Elrich’s campaign was publicly financed and one of our opponents – a multimillionaire who self-funded most of his campaign – outspent us 6.5 to 1, but we ended up winning the primary by 77 votes,” he said.
Ben co-founded a blog, 34justice.com, where he continues to write about a variety of economic, social justice, and policy issues. His writing has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and on msnbc.com and several other news outlets. He moved back to California in late October 2018 to take his current position as Public Engagement Officer for the San José Unified School District.
Ben remembers MFS and the Mock Primary Election fondly. “The Mock Primary Election helped solidify my belief that true political change is possible,” he said. “We may face major obstacles, and entrenched interests may do everything they can to stop us, but effective organizing and communication can overcome those obstacles and inspire mass movements behind social justice policies…My time at MFS strengthened my conviction that it is a moral imperative to constantly reflect on why we believe what we believe, question authority and conventional wisdom, and demand a more equal distribution of power, privilege, and wealth.”