By Jotham Bailey, Staff Writer
The Office of Intercultural Engagement announced on Aug. 25 that they were hiring Desteni Benson for the new position of program coordinator as a broad restructuring of the office. She will be responsible for event coordination and programming as well as supporting the work of the Chief Intercultural Engagement Officer Vanessa Quainoo.
Benson will join the OIE in enforcing the office’s operational strategy: the Kingdom Diversity Action Plan. Through this plan, every department or division on campus is accountable to the college’s diversity commitment. Each campus group works in conversation with the OIE to set specific goals at the start of each year, providing realistic and action-based plans for how each will promote the four pillars of kingdom diversity: Justice, Unity, Diversity and Inclusion.
Quainoo sees great promise in Benson. She is excited for how she will contribute to the office’s goals for the Wheaton body.
“Desteni is the right person in the right season. She’s a tremendously gifted person with administrative gifts,” Quainoo said. “In just two weeks, she’s already brought an astounding amount of organizational strength to the office and I’m sure the campus is going to enjoy getting to know what we produce because of her.”
Benson graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, with a major in history with a focus on race, gender and sexuality. After graduating, she went through a few different jobs, working in accounting, grants and development and substitute teaching.
Later, when Benson became a Christian, she joined New Beginnings Community Baptist Church in Fresno, California, where current Wheaton Chaplain Angulus Wilson pastored at the time.
“The Lord was working through all of that,” Benson said. “Which I didn’t even see at the time.”
Wilson later pointed Benson in the direction of Wheaton’s Higher Education and Student Development graduate program. She found that the program deeply aligned with everything she loved: identity, purpose and discipleship for young adults.
“I didn’t have any of that growing up, so when I came into the body of Christ and was poured into and blessed by walking with other believers, I saw the difference in my life,” Benson said. “I realized that I could really make an impact through taking advantage of this.”
Benson heeded Wilson’s advice to apply for Wheaton’s HESD program and graduated in spring 2025 with a master’s degree in the subject. During her time in graduate school, she also worked as a graduate resident advisor of the Saint and Elliot apartments on campus, where she met her husband, Hunter Benson.
Benson reflects that being a GRA helped her develop from a task-oriented perspective into one focused on the people around her.
“I think God really used my time as a GRA to balance me and to show me that though the tasks are important and you want to perform them with excellence, they are all for the sake of serving people,” Benson said. “So I think that the experience just really balanced me in terms of reorienting me towards people, towards loving others and letting that be the focus.”
Dean of Residence Life Justin Heth saw Benson shine in her position. He commented on her lively faith in Christ and mentioned being thrilled to hear about her onboarding to the OIE.
“Desteni has a deep passion for the Lord and is an individual who lives out her belief that Jesus is alive and actively moving in the world today,” Heth said. “She led by bringing her genuine self to the work of residence life and we could count on her bringing her silly jokes, humble spirit and a teachable heart.”
Benson not only brings a spirit of hospitality and care to her new position, but also comes with a unique outlook on what kingdom diversity means to her. Benson emphasizes that her focus is on the “king” — a God who expands our love, giving us hearts to care for those different from us.
“I really appreciate the kingdom diversity conversation and the attention that’s given to it, because it’s really all about God’s will and his ways,” she said. “If we’re willing to surrender and be sensitive to his heart and let him continue to sanctify us, then we will begin to see people the way he sees people.”
