Health & Fitness
Todd Colvin Named HHS 2013 Valedictorian
When Todd Colvin was named valedictorian of Huntington High School's Class of 2013 the senior was surprised.
When Todd Colvin was named valedictorian of Huntington High School’s Class of 2013 the senior was surprised. But he really shouldn’t have been, since he has built a sterling academic record over the past four years.
“I think that being named valedictorian was as big a shock to me as it was to everybody else,” Mr. Colvin said. “It’s funny when I look back to the eighth grade, when I was trying to decide whether to go the private school route like my brother and sister did or stay in public school. I loved Finley and all the kids I met there so much I had to stay with Huntington. Clearly, it turned out to be the right decision.”
Mr. Colvin has been integrally involved in life at the high school over the past four years, including serving as this year’s G.O. president. Previous posts have included freshman and sophomore class treasurer and junior class president. “Student government has been my main priority throughout high school,” he said.
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As a member of the National Honor Society, Mr. Colvin has been working with an autistic fifth grader this year, helping him twice a week with homework. He is also playing a key role in this year’s Relay For Life. “It was such a great event last year that I just had to hop aboard as the logistics chairperson this year,”
Mr. Colvin began writing for the high school’s student newspaper last year and assumed the post of sports editor of The Dispatch this year. “Sports have been a huge part of my high school career,” he said. The teenager has been on the swimming team for the past four years and served as the Blue Devils captain in each of the past two seasons.
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Mr. Colvin played lacrosse through his junior year, captaining the JV lacrosse squad as a sophomore. “We went undefeated that year,” he said. “I was pretty proud of that.”
Like most seniors, Mr. Colvin has one eye on the future. “As of now, I have no clue where I’m going to end up at college,” he said. “I’m going to start as a business major and I’ll narrow that down once I have a better idea of what I want to do with my life.”
Asked to name a few favorite teachers and Mr. Colvin admits “that’s a tough one.” He has developed many strong relationships with Huntington’s faculty members. “I couldn’t have been valedictorian without every one of the amazing teachers that I’ve had over the past four years,” he said.
Mr. Colvin so enjoyed earlier courses with science teacher Craig McKee and social studies teacher Camille Tedeschi that he signed up for astronomy and women’s studies classes, respectively, with them this year.
“Mrs. [Joann] Ferazi, Mr. [Kenneth] Donovan, and Mr. [Michael] Graziano are all teachers that I’ve managed to maintain a good relationship with despite not being in any of their classes this year,” Mr. Colvin said. “I took pre-calculus with Mrs. [Monica] Racz last year and I still am working with her through the National Math Honor Society. I’ve also learned a lot from Mr. [Anthony] Troffa and Mr. [Fred] Bisogno this year as my G.O advisors; they’re like mentors to me.”
One moment in time that particularly stands out in Mr. Colvin’s memory is the vigil at The Rock that students held in November 2011 after newly minted alum Courtney O’Bryan was killed in a car crash during her freshman year at Penn State.
“Everybody who knew her was devastated,” Mr. Colvin said. “She was so well-liked and a lot of us have never experienced the death of somebody so close to us. But that night, a bunch of us went to The Rock after we left her wake and held an informal ceremony in her honor. We sang songs, said prayers, screamed cheers in honor of Penn State, really anything we could think of. That was the moment that I realized we go to school in a really special place. When the chips are down, the good people of this town will always have your back.”
Mr. Colvin has valuable advice for freshmen. “Don’t spread yourself too thin, because that just leads to nobody being happy, including yourself,” he said. “But, do get involved in school activities as much as possible; especially things like float parties and sports tournaments that the class-level student governments hold. Those are always a great time and you get to hang out with a great crowd of people. The most important thing is to not sweat the small stuff, a lesson that I really began to grasp my senior year, and don’t wish the days away. High school is some of the best years of our lives if you do it right.”