MANVILLE: College connection

Four from same small class excelled at University of New Haven

By Deb Dawson, Special Writer
Why would four top scholars from Manville High School’s Class of 2010 — a class of fewer than 100 students — elect to go to the University of New Haven in Connecticut?
Because the school offered exactly what they were looking for.
"I knew I wanted to do business, and I was a scholar athlete," said Douglas Bradley. "I was trying to find a way to combine the two. It was the best school to do that, offering management of sports industries."
His minor was in economics and quantitative analysis.
Scott Alpizar was one of his best friends. The two roomed together for their freshman and sophomore years at New Haven.
Mr. Alpizar, who was Manville’s valedictorian, said, "I knew I wanted to do forensic science. I got a decent amount of money from UNH, and I’d be taught by Dr. Henry C. Lee, the most renowned forensic scientist in the world."
Although Dr. Lee had retired by the time Mr. Alpizar got to the school, he said his classes were excellent.
Emily Sellar, who graduated magna cum laude in May, attended UNH because "not many schools offered event management programs, and I liked their program."
for my major."She majored in hospitality and tourism management with a concentration in event and tourism management and a minor in management of sports industries.
One of her close friends from both high school and college is David Janovsky, class president at UNH in both his junior and senior years.
"I chose UNH because it was far enough to be on my own but close enough to get home when I wanted," Mr. Janovsky said. "It was a great size coming from Manville, and I was able to have a name and not a number."
He majored in music and minored in theater arts.
All of the students took advantage of extracurricular activities available at the school. Both Mr. Bradley and Mr. Alpizar played intramural sports, and Mr. Alpizar was on the executive board of the Forensics Club.
Ms. Sellar and Mr. Janovsky were both in the marching band. He was drum major for three of the four years. Both were in student government.
Ms. Sellar was one of the first students to complete a bachelor’s degree in just three years as part of the University of New Haven’s College of Business Fast Track program. She was president of the Professional Convention Management Association and a member of the Eta Sigma Delta International Hospitality Honor Society and Sigma Beta Delta International Honor Society for Business.
Mr. Janovsky was a brother in UNH’s chapter of the Sigma Chi Fraternity.
He’s also a world-class Irish dancer. While at the university, he made a film, "It Gets Better: The University of New Haven Edition," with the help of the student body, "to show that UNH is a home where everyone is accepted regardless of race, gender, orientation or disability."This summer, the former students are preparing for the next phase of their lives. Mr. Bradley and Mr. Alpizar are lifeguard supervisors at Manville’s public pools.
In the fall, Mr. Alpizar will start work on a doctorate in molecular and cell biology at Dartmouth.
Mr. Bradley will continue his search for a job in sports management, preferably in facility management.
He said, "It’s competitive and not very open."
Mr. Janovsky is spending his summer getting ready for graduate school — at UNH’s education program — "where I will get my K-12 certification so I can pursue my dream of teaching high school music while directing the music programs and theatre productions."
Ms. Sellar is spending the summer as a member service representative at the Somerville YMCA. She also works at the Reading Cinemas in Manville.
She plans to "look for a job in event management in the sports industry, hopefully eventually in Olympic sports. For now, I’m looking for a job that involves travel!"