HHS 2013 Valedictorian Todd Colvin Adjusts to Virginia
Todd Colvin loves a challenge and the teenager is getting one at the University of Virginia, where the Huntington High School Class of 2013 valedictorian is a member of the freshman class.
Mr. Colvin enjoyed a remarkable four year run at Huntington. His record was so impressive that he had a choice of attending many of the finest colleges and universities in the country, ultimately settling on a school conceived and designed by U.S. President Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence.
“College is going great,” Mr. Colvin said. “I’m loving it down here. The only downside is being a Giants fan among all of the Redskins fans this season.”
In addition to being remembered around Huntington High School for his intellectual firepower, Mr. Colvin’s sense of humor will never be forgotten. It was on display during his valedictory address last June and remains intact.
“It’s a pretty big adjustment to the academic rigor here,” Mr. Colvin said. “I’m not even the smartest one in my dorm room anymore. My AP classes prepared me for college even better than I expected them to. I still use the format from Ms. [Camille] Tedeschi’s outlines in AP World History to take notes for my Intro to Personality psych class and Mr. [Kenneth] Donovan’s lessons about using an argument for the basis of a thesis helped me tremendously with my first paper in my Making of the Modern US class.”
Mr. Colvin is also enrolled in Spanish, Macroeconomics and Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism, which he called his favorite course this semester. The Huntington grad doesn’t cut corners academically and is disciplined enough to put in an enormous number of hours studying.
“As far as activities go, I’m part of a student-run social entrepreneurship club called SEED and I help out at the Special Olympics soccer practices every Sunday through Madison House, the school’s volunteer organization,” Mr. Colvin said about his time outside of classes. “I have an upcoming event called Pancakes for Parkinson’s, where hundreds of volunteers put on a massive pancake breakfast on The Lawn to raise money for the Michael J. Fox Foundation.”
Mr. Colvin was Huntington High School’s G.O. president last year. He previously served as treasurer of the freshman and sophomore classes and president of the junior class. As a member of the National Honor Society, he worked with an autistic fifth grader, helping him twice a week with his homework. He was integrally involved in last spring’s Relay For Life as the logistics chairman as was sports editor of The Dispatch, the high school’s student newspaper.
The teenager captained the Blue Devil swimming team as a junior and senior and swam all four years of high school. He also played lacrosse through his junior year.
“College is a lot of work, but at least for me it’s not as stressful as high school can get because there’s so much time to do it all,” Mr. Colvin said. “It was tough leaving Huntington at first, but I couldn’t have picked a better place as a destination. I am looking forward to some nice bagels and BBQ chicken pizza at Rosa’s during Thanksgiving break, though.”