The Granby Board of Selectmen would be the first to tell you that they have had very fine student liaisons over the years, including the most recent representative, Ben LaVigne, who has set the bar quite high. In fact, it took several minutes for First Selectman Mark Fiorentino to read the proclamation at the May 5 BOS meeting listing his many accomplishments in academics, sports and community involvement.
Academically, at Granby Memorial High School, Ben has won awards in Spanish, social studies and technology during 2023 and 2024. He also received the Core Values Award in the spring of 2022. During his junior and senior years, he competed at the state level in the principle of hospitality and finance program of DECA (Distributive Education Clubs of America). DECA is a career and technical organization for high school and college students interested in careers in marketing, finance, hospitality and management. He is now a vice-president of the organization. He is also senior class secretary.
As for sports, Ben is completing his senior year as captain of the soccer, tennis and indoor track teams. In the fall, he received the Grant Dingley Award for perseverance and character in soccer; in the winter, he received the Grizzly Award for effort in indoor track; and this spring he was named to All-Conference in tennis. In his freshman year, he was captain of Soccer Team 3, and in his junior year, he was Varsity Indoor Track Captain. This January, he set a new school record in the 4×800 relay along with his teammates Gavin Baron, Gus Gotberg and Rohmann Knutson.
Ben’s interest in soccer is not just playing the sport; he also referees. He has been certified for five years, refereeing at the highest levels available in the grassroots category. He assistant-coached an underclassmen summer team in 2024, helping to run drills and lead stretching.
One might be tempted to think that with all that studying and sports participation, Ben wouldn’t have much time for anything else, but that would be a mistake. For example, this January he participated in the Model UN Conference at Yale, where he was honored as Best Delegate in the Economic Organization of West African States.
He is also not a stranger to lending a hand to his hometown. He has volunteered at the Waste Not Want Not program and the Granby Food Bank, where he organized a system for shopping for the donated food and moved food from storage to the public pantry. Volunteering for the Granby Conservation Corp, he cleared out a dam outflow and graded trails by moving fill to make a more even walking surface for local hikers.
Ben noted that being the student liaison for the BOS for his junior and senior years has been “a rewarding opportunity to learn how the town is governed.” That may come in handy, as he has been accepted to McGill University in Montreal, Canada where he plans to get a bachelor’s degree and proceed to find a job pertaining to community psychology, a field that seeks to improve the way social and cultural networks operate.
The BOS will miss his enthusiastic updates on the high school current events, often delivered with a twinkle in his eye and a bit of humor. It’s “Ben” a delight having him.