BVA top two, distinguished alumni to speak at graduation
Belle Vernon Area High School will hold its 45th annual commencement exercises 7?p.m. Friday at James Weir Stadium.
Nicholas Gruber of Belle Vernon will address his peers as the Class of 2011 valedictorian.
?Gruber finished school with a 4.395 grade point average and plans to attend Penn State University to major in chemical engineering.
He is a son of Matthew and Elizabeth Gruber of Belle Vernon.
The salutatorian is Tanner Sebastian also of Belle Vernon. Sebastian finished school with a 4.361 grade point average and plans to attend Robert Morris University to study English education.
He is a son of Joseph and Renee Sebastian of Belle Vernon, Rostraver Township.
Also addressing the graduates will be 1990 Belle Vernon Area alumni Craig Fayak as the guest speaker.
Fayak, a New York City businessman and former Belle Vernon Area scholar-athlete, recently joined Accenture, one of the world’s leading global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing companies, where he’s a change-management expert specializing in pharmaceuticals and life sciences.
Fayak is best remembered locally for athletic accomplishments at Belle Vernon Area and then Penn State University.
Graduating near the top of his class, he received the Judge Charles E. Marker Westmoreland Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award in 1990.
He led the WPIAL in scoring for football kickers in both his junior and senior years, finishing his career with 21 field goals and 82 extra points. A quarterback, he passed for more than 2,000 yards, rushed for over 500 yards and ended up scoring 282 total points with the Leopards.
He received numerous honors and awards, including selection to the 1990 “Big 33” Football Classic in Hershey, where he kicked six extra points in Pennsylvania’s victory over Maryland.
As a four-year starter in baseball, he helped the Leps win the section championship in his senior year. He was named Most Valuable Player in the section and to the “All-WPIAL Team.”
Following BVA graduation, Fayak excelled at Penn State, earning a degree in English Literature. He was selected as an Academic All-American, which requires maintaining at least a 3.5 Grade Point Average.
On the football field, he provided Nittany Lions fans with as many exciting moments as he did at BVA. None was more memorable than a last-second, 34-yard field goal in his freshman year to defeat then No. 1-ranked Notre Dame.
Fayak finished his PSU career with 282 points, including 50 field goals, making him the all-time leading scorer in university history, a record he held through 2007.
He began his business career in Philadelphia with Andersen Consulting. He moved to New Jersey and worked his way up to vice president-sales operations for PDI and then spent five years as a change-management consultant with Conner Partners before recently joining Accenture.
Fayak was inducted into the BVA Football Hall of Fame as part of the first “class” in 2000.
He and his wife, Nicole, reside in Bernardsville, N.J., about 30 miles west of New York City. In March, they welcomed their first child, Elijah Jack.
Craig Fayak is the son of Jack and Jean Fayak of Rostraver Township.