While attending ConVal, David Selmer was a central member of the ConVal music scene, both in band and in vocal ensembles. He also excelled in sports as the co-captain of the ConVal Varsity soccer team.
As a senior, Selmer signed up for military service in the New Hampshire Army National Guard. While serving, he pursued a college education, graduating Magna Cum Laude with a double major in Accounting and Finance from the University of New Hampshire in 2019.
Selmer now works as a Financial Services Consultant in the Risk Advisory division of Ernst & Young (EY) in Boston. Ernst & Young is an international company with headquarters in London that oversees one of the largest professional services networks in the world. Along with Deloitte, KPMG, and PricewaterhouseCoopers, EY is considered one of the Big Four accounting firms.
Selmer also continues to serve in the National Guard as a Sergeant First Class (E-7).
Here is David’s reflection:
“Reflecting back, ConVal provided me with perspectives and skills that I still carry forward. Whether it was math concepts taught by every math teacher (I think I had almost all of them), English and humanities discussions taught by Mr. Lambert and Mr. Clark, to the exploration of musical expression with Mr. Wickham, Ms. Morin, and Mr. Aines were all greatly impactful and gave me the courage and base knowledge that I needed to be successful after high school.”
“High school is and was an amazing opportunity to discover yourself and step out of your comfort zone. I wish more students would appreciate the opportunities they are afforded as it is a great time to make mistakes and learn who you are. I was very focused on music as I thought my professional career would lead me to be a musician who graduated with a music degree. Consciously, that decision to live a musician’s lifestyle was not appealing to me and I needed some other profession to support my professional and financial goals.”
“The main inflection point that led me to where I am now was my decision as a ConVal senior to enlist in the New Hampshire Army National Guard nine years ago. This helped refine my college decision — UNH tuition is waived for Guard soldiers — and structure my future to allow me to focus on key decisions such as classes and my professional career rather than stressing about college loans and expenses.”
“While taking gap years, summer classes, and intense 20 credit semesters, I was able to graduate with over 150 academic credits (military leadership classes helped) which was important to allow me to qualify for the CPA (certified public accountant) certification after graduating with both an accounting and finance degree. College led me to a career in financial services consulting with major accounting firm Ernst & Young (EY) which has provided numerous opportunities to grow my future in countless ways.”
“My military service has continued, where I recently responded to the State’s COVID-19 mission for 16 months. I was asked to manage an unemployment call center, personal protective equipment (PPE) warehouse, and co-lead the non-vaccine supply effort for all of the vaccine sites across NH. Without my experience in high school leading the band percussion section and varsity soccer team, I would not have felt confident in my leadership capabilities to be discovered and to develop in these important roles years later.”
