Community Corner
Milford High School Student Wins Four-Year Scholarship to UNH
Ben Ear, a senior at Joseph A. Foran High School, was the winner of this year's College of Business Scholarship Competition — which provides him with a four-year scholarship worth more than $125,000.
WEST HAVEN, CONN. –-- A Milford High School senior who observed how long it was taking people to dig items out of purses and backpacks and designed a solution has been awarded a four-year scholarship to the University of New Haven.
Ben Ear, a senior at Joseph A. Foran High School, was the winner of this year’s College of Business Scholarship Competition, which provides him with a four-year scholarship worth more than $125,000.
Ear’s business plan for his hypothetical company, Access, and its product, Band-cessory, a one-inch-by-one inch watch-like container worn on the wrist to hold gum or pills, “demonstrated the kind of business thinking that is a cornerstone of the College of Business at the University of New Haven,” said Dean Elizabeth Davis.
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“The competition attracted a great deal of attention from students all over the country,” Davis said. “Ben’s plan was well done and focused on an outstanding idea. We are happy to have him join the UNH student body.”
Ear said he came up with the idea for Band-cessory a year ago after watching his female classmates take more than 20 seconds to dig a piece of gum out of their purses. “I was absolutely surprised to win – I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “I felt like I had won the lottery.”
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Ear, who plans to commute to UNH, plays the piano, sings in the Foran music programs and participates in track and field. “I applied to UNH because I was interested in picking a school close to home that has a really good college of business,” he said. “After I visited UNH, I thought it had a very friendly and active environment.”
UNH’s competition isn’t the only one Ear wrote a business plan for. His plan for a quick, healthy way to provide people with breakfast will be presented at an expo at Foran on May 17.
But right now, he said, he doesn’t think his future career track will be entrepreneurship but rather corporate accounting. “I hope to be very high in a company someday,” he said.
The University of New Haven is a private, top-tier comprehensive institution recognized as a national leader in experiential education. Founded in 1920 the university enrolls approximately 1,800 graduate students and more than 4,600 undergraduates.
