Melissa Forziat performing her floor exercise program at the 2005 Ivy League Women's Gymnastics Championships at Yale University When she graduated from Garden City High School in 2001, Melissa Forziat was still a bit uncertain about continuing her gymnastics career in college. "I'm glad that I did," she remarked recently. "I was able to accomplish so much." Now a senior on the Brown University Women's Gymnastics team she has earned All-Ivy honors for the fourth year in a row, and this year the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) selected her for their Coaches' Choice Award.

According to Coach Sara Carver-Milne, "Melissa is our team captain and has proven why she deserves that position. As a floor [exercise] and [balance] beam specialist Melissa realized that the loss of our five seniors last year would have a huge impact on our line-up. Determined to help the team, Melissa learned a new vault. Not only has she continued to master beam and floor, she also earned our second-highest score on vault."

Beginning last summer and working throughout the fall and winter months, Melissa organized a Brown University Women's Gymnastics Alumni group and established a newsletter to keep them informed. She also created the Brown Gymnastics Wall covering all 32 years of the varsity program in their team's home facility in the Pizzatola Gymnasium on campus. Each former teammate and coach has a commemorative brick on the wall.

Her skills in floor exercise and balance beam choreography have been well-documented by the collegiate, high school and club gymnasts from Long Island, Massachusetts and Rhode Island who have won honors benefiting from her assistance with their routines. Small wonder, then, that aside from the Ivy League, and ECAC gymnastics and scholar-athlete honors that she has garnered over the years, this Garden City alumnus has also qualified for the USAG National Championships on floor.

She enjoys her work as an intern in the Brown University Athletic Office and hopes to pursue a possible career in sports marketing after graduation this spring. When asked about her priorities for her senior year, Melissa said, "I want to help inspire my teammates." She has done that and more.