MVHS Athletics held its annual Senior Signing ceremony during lunch on Friday, May 22, in the rally court. The event featured nine of the 10 senior athletes who plan to pursue their respective sports at a collegiate level and included a signing ceremony with a photoshoot for each athlete with their friends and family. Afterward, attendees and athletes enjoyed donuts provided by the Athletic Department.
Athletic Director Nick Bonacorsi, one of the main organizers of the event, explains that the ceremony serves to celebrate student-athletes. He believes the event recognizes the amount of work put in by the athletes’ friends and family for supporting them through the past four years.
“It’s the culmination of more than just four years of hard work,” Bonacorsi said. “Most of these athletes have been playing their sport since they were little kids, and it takes all those years of hard work, all those years of overcoming various challenges and obstacles, to be able to get to this point. This is the best part, because you get to see it pay off, and you’re getting to see the fruits of your labor.”
Senior Ryan Shen, who is committing to Carnegie Mellon University for D3 track and field, says this year’s ceremony had an unusually high number of seniors who were committing to schools, in comparison to last year’s four seniors. Additionally, Shen is proud of this year’s Varsity Track and Field team, as five of the ten seniors who plan to continue their respective sports in college were part of the team.
“I committed because I’m a big fan of track and field,” Shen said. “I’ve been doing it since eighth grade, and I feel like track and field is a very important piece of my life. I want to continue it. I feel like I’m not really trying to have it end in high school. I think I can take it pretty far, and another reason is that it helped me get into a better school.”
Beyond celebrating the graduating senior athletes, Bonacorsi believes the event is important to the MVHS Athletics department’s legacy. Additionally, the senior signing ceremony showcases the pride that each individual has for their sport and the promise of a continuation of it in college.
“I think we often get undervalued for our athletics at MVHS,” Bonacorsi said. “I think this event shows that we have student athletes here that are working hard in the classroom and on their respective fields or pools, and you know that we can celebrate everybody equally and have fun along the way.”
