Blazers honored at signing ceremony

On Feb. 6, friends, faculty and family gathered in the conference room in the media center to watch and celebrate six Blair senior athletes signing their national letters of intent. The athletes had committed to the schools earlier in the year but the signing made their commitment official.

The six athletes were Briana Villa (Delaware State), Delia Trimble (Temple), Donald Benamna (San Diego State University), Michael Thomas (UNC Wilmington), Ismail Lapp-Kamara (George Washington) and Jake Rozhansky (University of Virginia).

The athletes enjoyed the ceremony for the most part, "I was honored to sit in front of peers and classmates. It was all around [a] fun experience," Trimble, going go to Temple to play soccer, said.

For some athletes, this was a momentous occasion for which required a year of waiting. "I was pretty happy. I committed last year and now I can say I am a part of UVA," Rozhansky said. For Benamna, this was almost a dream come true. "I felt great...excited, it's a great feeling. This only happens once in a lifetime," he said.

SD

Photo: The Blair athletes pose with Ms. Johnson at the ceremony.

The Blair athletes pose with Ms. Johnson at the ceremony. Photo courtesy of Renay Johnson.

Of the six athletes, five of them signed their letters for soccer and one for swimming.
The ceremony held in the conference room was small, with less than 25 people in attendance. When it was their turn, each athlete came up to a table and signed their respective document with friends and family at their side. Then, after the document was signed, the ceremony concluded with more pictures taken with friends and family, and then food.

Of the thousands of high school athletes, only 7.5 percent play Division I college sports according to[scholarshipstats.com].

National Signing Day occurred on Feb. 5 and most of these athletes signed their national letters of intent at their homes instead of at Blair, but they repeated the deed by signing at the school's celebration.