KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- It’s College Signing Day!
“We wanted to celebrate our seniors this year, more than we usually do,” school counselor Darcy Lucas said. “So we got the idea that we should join in on College Signing Day.”
Park Hill seniors will soon trade in their Trojans gear for college gear.
“Opening the letter was the greatest feeling in the world,” senior Jonathan Russ said.
Russ will be studying Computer Science at Morehouse College.
“When I was younger, I always heard about HBCUs and where to go, and they were like Morehouse man,” Russ said. “And I was like I like the sound of that.”
The 4.1 GPA student is also going on a full-ride scholarship.
“I was like, are you serious? I was like yes,” Russ said with excitement.
Senior Alexis Beard will be attending William Jewell College. College Signing Day means a lot to her and her family.
“It's kind of a big deal because my family never got to go to college really,” Beard said. “So it would've been something my mom wanted to do but never got to do.”
Now she’s going to start a new tradition in her family.
“I want to make sure going forth, that we're educated and we're moving up and fulfilling our dreams and be able to achieve that,” Beard said.
Signing Day was for all seniors to celebrate their next path in life.
“I think it's important for students to have a plan after high school, whether it be post-secondary education, military, work, just so they're not floating out there with no plan in life,” Lucas said.
For Beard and Russ, it’s the support of their teachers, faculty, and especially family that’s helped them with the next chapters of their lives.
“My mom means the world to me,” Russ said. “She's been there for me through thick and thin, when I was short and tiny, and to where now I'm not so short and not so tiny. She's been amazing.”
“I feel like my family went through a lot of hardship, and they had to learn a lot of lessons the hard way to put me where I am now, and so the fact that they're so willing to kind of build this up for me,” Beard said. “I'm excited to show them that their hard work has paid off and that I'm going to do that they would've wanted me to do.”
Park Hill plans on doing this new tradition for years to come.
