Seven City High Athletes Commit to College Athletics
Rose Nkumu ’20 signed a Letter of Intent to Marquette University to play basketball.
November 15, 2019
Some seniors still have no idea where they want to go to college, but others sign a Letter of Intent early in their senior year. Signing a Letter of Intent to a college is essentially a promise to go and be on a sports team of that college. This requires those seniors to be certain that they actually want to go to the college to which they are signing.
On November 13, seven City High students signed Letters of Intent at the College Commitment Ceremony, surrounded by parents, friends, coaches, and teammates alike.
“It’s really exciting to know that now, once you sign the paper, you’re going there and there is nothing that you could do that could take it away,” Aubrey Joens ‘20 said. “It’s nice to have it be permanent.”
Olivia Masterson ‘20 and Carly Weigel ‘20 signed for swimming to the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Chicago respectively. Quincy Ott ‘20 signed to play soccer at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. Mia Loughran ‘20 signed to play volleyball at Cornell College. Additionally, Rose Nkumu ‘20 signed to Marquette University, Paige Rocca ‘20 signed to Missouri State, and Joens signed to Iowa State University. All three will play basketball.
“This is really an exciting moment,” Joens said. “From elementary school, I always wanted to play college basketball, so I would say it’s a really big opportunity and I’m really excited to get to go there. I kind of just ruled out all other options and decided on Iowa State.”
Joens participated in a basketball camp at Iowa State University the summer after her sophomore year and decided she wanted to go there soon afterwards. However, she did not verbally commit until last August.
“My sister plays there, and I really want to get the chance to play with her again,” Joens said. “[Also] getting the chance to play in front of 10,000 fans in Hilton is an incredible opportunity.”
One of the other signees, Ott, decided to play soccer at Platteville because he enjoyed the atmosphere and culture he noticed when he visited the college, as well as the cafeteria food.
“It’s kind of a relief,” Ott said. “I’m really proud to be [at the ceremony]. I’m really happy that my family and a lot of my friends are here.”
While he is now happy with his choice of college, when he first started looking for colleges to recruit him, Ott had trouble finding offers. It’s frustrating not getting those offers as early, but I think it was worth the wait and I think the wait made me work a little harder and want it a little more. — Quincy Ott
“It’s frustrating not getting those offers as early, but I think it was worth the wait and I think the wait made me work a little harder and want it a little more,” Ott said. “You just need to be patient.”
Joens also struggled with the college process at times.
“It was chaotic, lots of people asking where you want to go and when are you deciding, so it’s nice to have that out of the way because it was a lot of pressure,” Joens said.
With their signatures, these athletes have secured a place on the sports teams of their colleges. However, they still have most of their senior year of high school ahead of them.
“I would just tell them to keep working hard,” Principal John Bacon said. “One of these things that all these kids have in common is they have worked extremely hard at their craft. And I think that’s worked for them so far, so just keep it up.”
