Mary Buckner, a Starkville High School senior, elected Tuesday morning to sign with Mississippi State University.
She won’t be suiting up in an athletic uniform when she gets to campus. Her college career will be purely academic. But Buckner relished the chance to declare in front her classmates she would be a Bulldog.
“It’s really inspiring to be noticed for academics,” Buckner said. “Rarely does this get recognized. It’s a bittersweet moment this close to graduation, but it’s nice to see where are my classmates are going for graduation.”
Buckner, along with 156 other seniors at SHS participated in senior signing day in the school’s gymnasium in front of students, parents and community members.
Similar to a ceremony used to represent athletes for their college decisions, the seniors Tuesday were recognized for their post-high school academic or military choices. Every senior who participated sat down at a table decorated with Yellow Jacket memorabilia and signed their name on their certificate signifying their future plans.
Sean McDonnall, SHS principal, wanted to recognize the senior student body for their initiative to move forward after graduation.
“We celebrate every athlete who goes to college. Why can’t we celebrate every student?” McDonnall said. “That’s why we wanted to do this.”
McDonnall heard of another school organizing a senior signing day at a principal’s meeting earlier this year. He said he researched online how other schools organized this type of program and wanted to create Starkville High’s own version.
“Our job is to get these kids ready for whatever they decide to do after high school,” he said. “Stuff like this, helps them get ready.”
The students who participated had to turn in letters of college acceptance, job offers or a letter of acceptance from a branch in the military, in order to receive recognition.
Blair Schaefer, 2014 SHS graduate and senior guard for Mississippi State University, was the guest speaker. She spoke about her motivation for success on and off the basketball court at Mississippi State University. She spoke highly of the basketball program but insisted that a strong education should be the foundation for every student and athlete.
Schaefer, who will graduate this month with a biological sciences degree, has announced she will move on to study sports management on the graduate level at Texas A&M.
“You guys can get anywhere that you need to be if you have the right mindset and surround yourself with positive people,” Schaefer said. “People that will make you change. Sometimes (to) resist to change is (to) resist to grow. Sports are not forever, but academics will get you wherever you want to be in life.”
After Tuesday’s program, recruiters from Mississippi State University, East Mississippi Community College and the University of Mississippi were present to meet and congratulate all the academic signees.
Kristie Holler, a school counselor intern, was one of the many people who helped orchestrate this program for SHS. Holler said the students were excited about participating and were eager to dress in their future college attire. Many students walked across the gymnasium floor wearing shirts and hats decorated with their chosen school’s colors and mascots.
The crowd cheered for each student while they singed their certificate. Many Mississippi State academic signees rang a cowbell after finalizing their commitments.
School pride
Similar to athletic signees, school pride and rivalries were prevalent in the gymnasium. Angel Tate, who signed with the University of Alabama, sat down at the table to sign her certificate. She quietly made sure to remove the Mississippi State cowbell from the table, before signing her letter of intent to Alabama.
Back in February, Cameron Hines singed with Jackson State University to play football. Tuesday, he signed with Jackson State University to continue his academic career.
Hines plans to double major at JSU in communication and aerospace engineering. He said he was excited to be recognized for his academics and to see his classmates recognized for their academic success.
“Signing for football, that’s signing for athletics,” Hines said. “This was for everybody. It’s important for them to be noticed.”
After seeing the students’ reactions and crowd turnout, SHS intends continue with senior signing day. McDonnall said he plans to meet in the next few days to see how the program can be improved before the class of 2019.
“We were real impressed with the crowd,” he said. “We started something now. All the juniors are sitting in class right now saying they want to do this next year.”
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