By: Kieran Holley
With a stroke of a pen, their future is set.
Eight Hershey High students signed a letter of intent to continue their athletic careers at the collegiate level on Wednesday November 11th, 2015.
When a student athlete signs a letter of intent, this means that they are committing to play a sport at the collegiate level. Colleges scout for athletes who excel in sports and work hard in school to get good grades. Some athletes do it for the scholarships, others do it for the love of the game.
![[from left to right] Jack Kushner, Dylan Painter, Blake Smith, Ryan Lacoe [bottom] Lauren Lechleitner, Lexi Robinson, Marley Tunnell, and Alexis Gazzio. These eight Hershey High athletes sign letters of intent Wednesday November 11th, 2015](https://hhsbroadcaster.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/kholley-letters.jpg)
“I really liked both teams, but it came down to scholarship money and the business curriculum at Indiana,” said Tunnell.
Senior Alexis Gazzio signed to play field hockey at the University of Delaware. Gazzio had at least five other colleges looking at her.
“This [committing to Delaware] is something that’ll change the next four years of my life,” said Gazzio.
Senior Lauren Lechleitner signed at La Salle University to play field hockey. Lechleitner originally planned on playing lacrosse at the collegiate level, but ultimately decided to play field hockey.
“I was talking to two other schools and one was for lacrosse, but I really liked how La Salle treats their athletes,” said Lechleitner.
Two athletes in particular had multiple offers to Division I universities.
Senior Dylan Painter signed his letter of intent to play basketball at Villanova. Painter, a power forward, had over 30 colleges working to recruit him, according to Pennlive.
“[Villanova basketball head coach Jay Wright] has been honest with me throughout the whole process, and I thought that was really important in a coach, so that definitely stuck out to me,” Painter said. “[Having] somebody who really believes in you as a player is really important in a coach and, like the assistant coaches all believed in me.
“That was all a big part in my decision,” Painter said.
Another HHS student-athlete who chose a Division I school was Jack Kushner. He committed to Ohio State University for swimming. Kushner said he had about 25 different colleges looking to recruit him.
“I got along with the team right away and the coaches were very personable,” said Kushner.
Ryan Lacoe and Lexi Robinson both signed at Division II schools. Lacoe signed at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania to play baseball. Robinson committed to Millersville University to play field hockey.
Blake Smith, signed at Franklin and Marshall, a Division III school. Smith signed to play baseball.
