Three athletes, lined up and adorned with the hats of some of the most prestigious colleges in the nation, signed their papers in the atrium to the tune of cheers from parents, friends and coaches alike.

Seniors Alexa Kalish, Jayanth Devaiah and Eliza Brown signed letters of intent to play sports at Division I schools in the atrium on Nov. 10th. Attending the event was a small group consisting of parents and friends and the teammates of the signees.

Kalish, who committed to the admissions process to Dartmouth College for diving, said that diving has helped her in many ways and is grateful for the many people who have helped her reach this goal.

“Diving has provided me with so many opportunities, mainly to meet people with the same interests as me, especially when I travel all around for club meets and get to meet all different people from around the United States,” Kalish said. “I am grateful for my parents and all of my family, as well as my diving coach, Kelley Gilmour, and my club coach, who have helped me so much.”

Kalish has found great success diving at the high school level, as she is currently holding both the 6 and 11 BHS dive records and has qualified for the USA Diving Nationals this year. With her signing, she said that she is eager to enter this next chapter of her athletic career.

“I’m super excited,” Kalish said. “It’s an amazing team. The coaches are awesome and really inspiring, and I can’t wait to be there.”

Brown, who is committed to the admissions process at Princeton University for swimming, said that she is incredibly grateful for the doors that swimming has opened to her.

“Swimming has given me an incredible amount of friends and an incredible amount of support, and I can’t imagine my life without it. I always knew I wanted to play a sport of some kind in college, whether it be varsity or club, so I’m excited I get to continue to swim. I’m also really grateful to be able to have the friends that I have made from swimming,” Brown said.

Katherine Brown, Eliza’s mother, said that she is proud of Eliza and has seen all the lessons swimming has taught her.

“I am excited for her to get to this stage of her swimming career. She has been swimming competitively since she was seven years old, so it’s nice after going to so many meets to see her get the success she deserves,” Brown said. “In any competitive sport, kids learn so much about life management skills and about executive functioning, like how to balance a schedule. They also learn how to compete at a level where they’re not always successful, and it is such a huge life lesson to learn how to bounce back after defeat and learn from your mistakes and continue to do it over and over again to move forward.”

The third signee, Devaiah, who signed to play for the men’s tennis team at Notre Dame University, said that he is grateful for the many people who have helped him along the way.

“I’ve had a lot of friends and family that have helped me get to where I am and have supported me. My mom, my dad, my brother, as well as my coaches and teammates have all been instrumental [to me throughout this process],” Devaiah said.

Having played tennis most of his life and having helped the boys varsity tennis team win two state championship titles, Devaiah said he has learned a lot by playing the sport. He said that his commitment has made him feel like all his hard work has paid off.

“I would say playing tennis has turned me into a better person. I feel like I’ve gained a lot of perspective being a student athlete and have been able to develop a lot of other skills, like time management and managing schoolwork, because of how much I practice,” Devaiah said. “I feel like it’s all coming together. It’s all paying off.”