Six University Academy students will begin playing sports at the collegiate level this next fall as they progress into their next life chapters.
On April 11 in the UA auditorium, six seniors signed to colleges across the Midwest. They each had family and friends in attendance to see the student athletes sign and make their commitments to play at the next level.
This is a huge deal because only a select few students have the opportunity to play sports competitively after high school. In addition, it is especially impressive because UA emphasizes academics, with sports being secondary. Keeping that in mind, for these student athletes to earn collegiate attention while mainly focusing on meeting UA’s academic demands is a big accomplishment.
Three out of the six seniors signed to Avila University to play college football, while another football player will be going to play at Graceland University.
The three “Avila Avengers” are Hoskins, Keaton Davis and Keith Haltiwanger. Affordability and closeness to home were a couple of the expressed reasons for choosing Avila, which is in Kansas City.
“I chose this college because I had gotten a scholarship to play football, and I had also received [the KC Scholars scholarship], which reduced my tuition to $0,” Haltiwanger said.
Jamin Wilson will be playing football at Graceland University, in Iowa, for the next chapter of his athletic career.
Next was Tyson Strickland, who will be playing baseball at the collegiate level at Calvary University in Kansas City.
UA’s final senior signee, Anonda Ford, will be playing basketball at Johnson County Community College, which is in Overland Park, Kansas.
Ford said she will be “going to open gyms over the summer and training with the team over the summer.”
These students have trained rigorously and performed at a high level all four years of high school. They’ve all worked hard for the opportunity to continue their careers.
Many of them didn’t originally have the aspirations to play at the next level but grew into it as time continued.
Hoskins said, “Once I got into high school, that’s when I chose I wanted to play college sports.”
The signing event was special, as the entire Upper School student body was in attendance. Good luck to these graduating Gryphons who are playing at the next level.
