Parents, friends and coaches gathered to celebrate some of Eden Prairie’s finest athletes on February 4th. This event, known as signing day, officially honored all senior athletes who have signed a letter of intent to play either Division 1 or Division 2 college athletics. There were 19 athletes present from various sports, representing everything from football to swimming.

Activities Director Mike Grant opened the ceremony by thanking everyone for coming and said a few words about the athletes on the stage. He said that “It has been an honor to have such distinguished and selfless individuals represent EPHS. Not every school can boast of this level of character from their athletes.” Grant described how he had been complimented multiple times by other athletic programs on how classy and respectful Eden Prairie athletes are.

Grant also thanked Principal McCarten for helping to expand the event in comparison to previous years as well as his staff for all the hard work that they do to make this possible.

Each individual athlete was then given time to say their sport and where they were going to continue their career in college. Each athlete also took the time to thank the people they credited with helping them make it to this stage. Individual coaches and parents as well as the activities department staff received much of the credit. “You take care of the hard work so that we can just play” were the words of one signee.

Senior Anna Mixon, who will be going to Minnesota State Mankato to play soccer, also thanked her twin sister, Julia, who will also be attending Minnesota State Mankato for soccer.

This event was organized by the Student Council. Junior Hannah Brink, who is currently committed to Ohio State University for lacrosse, was one of the leaders behind the event. “Signing Day hasn’t really been a big deal at EPHS like it is at other schools. I wanted to help change that to make sure that our athletes get recognition.” Brink explained.

“We talked to Nancy Schmidt, the activities coordinator, Mike Grant and Conn and brainstormed ideas and then combined a bunch of them into creating this event.”

Signing day was a major hit with both the athletes and the parents and it looks like it will become a fixture of EPHS in years to come. Congratulations athletes, you deserve it.