February 4, 2026 was National Signing Day, a time when high school students officially signed to play sports in college. 

It was also celebrated here at ESJ, as twenty-four seniors committed to compete at the collegiate level. 

All students gathered in the Semmes Gym, surrounded by proud parents and coaches of the athletes. 

Many awaited with eagerness, as their fellow classmates were getting ready to make the biggest decisions of their next few years.

As all were in the gym, the assembly started.

Being introduced and called up, the signees rose to take a picture with their coaches and later took a seat at the tables with their binding documents.

When all the twenty-four signees sat in their spots, they officially signed and put their college hat on, enveloped in a great applause.

This moment meant a lot for many, especially parents and coaches, as they saw their child, athlete or friend grow up and achieve what they worked so hard for over many years.

Grace Anderson, Jane’26’s  sister, proudly mentioned how “[she’s] so excited for Jane to play at a D1 level, and it doesn’t surprise [her] to see Jane signing as Jane has always been super competitive.”

It also means a lot to the students themselves, as they achieve the first big accomplishment of their sports career.

I have recently interviewed two signees that plan on continuing their sports career in college: Evan Tuttle ’26 and Riley Valent ’26.

Evan is getting ready to play lacrosse at Sewanee, while studying economics and business, a great school for this because of the alumni connections around the country.

He tells me that “the decision [to choose Sewanee] was all [his], [his] family would travel and meet coaches with [him] but [he] really took the reins on [his] recruitment process.” 

Tuttle’s favorite memory from playing lacrosse at Episcopal came from last season, even if he said that “all of last season was amazing; from playing PV really close to beating Bolles it was all fun.” It is the game against South Walton, as it was his first game back from injury, as he immediately made an impact on the field.

Throughout his career here, ESJ lacrosse has really helped and supported him as a player. He admits that “[he] was not the greatest player before [he] came here and [his] coaches really excelled my play. Practice has always been intense and has been preparing [him] for college.

Lastly, Tuttle would like to thank his friend Jude Kobrin ’26, who will also be attending Sewanee next year. Tuttle says, “If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have met one of Sewanee’s coaches at a tournament.”

Next, Valent ’26 plans on playing softball in Division III, and majoring in Biology and minoring in Spanish, with plans to get a masters degree in nursing afterwards, at Bates. 

Valent told me how “[her] parents and [her] had many conversations about what I wanted out of [her] school and [her] college experience. [She] wanted a high-academic school so that [she] could have the resume to get into nursing school post-graduation.”

She also got much advice from them as they both played collegiate sports in Division I and gave her insight on what it looked like.

Valent says she had a slow recruitment process until the very end, since most schools are not allowed to contact you until September 1 of junior year.

After September 1, she realized that “[she] wanted to go to a high academic Division III school and so [she] started narrowing [her] search. There are no Division III schools in Florida, so [she] knew [she] would have to look out of state.”

After narrowing down her choices Riley decided to look at schools in the northeast and two in Georgia. 

After visiting schools almost every weekend and getting a phone call by Coach McKay after her tournament in Newberry, Florida, she realized that Bates was the right fit for her.

She said that “Episcopal softball has prepared [her]  for college softball by helping [her] develop [her] skills as both a hitter and a pitcher.”

During her freshman and sophomore year, Valent got to train with Grace Jones, who is now playing at Mercer.

Training with Jones, said Valent, “really prepared me to take on the responsibility of starting pitcher for my junior and senior years.” 

Also, being forced to bounce back and adjust quickly in game, as the team’s only healthy pitcher made sure that she got the work in and became the best pitcher so she wouldn’t let her team down.

Lastly, Valent said, “ I want to thank my parents for supporting me so much through my development as a player and through my recruitment process.”

To conclude, congratulations to all the signees for committing to play in college, after all your hard work!

Image courtesy of Joshua Mason ’27.