Some seniors are lucky enough to commit to a college before the application processes for most seniors is even started.

Whether recruited or scouted, colleges know whom they want to pursue. The beginning of senior year can be very stressful, but with the ease of knowing where they are going, seniors can spend more time on academics and athletics.

“The student still has to maintain their academic achievements. So they can’t just do that senior slide and forget about their grades, they’re still important to the school,” Connie O’Loughlin in the counseling office said.

O’Loughlin added the point that even though the students know where they are going and that the sports team wants the student, the student must still be admitted to the college itself.

In basic terms, an official commit happens when a student signs a National Letter of Intent to attend a college or university.

“If we have a player interested in a college our head coach can reach out to the college directly and say, ‘This is the player. Here’s our schedule. Come watch him,’ and they put in a good word for them,” football coach Mark Sanborn said.

Other ways students could get colleges interested in them is by going to the college’s skills camps over the summer to get exposure in certain schools.

If the college likes a player, they will come to watch them more during the following year.

“Sometimes players can even contact colleges directly and give them their schedule and ask the coaches to come watch them play,” Sanborn added.

The recruitment process itself can be very stressful and time consuming itself.

“I started the recruitment process for volleyball freshman year. It really narrowed down to where I want to be, which is on the west coast. So after talking getting various offers, I signed to California State University for D1 volleyball,” Mia Ardila said.

Apart from what most seniors who commit to college for sports, senior Ricky Schwartz is committed to Berklee College of Music for Guitar Performance.

After a five-week summer program at Berklee, Schwartz auditioned for a scholarship program to secure his place at the school for the upcoming years.

Many times, when a student is recruited by a school, the student has put in countless hours toward the sport they have been scouted.

“So my mom and dad both played and that’s how they met. So I’ve really been playing volleyball my entire life. Although, I joined my first real team when I was 10,” Ardila said.

“I took lessons for about seven years, but recently I stopped because I didn’t think I was getting much out of them anymore,” Schwartz said.

The recruitment process can be long and stressful, but it takes away a lot of stress from the senior year. Having committed to college, those seniors will be able to focus more on academics and maintaining their grades and less on the stress of hearing back from schools and application deadlines.

“It’s very relieving. I’m grateful that I don’t have to go through all the stress that a lot of seniors are going through right now with applications,” Ricky Schwartz said. A statement that relates to many seniors who are already committed.