On December 16, 2020, four DMAE senior student-athletes each submitted their “Letter of Intent,” thus becoming official football scholarship recipients. In the fall, Jalen Hoyle will be attending Virginia Tech University, and VeRon Garrison will attend Georgetown University. In addition, Ryan Fletcher and Ronald Thomas signed to attend American International College and Marist College, respectively.

“For each of the student-athletes, I am happy that they will have the opportunity to continue playing a sport that they love at the next level,” Director of Athletics Joe Armental said.  

These student-athletes are very proud of their achievements. Throughout their high school careers, they have recognized the importance of being successful both in the classroom and on the field.

“I feel great about my success in and out of the classroom because I am an Honor Roll student and I get to play the game I love,” senior Ryan Fletcher commented.

As seniors, these student-athletes now look back and reflect upon their high school experiences and are able to provide advice to the underclassmen.

“Some advice I would like to give to the underclassmen is to never stop grinding and that everyone’s journey is different, so your success depends on nobody else but YOU,” senior Ronald Thomas emphasized. 

These accomplished seniors as well as the DMAE Athletic Department want to encourage younger student-athletes to continue to strive to excel in both their studies and their sports.

“It is my goal to continue to build a collection of multi-sport student-athletes,” Mr. Armental commented. “Many athletes have dreams of playing college and professional sports, but they often forget that they need to have the academic acumen to support that dream. With accountability, I believe that there is a tremendous amount of potential for more of our student-athletes to earn scholarships,” he concluded.