Engineering & Science makes history with NLI Signing Day

<![CDATA[Last Tuesday, George Washington Carver High School of Engineering and Science made history. The small school located in North Philadelphia smacked dab in the middle of Temple University's campus had a NLI Signing Day. If you do not know what that is, it is a National Letter Intent Signing Day for student athletes.

What this means in detail is that the high school student athlete signs an agreement where they are going to go for school and the specific sport they are going to play. For Engineering and Science last Tuesday, they had four student athletes sign letters of intent. For a school like Engineering and Science, who prides themselves on academics, they also put the athlete in student athlete.

The four students that were recognized was Tehya Noell (track and field), Eric Lewis (basketball), Elijah Luckey (swimming), and Aaliyah Worley (basketball). All of these students not only put the work in outside of the classroom but also in the classroom as well.

These students also have the accolades to back up their academic and athletic careers. To start off Tehya Noell, who is a track and field athlete for Engineering and Science, currently holds a number three overall Pennsylvania state ranking in the Hurdles and has the number one overall ranking in the state of Pennsylvania for a member in the Class of 2014. She also has an outstanding 3.7 GPA and will be attending Boston University majoring in Physical Therapy.

Next, Eric Lewis also just like Noell and the rest of the students being recognized, puts in the work in and outside the classroom. Lewis, a senior was a Top 15 scorer in the Public League and racked up 400 points in a single season, which is phenomenal. With those kinds of stats it earned him a spot on the All Public First Team. But just like his fellow classmates, it's also about the academics. Lewis has 3.3 GPA and was accepted to big D1 programs such as VCU and Penn State. Lewis will be taking his talents to Mansfield as he plans to major in social work with a minor in business.

To take a step back from basketball, a sport that not many people know that takes place in the Public League is swimming. With myself being a graduate of Engineering and Science, swimming was always a sport that some students did and many were successful. Elijah Luckey continues that line of success. Luckey, again just like his fellow classmates had many accolades such as last year he placed first in the AA division and placed 4th in the 50 meter freestyle at states. Then this year, he placed 6th overall in the 50 meter freestyle and 4th overall in the 100 meter breaststroke. Luckey will be attending Howard University.

Finally as I switch back to basketball, Aaliyah Worley continues the great line of girls' basketball players to come out of Engineering and Science. Luckily, I had the chance to see Keisha Hampton and Brittany Hrynko play at my time in E&S. Hampton, who had a tremendous career at DePaul University was drafted by the Seattle Storm of the WNBA in 2012. Then, you have Brittany Hrynko, who is also putting on a show at DePaul herself. Worley will continue to follow in those players footsteps but will be playing at Stony Brook University. Worley amassed 1,000 points after her junior year and finished her senior year with 1,117 points, which is just outstanding. She was named the Girls' Public League Player of the Year and has bright future ahead of her as she will be pursuing journalism at Stony Brook.

All these student athletes show that there is positivity and great things not only coming out of Engineering and Science but out of the Philadelphia School District. Yes, accomplishments like this are not publicized a lot but they should. There are stories like this every single day that do not get the attention it deserves.

I am very happy to see my high school do this because it sets the precedent for years to come. It lets me know that there are good things happening every day and despite how small or big, it still carries the same weight years down the road.