This is an exciting time of the year if you're a high school athlete. For 10 Emmaus seniors who recently signed letters of intent to attend a college on a scholarship, it's a very exciting time.

The group includes field hockey players Aislinn Bryan (Lehigh/Computer Science), Ashley Focht (Shippensburg/Undeclared), Kassidy Green (Lehigh/Business), Sarah Kazmierski (Old Dominion/Fashion Merchandising and Marketing), Shauna Poling (Indiana University of Pennsylvania/Undeclared), Alexis Roth (Bloomsburg/Business Marketing) and Jessica Unger (Northeastern/English and Law), swimmer Taylor Iobst (George Mason/Neuroscience), Lacrosse player Garrett Miers (Lehigh/Business) and golfer Kyle Wambold (Binghamton/Undeclared).

In their first year of offering athletic scholarships, the Lehigh Mountain Hawks became a familiar logo at Emmaus, with three seniors accepting scholarships to attend Lehigh. The Lehigh field hockey program will also get a big boost when teammates Aislinn Bryan and Kassidy Green join the college program after a history together at the high school level. When asked about staying together, the two answered in unison; "teammates."

Heading off to Lehigh will give Bryan a chance to be reunited with her big sister Caitlin, who attends Lehigh. For Green, joining the Mountain Hawks program was among her top choices. Both said that playing field hockey under coach Sue Butz-Stavin taught them a lot.

"I learned a lot about hard work and that you have to work hard to reach your goals," said Green.

"I think determination is the biggest thing I learned," Bryan said. "Identifying a goal and doing the hard work to reach that goal."

The numbers connected to the scholarships are staggering. The 10 players racked up an estimated $6.5 million in scholarships among them. Academically, the group had an average GPA of 3.22 and feature three National Honor Society members and two Academic All-Americans. Athletically, 35 varsity letters, four All-American honors, four All-State honors and four All-Area honors. They also played on one National Championship team (2010 field hockey), one PIAA championship team (2010 field hockey), six District 11 championship teams (field hockey, girls swimming) and eight Lehigh Valley Conference championship teams (field hockey, golf, girls swimming). The 10 seniors also combined to work for 20 different volunteer organizations in the Lehigh Valley.

Parents, family members and coaches were all on-hand to congratulate the seniors and wish them the best for their college careers.

Athletic Director Dennis Ramella found the achievements of this year's class to be among the best the school has to offer and predicted big things for the student athletes.

"They each have excelled throughout their high school careers, both academically and athletically and there's no reason to believe that they won't continue to develop as they learn more from their new coaches and the new situations that they face," said Ramella.