Ten of Searcy’s athletes went to the cafeteria last week for National Signing Day. Five of these students were from football, four from soccer, and the other was Rhett Raibley from track.

“It’s important because it’s like saying I’ve achieved everything that I wanted to achieve in high school; it pays off,” Riabley said.

Ashley Barnes will be playing soccer at Rutgers next year

“It’s important to me because these are the girls I grew up playing with; I played with them the whole time I’ve ever played soccer. It’s important to me, because it’s just making me realize that I’m growing up,” said Barnes.

Both athletes knew that to make it to the next level, they would have to put in a lot of hard work.

“When I first started track and cross country, I knew that I wanted to do it; I didn’t know that I’d be able to. I trained, and kept going. It eventually paid off,” said Raibley. “Now, I’m excited to be able to run in college.”

Barnes who has played soccer since 4th grade was surprised by the offer.

“I’ve only been playing for eight years, so I really didn’t expect my skills or anything to get me anywhere,” said Barnes. “When I found out Rutgers was interested in me, it was a really big shock.”

Raibley, Barnes, and the other signees had different reasons for why they choose their colleges.

“My parents both went to ASU; I went there, checked everything out and it looked good, so I decided to go there too,” said Raibley.

Barnes said she really didn’t choose Rutgers because of soccer.

“It had a big influence, but I went for the biology program, because I want to be in the medical field. I also want to do Spanish, and they have a really good Spanish program,” said Barnes.

This day brought college even closer and Barnes was glad she got to spend this day with her family, especially her father, who’s job serving our country almost kept him from coming to this event.

“It really makes me want to cry, actually. My dad has been home for a little bit, he hasn’t had to deploy. It’s really good to have him here. They were supposed to deploy earlier this year, but that got called off. It made things a whole lot better,” she said.