Christmas has passed and the students of Saucon Valley HS are quickly approaching the dreadful return of school starting back up again. This year, the school board had gifted the students and faculty an elongated break of a whole 16 days off from school. Although this made it seem as though break would last for an eternity, for most students, holiday break probably felt as though it zoomed by in the blink of an eye, as it always does.

When school is officially back in session, the first semester will continue right where it left off, however, it will then come to a close Jan. 21 with the second semester beginning the next day. Aside from AP classes, which take place throughout the entire school year, all college prep, honors, and elective classes will be wrapped up, and the students’ schedules will be filled with new ones to carry them to the end of the school year.

It is a hectic and stressful time of year for seniors especially, since many colleges’ application due dates have recently passed, or are soon to pass. The college application process is no joke, which is why the Saucon Valley counselors - Grant Geiger, Janice Kimenhour, and Samantha Trachtman - have been scrambling to assist their students in sending transcripts, test scores and completing college applications in general. More and more seniors are becoming anxious and distraught over the demanding application due dates, receiving acceptance letters and deciding which college to commit to in general. For some seniors, however, the college application/decision process has finally come to a close, and they are able to walk around school, proudly and stress-free, repping their future university on merchandise and kicking back to enjoy the rest of their senior year.

For one Saucon Valley senior in particular, the college decision process was a little different. Talitha Diggs is a track all-star and was recruited by over 70 universities. With not only an amazing performance record on the track, Diggs has the grades to show for it, too. Her academics and athletics go hand-in-hand, being nothing short of outstanding. It is easy to imagine how stressful the college decision process was for this young woman, and how eager the rest of Saucon Valley was to find out where she was officially committing to.

When signing day finally came around, a large group of students and faculty all gathered in the auditorium to witness the big reveal. Talitha committed to continuing her academic and athletic career at the University of Florida.

“I chose the University of Florida because it has the best mix of a really good track program and a great academic program,” Diggs explained. Since then, she has continued to compete in numerous track meets and represent herself as a Florida Gator. The entire school district is proud to support Diggs in this huge achievement and exciting journey that lies ahead of her.