Palo Alto High School will host a National Signing Day event during lunch on Wednesday in the big gym, where Paly senior athletes will announce the colleges they plan to play for next year.

“National Signing Day is the day on which many high school athletes who plan to attend a Division I college and play a varsity sport sign a National Letter of Intent,” co-planner Anne Anderson said. “The National Letter of Intent [NLI] is the formal agreement that spells out the obligation between the athlete, their college and their team.” Anderson’s son, All-State defensive lineman Kevin Anderson, will be signing with Stanford University.

Paly has held special signing ceremonies for athletes before. This year, however, there are more athletes than usual planning to play sports at Division I schools. In addition, this year’s group will be coming from many different sports, according to Anderson.

Anderson said that not all Paly athletes planning to play sports in college will sign NLIs on National Signing Day. They could have signed last fall or will plan to do so later this year. Additionally, athletes who choose to play at the Division III level do not sign NLIs.

Assistant Principal Kathie Laurence says many more than the seven or eight athletes taking part in National Signing Day will be playing sports in college, but some of them have not decided where they will go to college or have yet to be accepted.

Anderson adds that all Paly athletes planning to play varsity sports in college, whether it be the Division I, II, or III level, will be honored at a rally in late April.

Click here to watch the event streamed live at 11:35 a.m. on Wednesday.