By Carter Mitchell

Would you want to add an extra year of high school to your life? Would you want to be labeled as a fifth-year Senior who didn’t graduate on time? It may sound crazy, but the decision to reclassify can actually be beneficial for a student-athlete’s success in academics and athletics. 

The reclass process for Collegiate School is a long and in-depth process to ensure the best possible situation for the student. Conversations with administrators, coaches, the head of Upper School, your college counselor, and your parents are all required for a student to be considered for this process. Not only do these conversations need to happen, but factors like the grade’s class size, academic transcript, and whether or not this would be beneficial for the student are all reasons a request to reclass could be accepted or denied. At public high schools in Virginia, reclassifying is not an option for students, which could give public school student-athletes a disadvantage in college sports. 

I chose the route of reclassing from the class of 2024 into the class of 2025. I was hesitant at first. The initial thought of reclassing was a decision that was going to alter my entire high school career. Changing friend groups, classes, and other thoughts raced through my head about whether this was the right choice for me. I took time to contemplate and recognize the positives and negatives of reclassing. My grades were improving my Sophomore year, but I was unsatisfied with my Freshman 2.75 GPA. I believed that taking another year to mature academically and perfect my study strategies would give me a better opportunity to increase my cumulative GPA to pursue academic colleges. I also recognized that being diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Attention Deficit and Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) during the summer before my Sophomore year made retaining information and studying a challenge for me. I thought that finding new ways to overcome this struggle would be more attainable with an additional year of high school. 

In addition to the diagnoses and my academics, I had always wanted to pursue playing baseball, the sport I grew up loving and playing, in college. My recruiting process had been slow up until this point, and I believed that giving myself another year to grow and mature in the classroom and on the field would give me a better opportunity to pursue that dream at a higher level. 

Lifelong teammates. Photo credit: Brian Callaghan.

In the fall of 2021, I approached my parents about the possible idea of reclassing. They were surprised at first and thought I just wanted to do it because one of my best friends and teammate, Jack Callaghan (‘25), had been thinking about the decision as well. I explained my reasons: improving my academic transcript, having more time to mature, developing better and more effective study strategies, and more time to develop athletically to catch the attention of college recruiters. My parents questioned the decision once again and asked how I would be able to make new friends and how I would be able to interact with a different grade. My father, Jamie Mitchell, commented on my ability to make new friends, and he said, “You have a larger friend group with more meaningful relationships now.” With the reclass, I was able to make new friends on the baseball team, and we have grown very close. These friends from the team are also the people I enjoy being around and fishing with. My parents and I also contacted my college counselor and set up meetings to discuss this further to fully understand, from their point of view, the details of reclassing. 

Photo credit: Wright Hilbert.

When we spoke to my college counselor at the time, Andrew Reich, there were similar questions. He asked whether or not I wanted to be in high school for another year, if I wanted to see all my old friends graduate while I was left behind, and others. These conversations happened frequently throughout the fall and winter of my Sophomore year. I also talked with my head varsity baseball coach, Andrew Slater; Karen Doxey, who was Athletic Director at the time, and Head of Upper School Patrick Loach. I also spoke with the varsity football coach and current Upper School Dean of Students Mark Palyo about college football potentially being another option for me.

When I met with Loach, I knew I had taken all the steps, and he would be the final approval or denial of the reclass. I had been given the same speech by all of the people I had talked to about reclassing, and Loach spoke of the same things. This conversation was more in-depth, and I had to explain every detail as to why I wanted to reclass. This decision was very important, and Loach expressed that to me. He accepted my reclassification and enrolled me in the class of 2025 for the 2022 school year. 

Once I initially had reclassed into the 2025 class, it felt like I was still in the class of 2024. I was still in classes with Juniors from my old grade; I had not yet begun to talk and make friends with my new grade until the spring semester. It was a challenge at first. I didn’t know most people in this grade and felt I had nothing in common with them. As baseball season approached, I began to find the Sophomores trying out for the team had very similar interests as me. We began to hang out on the weekends and would get dinner and go fishing together. My choice to reclass was a choice that has benefited me in many ways. 

Image credit: Jack Callaghan via Instagram.

Through this entire process, I had always had the support of my parents, teachers, coaches, and one of my best friends. Callaghan reclassed in the fall of his Sophomore year as well, in 2022. We went through this process together but for different sports. He has been passionate about his role as quarterback on the varsity football team and has chosen to pursue college football at the next level. Callaghan had multiple Division I offers, including from Western Michigan, Stony Brook, University of Richmond, and Temple University. Callaghan also had interest from colleges such as William & Mary, the University of Pittsburgh, the University of South Carolina, and others. He recently committed to play for the Richmond Spiders.

Our decisions to reclass were based on similar interests. Callaghan said that he “felt that it affected me positively because I saw a terrific change in not only my recruitment but also with my grades. Most importantly, I wanted my grades to improve, because I reclassed and gave myself that extra year of development in both the classroom and on the field in football.” When asked what had changed about his life or school because of reclassification, he said, “Football has improved tremendously. That extra year gave me time to develop and put less stress on me to be present in the moment, trying to improve every day.”

Another baseball teammate and friend, Will Slater (‘24), also reclassed during his Junior year in 2023. Slater has committed and signed his national letter of intent to play Division I baseball at the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) in 2024. I asked Slater about the departure of his older friends, who graduated in 2023. Slater stated, “Socially speaking, it has been hard making new friends in a new grade and also having the majority of my friends graduate last year and watching them leave, and I’m still here… I have still made new friends, which has been good.” 

Image credit: Will Slater via Instagram.

Slater continued, “I’d say I felt regret at first and was kind of sad, because all of my buddies are at college, and I’m still here. But I just need to remind myself why I did it, and why I’m better for it.” Slater’s decision to reclass academically to mature and develop into a leadership position in the classroom and on the field has shaped him into the person he is today. Despite the hardships of reclassing, he trusts that it was the right decision for him.

Reclassing into a brand new grade can be, of course, frightening and full of unknowns, but sometimes it is the right decision for some people. I know that Callaghan, Slater, and I all do not regret doing it and have become stronger students and athletes in our respective classes and sports. This monumental change in my life has impacted me positively, in that I have verbally committed to play Division I baseball at William & Mary as a first baseman and pitcher. 

Featured image courtesy of Collegiate School.