Junior Annie Dignazio has already committed to an Ivy League school, Brown University. Dignazio hopes to get a good education while winning a championship playing lacrosse.

“My goal is to win an Ivy League championship, and hopefully an NCAA championship,” Dignazio said. “My goal college wise? I don’t know. I just wanted to get a great education.”

Dignazio picked Brown University because it has everything she was looking for: her educational and lacrosse desires.

“I kind of wanted to go to a big 10 school until I visited Brown, and it was everything I was looking for,” she said. “I have always wanted to go somewhere north [from here], but just not like for main academics and comparable athletics. Just the second I got on that campus, I was like, ‘I want to go here.’”

Brown University was not her initial choice. Dignazio looked at other campuses, mainly wanting to go to Penn State or University of Connecticut.

“September 1, which is when you call, just start contacting you. I was kind of looking more at, like, Penn State, Rutgers, like the big 10,” Dignazio said. “Then, I don’t know, literally the second we left [Brown’s] campus, I was like, ‘I want to go there.’ There was no question in my mind, I kind of fell in love with it. Everyone told me, ‘When you go on the campus, you’ll know.’”

Dignazio believes that Strath Haven High School has a higher value when it comes to colleges seeing a student’s application.

“I do have all A’s, but also like, all A’s that a Strath Haven student has is different from all A’s at another school,” she said. “There’s weight there, definitely. Strath Haven helped boost my grades.”

She is also relieved that she doesn’t have to work on her college applications and essays to prepare for the big step of going to college.

“I’m so happy that all my college stuff is done,” she said. “Seeing the seniors go through Common App, I don’t have to do any of that, and I’m like, ‘Thank the Lord’, as it barely matters.”

Mrs. Pigeon Graham, the girls’ lacrosse coach at Strath Haven High School, is excited for Dignazio to embark on this journey.

“I’m thrilled for Annie that she’s going to Brown,” Graham said. “I think that she’s worked really, really hard academically and athletically. She’s such a good athlete in every sport, and I’m so excited that she’s chosen to play lacrosse at the next level.”

Graham believes that Brown is a good school for Dignazio to attend because of its academic and athletic programs.

“I think that it has a high level of academics which she can certainly handle, and I also think that the fact that it’s a Division One program that will offer a team and coaching that Annie will fit in,” she said.

Graham also believes that Dignazio is a great leader and is excited to have her for two more seasons.

“She always gives 110%,” Graham said. “She is a very positive vocal leader on our team and she also leads by example. She’s a kid that has a lot of things, pulling her in a lot of different directions. With all the sports that she plays, and she still manages to show up for everything that we need her for.”