2024 graduates, Nick DeGeorge and Micah Grossman, attend Cal Poly SLO to be part of

As seniors begin to receive their college decisions, many student athletes at VHS have started to commit to universities. Among these students is Nick DeGeorge ‘24, a student athlete and an entrepreneur. DeGeorge is a videographer and photographer, taking freelance jobs around the county for sports coverage. 

DeGeorge started by taking coverage of the VHS cross country team, which he is a part of, before expanding to sports such as VHS basketball and making university commitment graphics for athletes from other schools. His work can be seen on his photography, videography and design account on instagram (@deeg_designs). DeGeorge created graphic designs for fellow teammates to celebrate their commitment to a school,  such as Anthony Fasthorse ‘24 who has committed to the University of Oregon.

 After having an early season injury, DeGeorge got a different offer from Cal Poly SLO.  He tore his oblique muscles in half on March 3, 2023, affecting the rest of his track season. Ultimately, DeGeorge found a different way to continue his business in college through committing to Cal Poly SLO as their track and field videographer and photographer. 

DeGeorge said, “I was originally interested in running for [the track and field and cross country program] at Cal Poly, but I got injured and wasn’t really able to compete for them. I just happened to meet [Cal Poly SLO coaches] at a [track and field] meet I was working at. They told me ‘Look, we can’t really take you on our team to compete’ and I was like ‘Oh yeah, that’s fine.’ They offered me an alternative and they said ‘Hey, we need someone who can take photos for us and do video content, we think you’d be a great fit’.” 

Cal Poly SLO recently hired a new head coach who transferred to the university in 2022 after nine years at Ole Miss “building the Ole Miss cross country and track distance programs into powerhouses in the SEC,” according to the Cal Poly SLO track and field website (https://gopoly.com/sports/track-and-field/roster/coaches/ryan-vanhoy/979).  

DeGeorge said, “I have everything paid for by the school. Whatever events [the track and field and the cross country team] go to, they pay for my travel and my hotels. If I need camera equipment they will buy that for me so even if it’s not a full end up salary, I’ll still be getting plenty of stuff from it and I’ll still most likely be getting a scholarship. I’m planning on expanding from [the cross country and track and field team media coverage.] I want to take [the videography and photography business] to the whole school, if not, their conference which is the Big West.”

DeGeorge will also be going to Cal Poly SLO with fellow VHS student, Micah Grossman ‘24, who announced his commitment to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo on Oct. 28, 2023 on Instagram (@micahforestruns) stating, “Very excited to announce my verbal commitment to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. I would love to thank my family and friends, as well as all the alumni and coaches, especially Coaches Cruz and Josh, that have helped me throughout these last few years. Also a big thank you to coaches @ryanvanhoy and @coach.joe.vendetti for giving me this opportunity. Excited to see what these next four years bring.” 

Grossman ‘24 said, “For me, it involved me emailing [Cal Poly SLO] first and for me, they were interested immediately. Then you run your season, try to run fast times and then there’s a talking period where you are just kinda talking to them and then after the season’s over, usually in August or September, they take you out on a visit and then you go on an official visit. You may have been recruited to other schools, so you go on official visits. After you are done with everything and you make a decision then you get everything sorted out.” 

For many students such as Grossman, students have to reach out to the schools they are interested in in order to further their athletic abilities and education. 

Grossman said, “I emailed them at the end of my junior year cross country season, in December 2022 and then, they responded to my email. I was given the assistant coaches’ phone number [and] after that, multiple calls followed before my commitment.” 

DeGeorge and Grossman are expected to attend Cal Poly SLO in the fall of 2024 where DeGeorge has declared his major in photography and videography while Grossman declared his major in environmental engineering.