HAVERHILL, MASS. (WHDH) - Students at Whitter Regional Vocational Technical High School in Haverhill took matters into their own hands to bring sports back.
Volleyball Captain Alicia Habib and Football Captain Aidan Bull say they did not want to miss out on their last year of fall sports so they set up a meeting with the school’s Superintendent Maureen Lynch to find out how they could salvage the season she canceled.
“My thoughts were instead of being against her, we should talk with her and communicate our issues,” Aidan said.
“All she said was ‘there will be sports’. I burst out into tears,” Alicia said. “For both of us – we looked at each other and we’re so proud of ourselves.”
When the school initially sidelined cheerleading, volleyball, soccer and football over COVID-19 concerns, students posted signs along the school’s driveway reading “Let us play! Let us play!”
They protested the decision and cleared the snow from the football field.
A big thing for us was mental health. Athletes are in the roughest time of their lives … with that getting canceled they didn’t know what to do. They were all sad,” Aidan said.
But, nothing changed the school officials’ minds — even as other neighboring high schools began playing.
So, in what felt like the last inning, Aidan and Alicia went to bat for their classmates.
“You’d rather see them try and fail than not try at all,” Alicia’s father David said.
After getting an initial “no,” the students said the superintendent called them back into her office and told them, game on.
“Just to be able to finish strong with a senior year and now getting the chance to do that – its, its amazing,” Alicia said.
In a statement, Lynch wrote:
“We continue to pursue more in-person learning opportunities for our students. The Covid-19 rates have dropped significantly in our communities and it is time for us to take our next step.”
(Copyright (c) 2026 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)