Instead, some scope the field for trash and pick it up. Others do the same in the bleachers. Another group brings paint onto the field and carefully sets the lines before they paint the field for Grenadiers football games.
The 25 students are taking the first athletic directors in training class, and preparing the field is one part of teacher Rick Everett’s lesson plan.
“It’s been an interesting school year, learning how to try and build the class,” Everett said. “It really has no state curriculum, just based on the needs of the school and trying to promote school athletics.”
The school switched from a six- to a seven-period schedule during the 2010-2011 school year. Everett, also the assistant athletic director, noticed a bunch of students had an extra credit available.
Everett wanted to put them in a class and give them an inside look at athletics. He hasn’t heard of a similar program at any school, but he pitched the idea to the administration.
“They loved it,” Everett said. “So basically, I handpicked the class last spring for this school year.”
The students are mostly athletes, including Oriel Anu, a senior who runs track.
“I’m taking this class because I want to just change the school environment and just leave a legacy before I leave,” said Anu, who helped start the Colonial Crazies spirit program.
Everett said before the class began, most students didn’t understand what happens “behind the scenes of an athletic department,” in terms of scheduling conflicts, facilities maintenance and hiring coaches.
“You could go on and on with all of the things that kids don’t realize happen when they’re just participating in sports themselves,” Everett said.
Said junior Savannah Kilgallon, a three-sport athlete: “I knew that they ran everything, like making sure with other schools when the dates were for games and everything, but I didn’t realize such the responsibility and pressure that they had. Now I have more respect for them.’
The class doesn’t just paint the football field or put wind screens around the tennis courts.
Anu helps coach Janine Mojica update the softball team’s stats into MaxPreps.
The class also puts on sports programs for students with special needs, which is something that football player J.T. Torres finds rewarding.
“We went in the gym and played bowling,” Torres said. “And just seeing how much of an impact we had on them, that was a moment I’ll never forget.”
The students have polo shirts that say A.D.T. (athletic director in training) and ID badges that allow them free rein of the school to help coaches and administrators with athletics.
The school year will end June 7, and Everett said it is too early to say whether taking the class will alter students’ career paths.
“Some of them have the skills to do such a job, but none of them, I think, are pointing at that career at this point in time,” Everett said.
