This new school year has brought many changes and new beginnings to our SHS community. Among these changes comes our new activities and athletic director, Mrs. Alexander! Originally from Marshfield, Wisc., softball star Andie Alexander is here to make impactful progress at SHS.
“I was fortunate enough to get a scholarship to go play softball at Purdue University in Indiana, which is in the Big 10. And then I went on and played professional softball for a year. And now I’m doing this,” Alexander says.
With a baseball player for a father and a basketball player for a mother, Alexander initially showed more of an interest in music and singing, rather than sports.
“I love singing. I’ve sang since I probably could talk when I was younger, and I think my parents were like, ‘You know what, if she’s gonna sing this much we might as well make her sound good.’ So they put me in piano and singing lessons, and I did that for a while,” Alexander says.
It wasn’t until later that she began to develop interests in sports and other activities.
“I played tennis. That was pretty much my first sport […] My dad was super involved in baseball when I was born. So he was a major league baseball player and coach throughout my childhood. So I pretty much had baseball in my blood. But my mom played [basketball] in high school so I just loved sports. I tried everything and whatever kind of stuck is what I kind of stuck with throughout high school,” Alexander says.
Almost predicting that she would eventually be an activities and athletic director, Alexander was a busy student in high school. She participated in solo and ensemble, tennis, and basketball, all while working hard to excel at softball. She was fortunate enough to receive a scholarship to Purdue University in Indiana and graduated with a degree in Organizational Leadership and Supervision in 2014. She then went on to play professional softball for a year before settling down in Evansville, Wisc. to start her career in directing activities in high school.
“I get to enjoy a whole bunch of other sports and a whole bunch of other activities […] I think high school is a really great avenue to have kids involved in multiple things. That’s why I want to be here,” Alexander says.
Having dealt with tight schedules and managing multiple activities,Alexander had some advice for students wanting to continue doing an activity through college and in life.
“This [high school] is a really safe environment to try everything and to kind of find your niche… find what makes you tick, and that way you can further that into college. I feel for the students that don’t try everything until college, and it’s also a little bit too late because college is huge compared to high school. You know, I want them to try it here, or [where] there’s a safe place […] find where their path is going to take them on their journey,” Alexander says.
Alexander is passionate about getting involved and strongly recommends jumping into an activity to all students because it sets you up with the skill you need to be successful in life.
“It teaches you life skills — teaches you how to combat challenges, teaches you how to work as a team. It teaches you how to perform in pressure situations. I think the biggest [thing] is just figuring out, can you work in a team? Are there opportunities for you to be an individual, but also work with a group of students, as well? There’s a lot of these different groups or even different sports that you guys could experience to say, ‘No, I’m more of an individual athlete or am I more of a team player,’ or ‘I would want to go into DECA and do either a groups feature an individual speech’ — certain things like that that can really tailor who you are, and I feel like that’s really important to understand,” Alexander explains.
Alexander stressed her point on making a positive impact on SHS. After welcoming her first child last May, she shares that her patience and compassion has increased greatly. She yearns to see all types of students become successful.
“My favorite part [of my job] is that I’m able to see multiple groups of students succeed in different areas…I can set the stage for an atmosphere in athletics rather than just one sport, or one activity. I want to make sure that I’m overseeing and making sure that students have a really great chance of succeeding, whatever that looks like, and just have fun here. This is, like I said, a really great environment to experience everything,” Alexander says.
As for advice for SHS students, Alexander offer this piece of wisdom:
“Don’t look back on high school and have regrets..try everything.”