Whether in Room 1024 or out on the field, Northwood math teacher and Athletics Director Sierra Wang is present in multiple aspects of campus life, influencing both the educational and athletic experiences of many Northwood students. We decided to sit down with her and talk about why athletics are important to her.

Mihir Kulkarni: What does your position entail?

Sierra Wang: There is a lot that goes into being the Athletics Director. We coordinate our coaches and our teams, so things like scheduling the field to go to different teams. There’s also budgeting, like being able to talk with boosters or how teams pay for equipment and tournaments. We oversee all of that too. There is also getting coaches certified and hired.

MK: What got you interested in becoming the Athletics Director?

SW: I love athletics, and I was a multi-sport athlete in high school, so that was a huge part of me. I also played soccer in college. I think I was always drawn to the idea of helping our students be the best they could be in both athletics and in school. I had always done the school piece with the math program, but being able to support all students be the best they could be as a student-athlete was interesting.

MK: How has athletics influenced your life?

SW: Hugely. I played soccer all my life. I grew up going to practice at least three times a week if not every day, depending on whether it was high school season. That’s how I made all my friends, and my best friends from college are the girls who were on my team. Those are the people that I go to and talk to and are like my core group of people. In terms of the things it taught me, it taught me to be flexible, be able to be on top of things and manage my time wisely enough to be able to go to practice and still get good grades. I also learned how to talk to people about what I need to be successful, so those are the things I learned by being a student athlete.

MK: What’s the best part of being Athletics Director?

SW: Well, I’ve only been doing it for about a month, but I would say getting to know all the kids from other sports would be my favorite part. Before, I only had my cross country, track kids and my students. Being able to recognize and cheer on kids who weren’t students of mine and weren’t part of the cross country or track team, but I still know from seeing their games was really cool and just another way to get to know the students and be there for them.