Cooperstown hires athletic director

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August 17, 2012

Cooperstown hires athletic director

By Michelle Miller Staff Writer The Daily Star Fri Aug 17, 2012, 03:30 AM EDT

Cooperstown Central School has hired Monica Wolfe as its athletic director for the 2012-13 academic year.

Wolfe replaces Jay Baldo, who stepped down from the position earlier this year. Baldo served Cooperstown as its AD since 2009, when he took over for CCS secondary principal Mike Cring. Baldo said he will concentrate on his position as a guidance counselor at the school.

Wolfe, from Richfield Springs, taught elementary physical education in the Vernon-Verona-Sherrill school district for 14 years. She received her administrative, physical education and health degrees from Cortland State, where she also minored in outdoor education.

First-time AD Wolfe also will teach physical education for grades 7-12 at Cooperstown, replacing the retired Brenda Jaeger.

"I am happy that this is also a teaching position because I love teaching," Wolfe said from her office Monday morning.

According to Cring, the district received about two dozen applications for the AD position.

What stood out on Wolfe's resume, Cring said, was her teaching experience and her involvement in local and state physical education chapters. He added that Wolfe should be very active in bringing new ideas and instruction to students.

"I feel very fortunate to have gotten this position, and I am looking forward to meeting more of the students," Wolfe said.

The first thing on Wolfe's to-do-list, she said, is meeting the staff, coaches and people in the district.

Wolfe said the district sent her to Habitudes training, so she will be using ideas from that throughout the year. Growing Leaders, a nonprofit organization in Atlanta, offers the Habitudes curriculum in two formats _ through books and other written teaching material and through digital downloads. Founded in 2003, the mission of Growing Leaders is to develop young leaders who will transform society. This is accomplished by providing character-based leadership training events and resources targeted specifically for Generation Y.

Wolfe said she plans to start a 10-week leadership program that will include a group of about 30 student-athletes. She said the group will meet before school. Varsity coaches will choose two athletes from each team to participate.

"This is where I am hoping to make some more community connections because I believe there are a lot of really great lessons in Habitudes that people in the community, too, could be involved in. They could come in and share with the student-athletes," she said. "It's really about character education, and I think that a lot of people have some amazing stories about successes and failures."

The goal, Wolfe said, is for students to take ownership of their community-service projects.