Tritons New Interim AD
Triton’s athletics were put in a tough position when Athletic Director Tim Alberts accepted a new position and left Triton in late November. Principal Patrick Kelly and Mr Kelly, an IA in the middle school, collaboratively fulfilled the position while searching for a new interim AD. A hiring committee composed of students, faculty, and administrators interviewed many applicants and it was decided the new hire would be Mr Joel Mckenna. Triton’s new Official AD Mr. Mckenna started on January Eighth.
During an interview with the Triton Voice, Mckenna started out as a law major at Ohio State University, later realizing that wasn’t the path for him. His family was primarily studying in the educational field, which brought Mckenna closer to that career. He began at Tewksbury High, working with students in alternative education and that’s what he did for 12 years, whilst coaching wrestling at Wilmington High and lacrosse at Tewksbury. Coaching these sports gave him a connection to his students, and he encouraged them to join any sports teams because he knows the benefits that playing a sport can give you, like gaining leadership and passion.
Later working with Wilmington High, he discovered his love for organizing and directing tournaments. Some things that he liked doing were bringing in vendors, getting t-shirts to sell, making sure they had refs, and securing facilities. Doing this made him want to explore new job opportunities that would give him hands-on experience with the sports teams and the other business side of it. When he saw an opening at Triton he jumped at the opportunity.
“The feedback that I’ve gotten about the families and the support and on how awesome the kids are,” said McKenna, “that combined with the personal history made it kinda a no brainer when I found out there was an open spot.”
As the search for a new AD was going on Principal Patrick Kelley and Mr Scott Kelley subbed in for temporary AD while they were on the hunt for a new Athletic Director. Principal Kelly made sure there was a seamless transition from fall to winter sports. As an athlete at Triton, this reporter did not notice any hiccups during the transition.
“ We were working with coaches to make sure that everyone had exactly what was needed,” said Principal Kelley. “We each took different games to help support our student-athletes and took on various administrative and long-range planning tasks.”
During the hiring process junior Emma Penniman interviewed many candidates for the new role at Triton as a student member of the selection committee. “He (McKenna) stood out like no other candidate as he had implemented a lot of helpful programs at his past job and he came up with some new ideas to implement into Triton.” Penniman appreciated that he’s going to implement new programs for younger athletes so when they reach high school they can strengthen and improve tritons athletic programs
Based on the information that has been collected it seems like a lot of new initiatives can be created by Mckenna. The Triton community is looking forward to what Mckenna can bring to Triton’s athletics programs.
