Throughout the school day, athletes go in and out of the athletic office to gain assistance from the athletic directors. As of August 2023, the Athletic Office has relocated from a room that is beside the cafeteria, to the previous Wildcat room. The office is a space for Athletic Director Mr. Nick French, Assistant Athletic Director Mr. Jackson Watt and Athletic Secretary Ms. Carrie Schlenz. 

“It’s just easier for decisions to be made and communications to happen a little quicker when we’re kind of all under the same roof. Since a lot of stuff happens between our athletic director and the assistant principal it just makes it a little bit more sense to be under the same roof,” Schlenz said. 

The athletic interns have six different committees that handle different tasks. There is a committee for social media, graphics/broadcasting/publications, leadership, athletic senate, facilities/fundraising and event manager/announcer. 

“We have a social media committee, that committee is in charge of meeting with Mr. Alex Anderson and the sports marketing program. They run the Whitney Athletics instagram and social media. That group of interns goes into supporting whatever they are looking for that day,” French said.

In terms of the relocation, efficiency and working conditions built on convenience and athletic performance were of the highest priority. The athletic department’s main goals are increasing relationships between athletes and athletic directors. Now being located closer to the main administration building, administrative decisions can become far more centralized and strengthened due to closer proximity to school authorities.  

“As an assistant athletic director, I help Coach French to communicate with other coaches on every sport. Especially our off campus coaches to make sure they know what’s going on at school everyday. On top of that, helping with the athletic interns class and planning and making sure things get done. Come stop by, if you guys are athletic and need to see us,” Watt said.

The athletic office isn’t just for students in the class but also for athletes, coaches and parents. In the office, many different things happen like meetings, athletic discipline issues and helping students when they have questions. They do a variety of things including assisting students with signing up for sports, coaches making their schedules and handling athletic discipline issues. 

“We have coaches’ meetings here monthly, so a lot of people come in and out of the office. We were there for I want to say four years. I’ve been with the program since 2008,” Schlenz said.

In the 2022-23 school year alone, athletes earned eight section championships along with three runners up. The school also recently earned recognition and an award for its success. 

“That is humungous, which means we are the best athletic program of any public school in the state of California. And those awards are just crazy, stuff that just doesn’t happen and so I think our hope is we are really trying to push that out to get people to understand how really good our school is and how hard our students work,” French said. 

BY SOFIA DUNMORE, MEGAN KUBAS, GAVIN RALEIGH, ELIAS WHITEHEAD & MATVEY YAZKOV