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Bridging the gap

O’Leary’s goal is to keep students involved

-Messenger photo by Chad Thompson Ryan O'Leary, assistant activities director for the Fort Dodge Dodge Community School District, looks over a set of football helmets Sunday afternoon at the Fort Dodge Middle School.

Part of Ryan O’Leary’s job as assistant activities director for the Fort Dodge Community School District will be to encourage students to stay involved as they make their transition from the Fort Dodge Middle School to Fort Dodge Senior High.

“We are trying to bridge that gap between middle school and high school,” O’Leary said. “We lose a lot of students. A lot of students are involved in the middle school, but when they get to high school, it just drops off. Our ultimate goal is to get as many kids out for extracurricular activities as possible.”

O’Leary took on the role of assistant activities director for Fort Dodge Senior High and Fort Dodge Middle School following Mark Johnson’s retirement. Johnson had previously served as athletic director for the middle school. He retired during the summer.

O’Leary, a 2005 Senior High graduate, will work under Matt Elsbecker, the activities and athletics director for the district.

“Since Mark Johnson’s retirement, the district has kind of went to a motto of seventh- through twelfth-grade athletics,” O’Leary said. “It’s not middle school; it’s not high school anymore. It’s all together.”

That means varsity coaches and other activities instructors at the high school level will be more involved at the middle school, according to O’Leary.

“Before it was separate and you lost that transition between their eighth-grade year and ninth-grade year,” he said. “There was a gap.”

“It wouldn’t be out of the ordinary for Coach (Matt) Miller to come down and watch a seventh-grade football practice,” O’Leary added. “Or track coaches to come down and watch a practice. They will be more visible to these younger kids.”

O’Leary hopes that increased interaction will keep more kids involved.

“Whether it’s clubs, activities, or athletics, we are just trying to get more kids active,” he said. “The more things kids are involved in, the better off they will be. Studies show you tend to do better in school, and I firmly believe that.”

To increase student activity, O’Leary plans on connecting with students.

“I will be here every morning greeting kids and making those connections,” he said. “Because I think that goes a long way. Then you start building relationships.”

Students who need guidance will sometimes be directed to O’Leary.

“I see myself as a mentor between the coaches and the administration,” he said. “I am kind of the go-between. Any punishment will be handed down from the administrators. I will be the one mentoring them, building them up.”

Having a mentor when he was in school made an impact, he said.

“That’s something that helped me,” he said. “I had those teachers who were there to mentor me or help me. There was someone to turn to, and now I want to be that person.”

There will also be an increased focus on the conduct of student athletes, he said.

“The new policy is basically if kids are failing classes, they will be going to study tables and getting extra help,” he said. “It’s going to be a privilege to play, not a right.”

Misbehavior will result in fewer opportunities.

“If you are fighting, you won’t be playing with us,” O’Leary said. “We want to get more model students. We want our students to be good citizens of the school and the community. I don’t want a kid getting into a fight and then hopping on the bus, putting on a Dodger uniform and representing us. We want our kids more involved and to be role models for other kids.”

Prior to accepting additional responsibilities, O’Leary served as activities and events coordinator at FDSH for the past two years.

Event planning, scheduling, and managing school facilities will be other duties for O’Leary.

“If we have an out-of-town game, I am going to make sure everything is set to go,” he said. “Maybe there’s phone calls from parents wondering about the schedule. I can field those questions.”

O’Leary said it’s not just about athletics.

“When you think of AD, a lot of times you think of athletics,” he said. “But AD is now activities director. Now you see everything.”

“It’s awesome to go in April and watch the musical and be like, ‘Those kids nailed it,'” he said. “That’s awesome. Good for those kids. Or go to the fall play and say, ‘These kids are talented.’ You get to see a different side to them. We have hosted state marching band competitions, district speech. It’s just awesome.”

O’Leary enjoys seeing students try something new and succeed in it.

“Seeing these kids go out for something they have never gone out for before and have success and enjoy doing it and continue on,” he said. “That’s awesome. That’s what it’s all about. We are here for the kids. Without the kids, we wouldn’t have a job.”

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