Features

Teacher and athletic director. Combined, that might seem like too much responsibility for one person, but not for Elmira High School English teacher Emmy Erwin.

After teaching English at EHS for five years and coaching volleyball and track for four years, Erwin was a good fit to become the school’s next athletic director.

The previous athletic director, Vice Principal Joel Smith, had overseen all of the responsibilities, and with a newborn, he said it quickly became clear to him what his priorities should be.

“My wife and I had our first child last February, and stepping down from athletic director has allowed for me to spend time with my wife and child instead of getting home after his bedtime most nights,” Smith told Falcon News.

Smith also shared that he’s excited about the future of EHS.

“I really like the team we have here at EHS,” the vice principal said. “I believe that with Principal Vandercar and Athletic Director Erwin in place, our best days as a school are ahead of us.”

Erwin has been in her new role since the start of the new school year.

“I do the behind-the-scenes work, like scheduling, paperwork, drug testing, grade checks, talking to parents, and making sure we are fulfilling duties both at the 3A level and state level,” she said. 

It’s a lot for one person in addition to the role of teacher. Erwin provided some insight into her working world.

“It’s difficult, I can’t lie. Thankfully, I am given the last two periods of the day to do work as an AD in which I’m able to get most things done,” she said. “Luckily, most of it I can get done over email. Sometimes I’m even able to fit it in before school and during slow periods.”

For Erwin and her twin sister, Tessa Slager — a substitute teacher at the high school this year — sports have always played a big part of their lives.

“I have played sports ever since I could walk,” Erwin said. “Track and field has stuck with me all throughout my academics, especially in high school. When I began college and started focusing on my education, I got afraid my love for track would fade away. Then I started teaching at EHS and it rekindled my passion for track and field.” 

With her love of high school sports, she takes pride in the work she does. One of her major goals is to bring back school spirit to EHS.

“I’d like to bring back the culture of motivating people to be proud of the school they attend and motivated to do their best,” Erwin said. “The idea of playing school sports is unappealing to some students, and I want to fix that. I want to bring back motivation for students. We are a small school, but we aren’t that small, and I feel like some of the atmosphere within the sports drives students away.”

With the approval of the school bond measure in May 2024, the EHS track is undergoing a major renovation, along with other general sports and EHS facilities. Erwin said she is hopeful that this could help boost students’ drive to do sports. With all of the upgrades, the sports facilities at EHS will be the highest quality they have been in years.

“We are getting a new track, football field, soccer field — everything would be getting a huge upgrade — and hopefully this will drive people who are somewhat connected to the high school to drive community building aspects,” she said. “We are a decently sized school, and we need community help for future improvements.”

Smith said he’s confident in Erwin’s abilities and looks forward to changes she can implement to improve sports at the school.

“It is a very complex and time-consuming position, and she has stepped up in a variety of ways while continuing to learn and grow in the position,” he told Falcon News. “I have the utmost confidence in her ability to handle anything that comes her way.”