Since stepping into the role of Upper School Athletic Director, Katie Johnson has ignited a wave of enthusiasm and excitement within the community—and she has only just begun.

Ms. Johnson loved sports from a young age, inspired by her father, a college basketball coach. She has played volleyball at the collegiate level and coached various high school sports teams, including lacrosse, basketball, and volleyball. Despite never playing lacrosse, she quickly adapted to coaching the sport due to her lifetime of experience with team sports. “[Coaching lacrosse] was really fun because I had never even seen a lacrosse game until I coached my first one,” Ms. Johnson said.

While coaching, Ms. Johnson held administrative roles in Atlanta and also served as the director of athletics for the Ellis School in Pittsburgh. Now, as the Upper School Athletic Director at Latin, she has clear goals for the future of Latin athletics and has already started implementing her plans.

Ms. Johnson’s main goal for athletics is to help create more excitement surrounding sports. “There’s such a good foundation here already,” she said. “We have a lot of really good athletes.”

Ms. Johnson plans to develop the foundation based on students’ and athletes’ feedback and coordinate with student government, specifically senior Juliette Katz, Co-Curricular Prefect and varsity golfer. Ms. Johnson has noticed that many students want to improve school spirit by increasing the audience and celebrations at each game. “I’ve met with Juliette about ideas for our ‘Game of the Week’ and things we are going to do for Spirit Week, and we are going to do a faculty and staff appreciation night for each season,” she said.

Although Ms. Johnson focuses on the student body, she aims to involve the entire Latin community in high school athletics, including faculty, staff, parents, and younger students. She hopes to activate this fan base through activities like staff appreciation night, collaboration with Middle School and Lower School athletic directors, and staff bingo cards for attending games. “[I am] trying to get all of the worlds to collide in a way that’s inclusive to everyone, because it’s all of us, not just one, and I want to make sure everyone feels loved,” she said.

Juliette said,“I think this year there’s been a noticeable change in the energy around athletics. It’s been really easy to work [with Ms. Johnson] to bring up the energy, and every time I want to do something, Ms. Johnson supports me 100%. It’s been a really nice environment to work in.”

Ms. Johnson and Juliette emphasize the importance of highlighting all sports and ensuring gender equality. As female athletes, they understand the reality of unequal recognition and viewership between male and female sports.

“I was a female athlete, and you kind of feel it,” Ms. Johnson said. “I come from the South, where football prevails over everything, so I just try to be intentional in recognizing all of the sports, especially the small sports that are away from campus like golf and cross country.”

As such, Ms. Johnson has started implementing activities such as Media Day to attract attention to all sports. “It really was so much fun for me to get to know a lot of the classmates and get to know the field hockey team and watch you all cheer for each other, or the volleyball team trying to figure out how to make a star with, like, seven people,” she said. “I just wanted to do a little something that’s fun and quirky away from our practices. I thought [Media Day] would be a fun way to get everyone involved.”

Not only was it a memorable experience for Ms. Johnson, but the athletes also benefited from the activity, receiving more recognition for their hard work to get them to the varsity level. A member of the varsity boys soccer team, sophomore Landry Silvers, said, “Media Day was a great experience. I think it really brought the team together.”

Ms. Johnson also meticulously organized the Homecoming games with various activities and games to keep staff, faculty, and students engaged throughout the day. “Hopefully there is more participation, and we are hoping to make it more of a competition between the grades to get everyone’s energy up,” Ms. Johnson said.

“I’m excited for the future of Latin athletics,” Ms. Johnson said. “I think that we have a really high ceiling, and we haven’t even tapped into it.”