Announcing New Athletic Director & Middle School Athletic Coordinator
On Wednesday, July 3, Berkley Schools announced a new athletic department team to the middle and high school communities. The following message was sent by BHS Principal Andy Meloche.
Dear Berkley High, Anderson and Norup communities,
As many of you are well aware, we had a very important vacancy to fill at the end of this school year in the Athletic Department. We posted the District Athletic Director position with the hopes of drawing top talent to join what is already a great school community.
We received over 40 applicants for this posting which is a testament to our District and its reputation. After reviewing applications, ten individuals were chosen for pre-screen interviews with a committee. Out of those pre-screen interviews, four finalists were chosen to interview in front of an advisory committee that consisted of two administrators, two coaches and BHS staff members, two parents of BHS athletes, the Athletic Booster president and four BHS student athletes from various grade levels and across multiple sports.
After the interviews were completed, the committee reviewed each applicant and held thoughtful, candid conversations about the candidates they felt were the best fit for Berkley High School. The advisory committee then recommended two candidates to meet with Superintendent Francis for a one-on-one conversation. Finally, after consulting with Mr. Francis, the overwhelming feedback from every part of the process was that one candidate stood out as the top choice. Therefore, I am very pleased to announce that Mr. Matt Rawlik will be the new Athletic Director at Berkley High School.
Mr. Rawlik is a familiar face to many people across the District as he has not only taught Social Studies at Berkley High School for the past two years, but he’s also been the head coach of the varsity baseball team since 2015. Additionally, Mr. Rawlik is a very proud member of the BHS Class of 2004, where he was a two-sport athlete for his four years as a Berkley Bear. Mr. Rawlik attended Central Michigan University for his Bachelor’s Degree in Secondary Social Studies and is currently finishing up his Master’s in Educational Leadership. He brings nine years of high school teaching experience and twelve years of varsity coaching experience across a variety of different sports to the job.
In the time I’ve worked alongside Mr. Rawlik, I’ve always been impressed with his leadership and initiative, both formally and informally within our school community. He places a high emphasis on strong relationships, organization, communication and, most importantly, helping support our students to become their best selves. Mr. Rawlik has high expectations of himself and works hard to help elevate those around him to be successful.
In addition to welcoming Mr. Rawlik to the athletics team, I’m pleased to share that Lori Stone has been appointed to the Middle School Athletic Coordinator position. Ms. Stone has been a physical education teacher at Norup for the last four years, but prior to that, she was the BHS Athletic Coordinator for eight years. Ms. Stone will continue to teach physical education at Norup part time and will assume the Middle School Athletic Coordinator duties the rest of her day. Mr. Rawlik and Ms. Stone will work together to support high school athletics, middle school athletics, unified sports, club sports, coaches and student athletes.
Ultimately, I have no doubts that our students and coaches are in good hands and I believe the future of Berkley Athletics has never been brighter.
