Following the resignation of Mr. Pat McDanel at the end of last school year, Beaver Area School District recently hired a new athletic director, Mr. Alan Alcalde.

Mr. Alcalde grew up in New Jersey where he attended Elmwood Park High School. After high school he traveled to Pennsylvania to further this education. He attended and played soccer at California University of Pennsylvania.

While at CalU Mr. Alcalde majored in education and earned his undergraduate degree. He then went to Pace University in New York where he earned a masters degree in education.

After finishing his schooling he taught in New York City for three years before returning home to New Jersey to teach for a year. Before becoming an athletic director he taught Spanish.

“I really enjoyed the relationships I built with my students and the fun we had in class. I always made sure we had a good time while we were learning,” said Mr. Alcalde of his classroom years.

After teaching in New Jersey he returned to Pennsylvania to teach at Propel schools in Pittsburgh where he taught Spanish for three years before becoming an athletic director.

As an athletic director it is his job to oversee the general operation of all Beaver Area sports. He supervises game management along with many other tasks.

Mr. Alcalde took on the job of athletic because sports have always played a large role in his life. All of his family grew up playing sports; some even went on to play professionally.

“My father played second division professional soccer in Peru. My uncle was a first division professional soccer player in Honduras along with another uncle that played for the Honduras national team. I played semi-pro and was offered a pro contract for a second division U.S. team but decided not to accept,” said Mr. Alcalde.

Instead, he saw how sports can impact a student and wanted to be a part of the impact.

Already, Mr. Alcalde is pushing positive change in Beaver Area athletics. One such initiative is trying to get digital tickets for Beaver Area sports. People could download an app and purchase their tickets online for the sporting events.

Thankfully Mr. Alcalde’s Beaver Area transition has gone well.

“Everyone was warm and welcoming. Everyone showed a great level of care and commitment to the students and their work. That really stood out to me and made me very happy,” said Mr. Alcalde.