Getting to Know Our Athletic Director, Ms. Dauria

Miss Dauria came to Sweet Home after working at Mount St. Mary Academy where she was a coach before working full time there in 2010. She was a Phys. Ed. teacher, dean of students, and assistant principal. Before Mount, Dauria went to school for exercise science and originally sought after being a strength and conditioning coach. She interned with the Buffalo Bills during their off season as a strength and conditioning coach and although it was a life-changing experience, it wasn’t what she was looking for. When talking about it, she said, “They’re already like way down a path, you know? It’s hard to influence them. It’s more about, obviously, their sport than forming the person and helping to do that. Whereas in high school, it’s helping people find out who they are and building character and things like that.” She coached a college lacrosse team and again realized that building character and relationships was important to her along with the sport. This pushed her to work towards receiving her Physical Education certification so that she could work with high schoolers.

When Dauria applied for the athletic director position at Sweet Home, there were many other positions available in the area. She wanted to work in a school that was diverse, but also had a prominent place for athletics. She saw both of these things at Sweet Home. She says that what really sealed the deal for her was that during her interview she met with a group of students who were passionate about athletics. It excited her to see their dedication and commitment to the growth and well-being of the program. She says that she could tell they wanted their high school experience in athletics to be the best anywhere and was happy to see how they advocated for themselves and their fellow student athletes. 

Dauria has always been really into sports and being active. Even now, she is planning to run a 50 mile trail race in June. As a kid she played any sport she could—basketball, soccer, lacrosse. Often, after school, she could be found playing football in the street. She made more friends with guys rather than with girls because of her interests. This sometimes made her feel like an outsider. She knows everyone is going to go through a time in their life where they wonder if they belong or what people will think of this or that, but says that once you push through a much better person comes out of the experience. She says, “I wouldn’t be able to do my job or a lot of other things in my life if I hadn’t played sports because it’s just given me so many things like so much more confidence, and the ability to navigate conflicts and bounce back from setbacks.” Her advice to athletes is, “There’s always going to be a setback and you just gotta push through. Sometimes you might not have the strength yourself to do it, but then you gotta go to a resource like a teammate or a coach or somebody—a mentor—to help you hang in there and get through it. You’re just going to be a stronger person for it.”

Dauria is grateful for the many people who have supported, influenced, and encouraged her along the way. At Mount, her principle would tell her what she was doing well and encourage her to work towards that. She greatly influenced her to go back to school and get her certification in administration. Dauria had the same soccer coach for many many years and is still a big part of her life. He taught her how to work hard and to enjoy working hard. At Sweet Home, both Mr. Martin and Mr. Zgoda helped her by being there to bounce ideas off of and also to provide information about the history of Sweet Home. They had great ideas and visions of where the program and athletic department could go.

Dauria wants the school to know that she is always going to give an honest and full hard day of work at Sweet Home—”I will put in the effort that’s necessary to get the job done. Sometimes the answer or outcome isn’t always what everyone wants, but, you know, from my end it’s always going to be that I’m going to do my due diligence and try to do the best that we can for our students.” 

Morgan Popp

Morgan is a junior at Sweet Home High School. She mainly writes for the advice column. She plays basketball and softball and is also part of the yearbook club.