After spending a decade in the Athletic Department, Trainer Dave Atas is no longer “Trainer Dave.” Atas has taken a new path in the DOS office as the Interim Director of Residential Life. Having previously worked with students outside of the school day in the training room, Atas feels he gets to see students’ personalities more since they are “just in a different mindset” during the school day.
Using his past experience, Atas is able to develop weekend activities on campus by acknowledging students’ personalities and desires. This is why he wants to “hear from the community what they like, what they enjoy, and what they want to do.”
After acknowledging feedback from the community and listening to students’ wants and needs, he has come to see that, “kids love when we do stuff on campus. They love when they can just walk to the quad and do a fun event,” he said.
As an attempt to implement residential involvement on campus, Atas is introducing a new Residential Pickleball league; “It’s gonna be every Sunday. There’s gonna be a whole playoffs tournament!” Additionally, he will be introducing dog yoga to the weekend activities list.
His main goal is “trying to bring more life onto campus.” That’s why people may have noticed his weekend activities aren’t centered as much around van runs, but rather on-campus activities.
He said there are still activities that won’t go away such as, “the typical ones like H-Mart and Target” and that those won’t go away.
To increase student involvement, he has created the Weekend Activities Committee, “It’s starting with the proctors, and then we’ll see if we need to bring more people in.” The Proctors will be a voice for students in residential life and by planning events. Atas is also hoping they will provide feedback on events. “If There’s an event that they don’t want to do, then we’re not gonna force them to do that.” Atas wants to offer activities that students want to be a part of rather than feel forced to participate in them.
He also wants to collaborate with other student groups and clubs, such as the Caxy Athletics Team, to grow school spirit by hosting fundraisers, halftime shows and pregame rituals. He shared that when it comes to school spirit, all you need is one person with a good attitude “and if that person is energetic and brings a good vibe and atmosphere, then everyone will want to follow that.”
To develop school spirit from class to class, Atas shares “It all starts with just one–you get one class involved and buying in [to activities], then you just get a trickle-down effect, chain reaction of everyone else wanting to join in.”
As of this fall season, Atas has continued his involvement in athletics by introducing Media Day to all varsity athletes. Although media day doesn’t necessarily pertain to being the Director of Residential Life, he believes that it gives recognition to athletics and LFA’s sports teams and that it is unique for a highschooler to be able to say, “I had a media day that college kids get.”
So far Atas has said that the “DOS has been amazing” in guiding him through this transition. The LFA community is so excited to see him flourish in this position and wishes him the best!
