A new direction

Athletic Director, Steve Ellison, pursues new opportunities after five years in the WHHS community.

Hajra Munir , ‘23

After five years as the head athletic director at WHHS, Steve Ellison is moving on from the nuthouse to focus on his family and eventually start his next chapter.

Ellison started his career as an athletic director at Woodward Career Technical High School for four years. Ellison was the youngest AD in Ohio at the time and was excited to take on this title.

“I was young and hungry and ready to make an impact on not only athletes but students in general,” Ellison said.

When Ellison made the transition to WHHS he was already familiar with the territory. During his undergrad days, he did an internship at WHHS.

“It was a pretty long internship, so I had to get hours and so I actually got my start here at Walnut with athletic administration and it was kind of my full circle moment,” Ellison said.

When the previous head athletic director retired, Tom Donnelley, Ellison saw this as an opportunity to return to WHHS.

“The position opened up, and I had kept in touch over the years with the administrators and the AD’s that were here at the time. And when the job opened up. It just made sense for me to come back home,” Ellison said.

One of Ellison’s main attractions to returning to WHHS was his familiarity with the campus and the staff as a previous alumni. Ellison was a three sport athlete during his high school career at WHHS and was grateful to be able to rejoin the community as head

AD.

“Pretty much everything that I am today is because of Walnut. My experience for six years of my life academically and athletically have been here [Walnut] so to be able to come back and give back to the school that gave me so much was rewarding,” Ellison said.

During Ellisons time here, he has been able to largely impact athletes and students in general by opening new doors for them.

“My biggest accomplishment would be being able to provide as many opportunities as possible, not only for student athletes, but coaches and anyone that’s come through my department as an intern or an administrator,” Ellison said.

Along with Ellisons many accomplishments, he faced some obstacles trying to accomplish his goal as an inspiring AD. With a school as large and lively as WHHS, it is difficult to be everywhere at once.

“My biggest challenge was being able to manage my time while also trying to be visible to everyone. There are only three people in my department so trying to spread the love and support to that many students became difficult,” Ellison said.

Ellison has changed the lives of so many students during his time at WHHS, but after five years, he has decided to leave so he could spend time with his family. Being head AD has occupied a lot of Ellisons evenings and weekends and he feels it is time to be there for his kids more.

“I am reclaiming some time back to be able to be around my family a little bit more and watch them grow up. I don’t want to miss their important milestones as they get older.”

As he departs, Ellison has high hopes for whoever is chosen to fill in his shoes.

“My hope is for someone to come in here and be able to continue to steer the ship forward. They should be able to put their own spin at it,” Ellison said. “I want them to be able to identify areas of improvement and capitalize on those but also continue those aspects that are already positive about our athletic program.”

Ellison is grateful to have been a monumental figure at WHHS and is excited to see the futures of the students.

“I hope the students still strive for greatness in everything they do,” Ellison said.