Athletic Secretary Tracie Gentry will be concluding her time at Duneland School Corporation on October 25th.
“I’m always up for change. I think it’s always a good thing,” Gentry said.
As enthusiastic as Gentry is for this new chapter in her career, she expresses her sadness about leaving Duneland School Corporation.
“I’m very sad. I’m very sad because I love my position here. This is where my heart is, I absolutely love it. This was my dream job, but I did get offered another opportunity and it’s too good to pass up, so I have to take it at this point,” Gentry said.
Part of Gentry’s daily responsibilities include ensuring athlete’s physicals are on file, checking that athletes are academically eligible, assisting coaches with their rosters, and checking that transportation schedules are prepared.
“The student interactions and the athlete interactions, working with my bosses [are what I will miss most]. We have an excellent working relationship. We all trust each other and get along. They’re like my family,” Gentry said.
In her free time, Gentry loves traveling, spending time with her family and friends, and trying new foods. Each year, her family tries to venture to different states with a goal of seeing each one. During the trips, she incorporates an educational element such as seeing historical landmarks, or venturing into stunning National Parks.
“We love to travel as a family. We try to do a family vacation every year because one of our goals was to have our kids go to all 50 states before they graduated, but COVID happened and our trips got canceled. My husband and I have been to 47 states and our girls have been to 45 or 46, so we’re trying to get that finished off in the next couple of years,” Gentry said.
Her favorite states she has traveled to are Alaska and Hawaii.
“We did a trip to Alaska in 2017, there was a group of us, we did a cruise. Absolute beautiful territory up there, the Yukon was gorgeous. Then in 2019, we did a Hawaii trip. Same thing- beautiful, just different. Those two by far were our favorite trips we took together,” Gentry said.
Originally from Rensselaer, Gentry moved to Chesterton when she met and married her husband, Coach Gentry, with plans to raise their family. This November, they will have been married for 26 years! She also has two daughters, Aubree and Addison.
Gentry previously worked as an instructional aide at Chesterton Middle School for six years before transferring to the high school as athletic secretary, where she has spent the past two years.
Gentry enjoys coming to the games as a fan, and also to support students she worked with during her time at CMS. She also works different sporting events by operating the ticket booths, keeping a scorebook for volleyball, or supervising the event. Her favorite school sporting events to attend are volleyball and track and field, due in part to her history as an athlete for both sports.
Although she may not be the athletic secretary anymore, we will not be seeing the last of Gentry.
“I will come back and work events. So you’ll see me as either a fan in the stands or you’ll see me working events so I’ll still be involved in the athletic department hopefully,” Gentry said.
