New HCC athletic director Amy Sterner is in her natural habitat with the Hawks

Hagerstown Community College gave Amy Sterner a “second chance” in life, pointing her in a direction that has benefitted both her and the school for nearly three decades.

In January, Sterner, who’s worked at HCC since she was a student there in 1996, was named the school’s athletic director, taking over for Bob Rohan after his abrupt resignation.

She also was promoted to director of the Athletic, Recreation, and Community Center (ARCC) at HCC.

“It all happened very quickly,” Sterner said. “The president of the college (Jim Klauber) came to me and said, ‘This is what I’d like to do. I’m offering you the permanent position of athletic director.’ He basically said, ‘Are you up for that?’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, I am up for it. I feel like I have a million questions, but my first answer is yes.’ And we hit the ground running.”

“I’ve seen her,” Klauber said, “even in her prior role before she moved into athletic director, how supportive she is of the student-athletes. That to me is what you have to look for in an athletic director, someone who is going to help these student-athletes thrive as far as academics and then their athletic commitment as well. She understands that and will work very hard in that direction.”

Sterner, who’s had several job titles at HCC, all involving the ARCC, most recently had served as the coordinator of the ARCC and athletics.

“Basically, I was the assistant athletic director,” she said.

Now, she’s in charge of the Hawks’ 14 NJCAA sports teams.

“Being the athletic director, I’m very honored,” she said. “I’m taking that challenge head on. I’m super excited about it.”

A crooked path made straight

Sterner was a standout in volleyball, basketball and softball at Southern Fulton High School in Warfordsburg, Pa., where she graduated in 1989.

At HCC, as a sophomore in 1997, she helped the Hawks reach the Region 20 final in basketball and then win the region championship in softball and advance to the national tournament, making the most of her second college stint.

“After high school, I went to Penn State for a year,” she said. “I was going there to play softball and was super excited, but then I got pregnant and came home and did the married-with-children thing for a couple years. That didn’t last long. My husband and I got a divorce, and suddenly, I was a single mom.

“I knew I needed to do something to make a better life for my daughter, so I ended up coming to HCC when my daughter was five in 1995 as an adult student. I was a health and PE major. This building (the ARCC) was fairly new, and a lot of my classes were in this building because of the nature of my degree, and I just fell in love with this building. As soon as I walked in, I was like, ‘This is cool.’ I just instantly had this connection.

“One of my first classes was community recreation with Coach (Jim) Brown, and I was like, ‘Hey, that’s what I want to do.’ And I’m here in this building learning about all of this new stuff that I want to do.”

Brown also hired her as a student worker in 1996 and then as an ARCC associate in 1997 after he graduation.

“When I interviewed for the ARCC associate position, they were like, ‘Why should we hire you? What makes you the best candidate?’” she said. “I can picture the whole thing, what building we were in and what I was wearing. I just told them, ‘Because nobody is going to care more than me and nobody is going to work harder than me.’ That’s what I’ve tried to do since that first day I got that job in ’97.”

Sterner, who also coached softball at the school for 10 seasons (2003-12), has made HCC a second home.

“I like it here, I love it here,” she said. “It’s part of who I am and what I do. I got a second chance to be the person that I’m supposed to be because I came here to school. … I got my foot in the door, and I’ve never left.”

‘We want to be contenders’

Less than two months into Sterner’s tenure as athletic director, the Hawks celebrated a national champion as sophomore Gabby Cook won the women’s high jump at the NJCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships on March 2.

National champ: HCC's Gabby Cook wins NJCAA women's high jump

“We’re so excited about that. We’re so stoked,” Sterner said. “Gabby is just such a humble, hard-working, nice girl. That’s what it’s about, stuff like that.

“It’s also about the kids that come through and they just haven’t found their path or they’re struggling. For us to help them along their path to where they’re going to be, it’s just so fulfilling and rewarding. I feel real strongly about that. It’s personal to me. This job is personal to me.”

There are plenty of challenges.

“We had a problem this past year recruiting athletes to come play,” Klauber said. “We didn’t have a women’s basketball team this year, and we don’t have a softball team this year. I think Amy will be able to, pardon the pun, step up to the plate.”

Sterner doesn’t just want to be able to field teams. She wants her Hawks to soar.

“I’m a competitor,” she said. “I was super competitive in high school. I have a competitive nature. I’m not a participatory kind of a girl. I want to compete. I want to win. I want to be the best that we can be. That’s what I would like to emulate moving forward with our programs. We want to be contenders.

“But at the end of the day, it’s fun. Sports are fun. Sports are a life lesson, too. I want to be that support system for our students.”

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Amy Sterner takes over as AD at Hagerstown Community College