Julie Stroncek, the new director of athletics for the Edmonds School District, is no stranger to athletes, coaches and the community.
Stroncek, previously the athletic director at Edmonds-Woodway High School, replaces Jan Beglau, who is now the director of special education for the district.
This actually isn’t the first time Stroncek has overseen athletics for the district. In 2008, she was the interim district athletic director for six months when Terri McMahan took a leave of absence.
Stroncek has deep ties to the Edmonds School District. She is a 1984 graduate of Mountlake Terrace High School where she lettered in volleyball, basketball and softball.
Sports played an important role in Stroncek’s life growing up.
“My fondest memories are of the relationships on the playing fields and courts and the friends I made,” she said.
The coach who had the biggest influence on Stroncek was Maggie King, the volleyball coach.
“It was so subtle, the things she did,” Stroncek said. “She had a positive way of influencing you and getting the best out of her athletes.”
After graduating from Western Washington University, Stroncek taught math and coached volleyball, basketball and track at Alderwood Middle School. She then moved to Edmonds-Woodway, where she again taught math and also coached volleyball.
In 2001 she became athletic director at Juanita High School and was there for three years before going back to Edmonds-Woodway High School as the athletic director and a math teacher in 2004.
Stroncek enjoyed her time at Juanita but welcomed the opportunity to return to Edmonds-Woodway and the Edmonds School District. Stroncek lives in Mountlake Terrace and appreciated that she no longer had to commute to Kirkland.
Her wide range of positions through the years is one of her strengths, Stroncek said.
“I think I bring a lot of experience in athletics and being an athletic director,” she said. “I bring a good perspective, having been a coach at the middle and high school levels. … I have a good passion for working in this district.”
Former Edmonds-Woodway girls basketball coach Angie McGuire is taking over as the athletic director at Edmonds-Woodway High School.
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