Jennifer Gray Takes Over As Athletic Director At Sparkman

HARVEST- Jennifer Gray has been named the new athletic director for the Sparkman High athletic program. She replaces Jason Watts who moved to a similar position at James Clemens High.

“I am so excited about taking on the role as Sparkman’s athletic directors,” said Gray. “I think it takes an entire program to make student successful and well-rounded.”

The Mississippi native earned her bachelor and master’s degrees from the University of North Alabama (UNA) with concentration on biology and chemistry along with educational leadership. Her experience in education began as a substitute teacher in the early 1990’s before gaining a fulltime teaching position in 1996. From there she worked feverishly moving from being a teacher to the administration levels of education where she became assistant principals at several schools in the areas around Florence.

At Deshler High in 2007, Gray was named principal and athletic director where she headed up the Class 4A Tigers’ program through 2012. She made two additional stops at schools in North Alabama before landing at Sparkman in 2015 where she specialized in school discipline and attendance and earning the position as assistant principal.

Gray’s work in school leadership programs and sports administration has provided her the necessary ingredients required to be an excellent director of a huge program the Class 7A Senators possess in one of the largest schools in Alabama. Her work in implementing new programs while developing an array of training tools and guidelines at every school she has worked will enable her to face the tasks at hand at Sparkman.

“I know from experience that sports play a key role in helping students with developing self-discipline, strong work ethic and long lasting friendships,” said Gray.