Jess Howard (above) will become the new activities director at WCHS this summer. She’s been the Lynx head volleyball coach for 15 years and stepped down last summer after 13 years in charge of the softball program. DFJ file photo/Troy Banning

WEBSTER CITY — Jess Howard has been a long time coach inside the Webster City athletics department. Now she’ll run it.

Howard was officially named the new 7-12 activities director at Webster City on Monday. She was offered and accepted the position last week, and will start in her new role on July 1.

“I’ve always thought of this as the end goal,” Howard said. “It’s something that I wanted to strive to work toward, and it just kind of fell into place for me right now. It’s not necessarily something I was looking for, but when the opportunity arose I just felt like I had a lot to offer.”

Joe Shanks retired as the activities director at the end of April. Bob Howard, the former AD, has filled in on an interim basis since Shanks’ departure and will continue in that capacity until Jess Howard comes aboard.

A 2001 WCHS graduate, Howard has been a high school mathematics teacher at WCHS since 2009. She currently teaches Algebra I, Geometry and Calculus, and she says leaving the classroom will be an adjustment, but it’s one she’s excited for.

“It was a difficult decision to leave the classroom, but I just have a lot of passion for Webster City and the opportunities that are available for our kids,” she said. “I want to make sure we give them the best opportunities to be successful when they walk out of the doors.”

Howard was the head softball coach at WCHS for 13 years before she resigned the position at the end of the 2021 season. She’s been the Lynx head volleyball coach for 15 seasons and she plans to continue in that role this fall.

In addition to her duties with athletics, Howard will also oversee the school’s fine arts programs.

Howard knows her life is about to change. She accepts there will be more late nights supervising home activities and more duties she’ll need to juggle, but she’s ready to tackle those challenges.

“It’s definitely going to be a change to my schedule in terms of what I consider my day to day routine, but I think it’s quickly going to become really natural for me,” she said.

She also has several ideas she’d like to implement once she steps into the position this summer.

“Making sure schedules are set and our officials are set are obviously going to be the main priorities right away, but I really want to look at improving our social media presence and then we’ll always be looking at our facilities and what upgrades we can make,” she said. “I want to put together a long-term plan so that we’re not going year to year.”