OSWEGO – As the newly appointed director of physical education and athletics for the Oswego City School District, Rhonda Bullard brings years of educational and administrative experience as well as a personal connection to the Buccaneer program.
A Minetto native and graduate of Oswego High School, Bullard returns to her alma mater this year with the passionate goal of “building pride back into being a Buccaneer.”
“We’re going to create great relationships with people and establish open communication so we can all come together and build a unified community,” Bullard said, noting that the acronym “BUC” — Build a Unified Community — will be central to her mission in overseeing the department.
Bullard said she wants to home-in on promoting healthy and active lifestyles and demonstrating the connection between physical and mental health, along with increasing participation rates for programs.
“When you’re involved athletically, it also helps academically, and being in school is an opportunity to have these valuable and memorable moments of athletics, or marching band, that you might not have later in life. We want students to embrace them while they can,” Bullard said.
As a former standout softball and soccer player for the Bucs, Bullard said she saw how participation in athletics helped her grow as a person and wanted to “keep that torch burning” by bringing her drive and expertise to the educational and athletic administrative field.
Now, returning to Oswego (“a great place to grow up”), Bullard is looking to bring “a lot of energy” and a positive outlook to the district.
Outreach to the greater Oswego community will also be a priority for athletics teams and Bullard said she plans to institute a community service component for all student-athletes.
“We have great programs and great things going on,” Bullard said. “We want to show that as sports teams we’re also invested in the Oswego community and making it a better place.”
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