Anthony Jahr is the new Activities Director and Assistant Principal at South Tama County High School. Allison Graham/News Chronicle

Anthony Jahr is South Tama’s Activities Director and Assistant Principal at the South Tama High School.

Jahr, along with Mark Groteluschen who is the new high school principal and Chelsea Ahrens who is the new part time Activities Director are the new faces in administration at South Tama this school year.

Jahr, pronounced “Yah-r”, grew up in a Chicago suburb and attended Culver Stockton University. There he met his now wife on the opening weekend of school in 2006. She hails from the Conrad and BCLUW area.

Jahr started his education career at Centerville in southern Iowa.

He coached football at Centerville under Chuck Evans who would become a significant role model for Jahr.

“The way he handled himself really made an impact off on me,” Jahr said.

Jahr moved to the BCLUW district where his wife’s family lives.

He was a head football coach for the Comets. There he and his wife welcomed their first child who is now seven months.

Jahr had another awesome mentor while at BCLUW, principal Kristyn Kell. She had a big influence on him and his pursuit into administration.

Jahr took the plunge and got his Masters from UNI. He saw the position at South Tama come open and applied.

“I wasn’t really expecting to find a job immediately,” Jahr said.

Growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, Jahr is comfortable in a diverse setting. That’s one of the things he is looking forward to most. Getting to know students from a variety of backgrounds.

He’s also very much looking forward to working with the coaching staff at South Tama.

A major task he wants to accomplish is getting more kids involved in activities.

“I want to help promote that on a bigger scale, getting the kids involved,” Jahr said.

Coming into a brand new position is no easy feat but doing so during a global pandemic has been challenging.

“It’s been really crazy,” Jahr said.

Having to figure out how to do all sorts of things like maintaining crowd social distancing and bussing students to extra curricular activities have been two of the top priorities for the school. Safety is the key.

Then the derecho hit August 10. There was some damage to the concession stands and the football complex and the four seasons building but thanks to some quick work by STC’s maintenance department, the concession facility was made functional enough to serve food during South Tama’s home opener against Saydel last week.

With Jahr coming in as the AD/Assistant Principal and Ahrens as the Assistant AD, they are still figuring out exactly what each person’s role will look like.

One thing they are doing though is phasing out the coordinator positions. In previous years the fall, winter, and spring activity seasons each had an activities coordinator hired by the school to assist the activities director with duties, often at evening events. Ahrens was last year’s Winter Activities Coordinator and after her promotion to the Assistant AD role this year, the decision was made not to replace that position. This year the only remaining season with an Activities Coordinator will be the Spring.

Whatever else the year brings, Jahr will bring in a fresh perspective, plenty of energy and a servant leadership mindset into the role.

“I’m really excited to get started,” Jahr said.