Ethan Waters describes education as “the family business.”
James Wood’s new coordinator of student activities is in charge of putting students in positions to succeed in competitions for athletic and academic events. He’s just as focused on making sure the students involved in those competitions act appropriately, excel in the classroom, and receive community support.
“Overall, our goal is to enhance the student experience,” said Waters, who began working as James Wood’s CSA on July 1. “We’re going to be evaluating programs, as we always should.
“This year, the first goal I have is zero ejections for coaches and players. We’re going to try to emphasize sportsmanship and building positive cultures. My second goal is to have a 100 percent senior graduation rate. [Third], we’d like to have a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or higher across all extracurricular participants. [Fourth], we want to increase community engagement. We want to increase attendance at all of our events by 15 percent. This is a community that’s proud.”
Waters’ stance on education certainly makes sense considering his background. Waters’ grandmother was a science teacher; his aunt was a principal in Winchester; his mother taught in Frederick County and Winchester and now teaches in Maryland; his father is a guidance director in Frederick County; and his wife is an educator. (Waters prefers not to mention the names of his relatives.)
The 30-year-old Waters attended high school and college in West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle, graduating from Hedgesville High School in 2013 and Shepherd University in 2019. Prior to taking the CSA job at James Wood, Waters — who received his master’s degree from West Virginia State University — worked for five years as a social studies teacher at Stone Bridge High School in Ashburn of Loudoun County.
Waters spent three years as an assistant soccer coach at Hedgesville from 2016-18 while a student at Shepherd. Since then, he hadn’t had a job involving athletics until taking the job at James Wood, due to his determination to commit himself to his education career, which began with student teaching in Loudoun County after he finished coaching at Hedgesville.
Waters simply didn’t have time for an official role in athletics — he said he was commuting a total of 100 miles and three hours a day to Ashburn from the Eastern Panhandle. And after Waters began working in LCPS, he became a father.
“[Stone Bridge] was incredibly supportive in encouraging me to pursue my educational leadership degree once I got sort of established there,” Waters said. “They gave me invaluable learning experiences. My core philosophy is to prioritize decisions that are positively going to impact students, so it was with that in mind that I decided to kind of step back from coaching. [My commute] made it impossible for me to balance my professional responsibilities along with my family commitments.”
Even without a coaching role, Waters said he was very much interested in the athletic program at Stone Bridge. He attended games in person, watched games on the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Network, and he congratulated and talked with his students on their accomplishments.
In 2024-25, Waters spent a year as an administrative intern. While he wasn’t in an athletic role, it was a helpful experience. His responsibilities at Stone Bridge included managing student attendance, addressing cases of students leaving the building without permission, helping with student safety drills, being part of the behavior intervention and student improvement plan teams, leading multiple collaborative learning teams to implement lessons, and collaborating with the credit recovery team to help students in the summer complete course credits.
“I definitely gained a deeper understanding of how school administration directly impacts students by trying to help create supportive learning environments,” Waters said. “It reinforced the belief that every administrative decision I plan on making is all about ensuring that students have every opportunity to succeed.”
With some administrative experience under his belt, Waters decided to apply for the administration position at James Wood when the opening was posted in March. He liked the idea of working near his Eastern Panhandle roots for a school division that he has known about for a long time due to his family’s experiences, and his own.
Waters — who played four years of soccer at Hedgesville, was a kicker on the football team for one year, and was a manager for the basketball team for two years — remembers Hedgesville playing James Wood in both football and basketball when he was in high school.
“As I continued my career, and with having a child, being closer to home was attractive to me,” Waters said. “[A CSA] job in terms of athletic administration was my dream job. I’ve played sports since I was a kid, and I kind of knew I always wanted to be in a public education setting. With both my parents working in public schools, it was always something that was important to me. The position of coordinator of student activities marries those two areas together.”
Since starting at James Wood, Waters has taken the time to get to know athletes and activities participants, their families, coaches, and James Wood stakeholder groups. And Waters said he’s received a lot of support from James Wood’s four assistant CSAs — Richard Moore, Brian Thomas, wrestling coach Cory Crenshaw and volleyball coach Adrienne Patrick — as well as principal Shelly Andrews.
“[James Wood] does sort of remind me of where I went to school at Hedgesville a little bit,” Waters said. “It’s more than just the color scheme. I feel like people here genuinely care about one another and want to help one another succeed, which is really, really awesome to be a part of.
“Here at James Wood, I’ve learned we have a rich tradition of both academic and athletic excellence. I feel incredibly fortunate to contribute to that legacy. The mission here at James Wood is to always put the needs of students first. We’re committed to empowering and supporting them in every way we can. It’s truly an honor to be a part of this community that consistently strives for success, both in and out of the classroom.”
— Contact Robert Niedzwiecki at rniedzwiecki@winchesterstar.com
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