New this year to Benson’s administration team is Melinda Bailey. Bailey replaced long time athletic director Francis Szynskie who retired during the summer. 

     Bailey was previously at North High School where she was an assistant athletic director and a curriculum specialist before she came to Benson. She has been with Omaha Public Schools for the past 29 years.  She started at McMillian Middle School where she taught German and coached volleyball and tennis at North.   

     As the new A.D., she is looking to change things up.  

     “So student involvement would be my number 1 goal,” Bailey said. “Also to make sure that all the coaches have all the equipment and everything they need to do their job as coaches and to make sure that people outside like the community is aware of the great things we are doing for Benson athletics.”  

Bailey plans on achieving these goals by improving Benson’s school spirit.  In order to do so, she envisions having more pep rallies and increasing fan support at games.   

“[I] invited alumni to the first home football game” Bailey said. “We had Raising Canes come in and give away prizes, we retired four jerseys which brought in more people.  We are working with current alumnae to have tailgating parties and help to create a sense of community for all the sporting events.”  

She also plans on improving communication between coaches and being involved in sports by attending games and discussing with coaches what they need.  

“I also want to help get the coaches what they need I just need to communicate with them and be involved with what they’re doing on the field on the court on the golf course just make sure I’m apart of everything that goes on at Benson,” Bailey said. 

She also wants to improve some of the athletic facilities.  

“It takes a long time to build any program so I always say a good four year cycle so I start promoting with the freshman here that way by the time freshman are seniors that’s instilled in them that sence of Benson pride,” Bailey said. “I’m not going to say everythings going to change. I feel already I have some good support from the coaches and I’ve gotten some good feedback from them and I’ll just reevaluate how things are going every year and make changes accordingly. I would really like to get some students who are three sport athletes.”