For all of her teaching, coaching and other experience, Mandy Lewis said being a good listener may be one of the biggest helps in her new job as Wiscasset schools’ first districtwide assistant principal and athletic director.

“One thing I would love to know is, how does the community see my role? I’m eager to connect with the community on the sidelines of games and at different events at the elementary school or the middle high school,” she said.

Lewis, 36, started work July 1. The Brunswick woman has been meeting staff and others and can’t wait to meet more as the school year nears. In an interview at Wiscasset Middle High School on Friday, Lewis, fresh off a longtime teaching job in Yarmouth, shared her outlook on serving students.

She also explained what she finds so appealing about going to work in a small town: She came from one. “Hollis, Maine. We didn’t even have a stoplight in Hollis. They have one now,” she added.

The fact that many Wiscasset graduates are part of the school community as educators or in other ways was another good sign. “I think that that just speaks very highly of the traditions in this town, so I’m excited to be a newer member of that.”

Lewis described her job’s dual role as an exciting challenge professionally, and one she’s glad will encompass all the department’s grades. “The continuity that that will bring to my position and hopefully the schools is really exciting,” she said. “I think I have a steep learning curve, for sure, in understanding the culture in both schools, but (the principals) have been so welcoming, as has (Superintendent of Schools) Dr. (Heather) Wilmot, that I think both schools are in a place where they are excited to have an administrator who will work with both.”

In her years in Yarmouth, she learned that working collaboratively helps provide the best learning environment possible for students, Lewis said.

She also noted that, as she gets to know the coaches on staff, she is finding them to be incredibly dedicated to the student athletes.

The athletic director part of the job helps her stay a part of a side of education she expected to be giving up as she moved from teaching to administration. She has coached as long as she has taught. “So moving into an administrative role and not being able to coach was a difficult decision to make, and getting to work with athletes and with coaches was certainly a draw to this position,” Lewis said.

Sports were a huge part of who she was during her own school years, she said. A three-sport athlete at Bonney Eagle High School, her field hockey team won a state championship; she played varsity basketball all four years; and she threw javelin in outdoor track. Her rugby team at Ithaca College took the state title for Division III two years in a row.

Asked for her thoughts on Wiscasset’s plans for a collaborate football team with Boothbay Region High School in the fall, Lewis noted the philosophy with which she’s approaching her job. She wants students to have as much access as possible to things that will connect them with their education. “And for some students, that connection really stems from being able to play sports. And so ... I hope to advocate for things that will provide student athletes with things that will keep them engaged.

“So I am working on understanding the (team) with Boothbay. We have some student athletes who are going to take advantage of that this fall, and we’ll see how successfully that goes,” Lewis said.

Outside work, Lewis and spouse Amy Lewis, a guidance counselor at Lisbon High School, are busy keeping up with their 18-month-old son and taking him on adventures, Mandy Lewis said. She has also gotten into running, including training for half-marathons.

“I am not a fast runner, but I certainly love it,” she said, laughing. Asked about a personal best time for a mile, she said, still smiling, she doesn’t think she has a personal best. “I do my best to run at a pace that’s challenging for me.” A run in Acadia National Park in June was beautiful, she said. “Hilly, but beautiful.”

“We have two crazy dogs, and so if I can take them on an eight or nine-mile run, they’re very happy.”