Long Island native Diana Parente was named athletic director for the Friends Academy in Glen Cove in March.
Parente, who currently serves as the athletic director at the Flint Hill School in Virginia, is a former soccer player for St. Anthony’s High School. She also played soccer for the Albertson Club and Northport Soccer leagues.
“As a native Long Islander I have always known that Friends Academy is a special place,” Parente said. “I feel very lucky to have the opportunity to work and contribute to the school and athletic community.”
Parente played soccer at Syracuse University in upstate New York. After college, she became an American history teacher for middle and high schoolers, seeing athletics as an “extension of the classroom.” Parente touted the Quaker school’s values of equity, integrity and community as a reason to come back to Long Island.
“While I have never worked at a Quaker school before, I have always empathized with the importance of Quakerism in my teaching curriculum because of the foundational role Quakerism plays in American social justice,” Parente said.
She also served as deputy director of the Public Schools Athletic League in New York City and then as executive director of the District of Columbia Interscholastic Athletic Association for the public schools.
Working with those organizations resulted in expanded budgets and cultivating relationships with prominent athletics organizations including FC Barcelona and the Washington Football Team.
Parente was also the first director of Title IX operations for New York City’s Board of Education, being a key figure in bringing the city’s public schools into compliance with rules barring gender discrimination in school athletics.
Parente, her husband, Adam, and their 4-year-old son, Colton, will live on campus during her tenure as the athletics director, school officials said. She will officially begin on July 1.
Last month, four Friends Academy athletes were named to Newsday’s Top 100 Long Island Athletes, including three seniors (Billy Daal and Alex Douglas for boys basketball and Adrienne Coleman for field hockey) and one junior (Marco Derlly for boys soccer).
