Achterkirch recognized as Activities Director of the Year

Owatonna’s Marc Achterkirch was recently selected as the Region 1AA Activities Director of the Year by a group of his peers, commemorating him for his excellence in the position.

Achterkirch has been an Owatonna High School faculty member for 30 years, but receives this recognition just seven years into his tenure as Owatonna’s Activities Director.

“It’s an incredible honor to be recognized by your peers. This is a shared reward and honor with Nancy Benson, my administrative assistant, and all of our coaches. When you’re surrounded by really good people, a great school and a great community, these things come easy and they make you look pretty good. It’s an incredible honor, but it needs to be shared with our staff, and especially Nancy,” said Achterkirch.

Prior to becoming Owatonna’s activities director, Achterkirch spent 23 years as a math teacher for the high school before taking over his current duties in 2017.

Achterkirch is also in his 30^th season coaching football for Owatonna and has been awarded the Butch Nash Assistant Coach Award (2012), Minnesota Football Coaches Association Assistant Coach of the Year (2013), and was selected as an all-star game assistant coach in 2016.

Making last week even sweeter was the opportunity to hand off the Section 1AAAAA championship trophy to his team to send them off to the state tournament.

“It’s one of the most special things to me. I get excited when I get to hand off trophies to other teams as well because it’s always a special moment. Kudos to Rochester John Marshall for a great game. They have a talented team and some really great coaches – and they played their hearts out. I’m always proud to hand off the trophy, but obviously being a coach and working with these kids day in and day out, seeing how hard they’ve worked and what they’ve overcome, it’s a really special moment,” said Achterkirch.