Well worth the wait for Muzio
Life paths are strange. Sometimes, they go as planned like a straight line – while other times, they come out more like a scribble. Lynnfield athletic director Mia Muzio called her path “convoluted,” but said she’s exactly where she belongs.
Muzio, who also serves as the kindergarten – grade 12 Physical Education, Health and Wellness Coordinator, is the first female athletic director in Lynnfield High history.
“Females are slowly starting to really prove that we’re capable of doing this job,” Muzio said. “They should be in these roles; they should be represented.”
Muzio’s first day as Lynnfield’s AD was on July 1, but her story started long before that. After attending Rockport High, she played field hockey at Ithaca College. After her senior year there, she still helped out and fell in love with coaching – despite it “derailing” her intended future in law.
She eventually started coaching North Reading field hockey (junior varsity, then varsity), to which she said “it was pretty much the best thing I ever did.”
Just like that scribble, she said her path “spiraled in a good way from there.”
A few more stops later, Muzio got her first AD job at Weymouth in 2019 before taking the same job at Wilmington in 2020. And when talking about her most recent change of scenery, Muzio said her nerves went away because Lynnfield “was the most supportive environment that I’ve been in” as a new member of a school district.
“It’s been a long path, but I’ve finally made it,” Muzio said. “Everything, ultimately, has its purpose.”
Muzio values relationship-building, helping kids, and having people around her feel comfortable.
“It may have taken me a little bit longer to get here, but I really pride myself on the fact that I don’t see this as an administrative job,” Muzio said. “My goal is to reach kids and have them be comfortable.”
She’s also “hyper-focused” on being organized and having things in place – to which she jokingly admitted to going overboard at times.
“Having things like a student-athlete handbook, or having things like a really well-organized website, [or] moving from paper registration to online registration was a big change that we made this year,” Muzio said.
In a position of leadership, Muzio also said she enjoys seeing people do the right thing.
“I’m less concerned about what team went 18-2 as opposed to what team I see after practice picking up chairs and picking up their teammates,” Muzio said. “They’re [student-athletes] not going to remember a game they won on October 17; they’re going to remember their teammates.”
Muzio admires Lynnfield for its passion towards athletics, and said its student-athletes are “the greatest group of kids.”
“I’ve never seen a group of kids that are so into supporting each other,” Muzio said. “They’re just a solid group.”
She has her “fingers crossed” her role at Lynnfield is her last stop, also adding “you have to sometimes pinch yourself” when talking about some parts of the job.
“The nerves kind of stopped pretty quickly when I realized I finally found exactly where I fit,” Muzio said.
