by Garrison Wester
Coach Mendoza has a big role at Greenfield and has a lot of responsibility with his job. Most people probably don’t know his role at Greenfield because the students don’t see him very much throughout the day, but he is a really busy man. Coach Mendoza also is an owner of the Soccer Box, so he has a lot going on outside of Greenfield also.
GW: What is your role at Greenfield and what happens in a given day of work for you?
RM: The role at Greenfield is two parts: help assist the financial director in the business office, and then the second part is the director of communications. A given day sometimes requires coming in during the morning and handling financial transactions that come into the school - whether its tuition, field trip money - and then keeping a balance with [my role as] director of communications, because that entails a lot of taking pictures of events around school and taking videos. Once you have the raw footage, you have to create the content that goes on our social media platforms. Then, it is notifying parents and families of things happening at the school whether its incoming weather or its enrollment time again.
GW: Once you get all the pictures and videos of the event that is going on, does it take you a while to edit them and put them on social media?
RM: Yes, because there are a few steps before you actually release them on social media. We have to take the video, take the digital assets, and then we have to put them together, edit them, and the placement on the flyer or the content that we are creating takes time. It also depends on the event, because if it is an event that has happened before, we can use the past flyers and make changes on them. But for the new events, it takes longer since you have to start from scratch.
GW: What is the purpose of Knightline, and is it hard to keep running?
RM: It is a way of the school and faculty to put out information that the parents need to see prior to the start of the school week. So, an example: Mrs. Batchelor will send me information about COVID quarantine cases and positive cases. This is kind of where we let families know where we are at, as far as COVID. Coach Salter also sends me the athletic schedule, so it kind of gives additional information that is probably already given, but we want to make sure everyone knows what is coming up in the upcoming week.
GW: What is it like being a dad and having them come to the same school you work at?
RM: Its important to me to have my children where I work at because I get to see them around campus, and if they forgot something, then I’m getting a call to bring that to them. With them being here, it is a neat work environment to me because I get to see them on a daily basis.
GW: With you having a big role at Soccer Box, is it hard to keep up with everything between there and Greenfield?
RM: From a time management [standpoint,] it is a lot to keep up with. When you think about the responsibilities that come from Greenfield, me coaching at WYSA with one of the local travel teams, and then the soccer box as well, it is a lot. The good thing is that the staff has grown so we have put some college coaches in place to help split up the work loads and that has made it easier in the last few months.
Above: Coach Randol Mendoza poses for staff photographer Jasmine Nguyen.
GW: What has been your most memorable time as a coach here at Greenfield for soccer?
RM: I would say the most memorable year was when I was coach was the first time we won a state championship just because it was the first one for myself at Greenfield and we had tried so hard for the two years before that. We lost in the playoffs in the quarterfinals and semifinals to Wayne Country Day one year, so when we got to the championship game under the class of either 2016 or 2017, we were determined to go out and win. That year was just memorable because it wasn’t like we went undefeated the whole season; we had a few early losses. But after our loss to Hunt, we didn’t look back, and if I am not mistaken, we won out for the rest of the season. So that was why it was so memorable, since it was the first title won under that coaching staff.
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