Nemec, 36, will take over as the school district’s new athletic director and the dean of students.

“Given my background, I think I was a great fit for both the athletic director and then the dean of students. It’s a dual role. I’ll be ready,” Nemec said. “I think it’s going to be a busy time. I think I have that ability and that experience. I think I’m a nice fit for the position just my diversity and my commitment and eagerness to do a good job for the community and the kids, which is number one.”

The two positions were previously held by John Burdick, who had been the athletic director in the district since 2018 and took over as the dean of students in 2022. Burdick plans to stay with the school as a teacher and will help aid Nemec in any way he can.

“I’ll just take in as much as he has to offer,” Nemec said. “We’ve met a few times in dialogues and I just want to continue that continuity with John. He’s really committed to Lake Placid and a respected individual. I just want to continue that perspective or viewpoint, but I’ll be leaning on him for sure.”

Nemec grew up just north of Plattsburgh and attended Northwood School, where he graduated in 2005.

“I’m familiar with the North Country and the region itself,” Nemec said. “I’m committed to the area and I’m grateful and happy to be here.”

He later returned to Northwood, after graduating college, and took on multiple roles including as a teacher, a coach, an advisor and a dean of a classroom for around 10 years.

“I was an assistant (hockey coach). I spent five to six seasons with the boys. I think I spent a season with the girls,” he said. “You wear a lot of hats at a place like Northwood.”

When the coronavirus pandemic hit, Nemec decided to become publicly certified and eventually became a teacher at Boquet Valley where he taught for just one year before accepting the athletic director and dean of students role at Lake Placid.

While Nemec currently doesn’t have any plans to coach at Lake Placid, he said he would be eager to stay involved.

“That dialogue could be there, but I just want to see Lake Placid athletics succeed and do well,” he said. “Just given my background, I think I’d be a good person to serve the coach and district as possible.”

A challenge for Nemec will be to find ways to get students to participate in sports, especially with the ongoing, years-long trend of enrollment declining each year — an issue he says is personal to him. In the 2021-22 school year Lake Placid had 134 students, in the 2022-23 school year the enrollment number was 119, according to the New York State Public High School Athletic Association.

“Having to get youth involved and engaged into athletics, it’s really an important mechanism for growth as young people,” he said. “I think there is a committed group in the area that is cultivating that initiative of getting kids involved and engaged.”

Due to low enrollment, which can cause lower participation numbers in sports, Lake Placid teams have merged with both Keene and Saranac Lake in recent years. Nemec said he has met with other athletic directors in the area and plans on being flexible in communicating with other athletic directors.

“I think it’s the nature of athletics and these mergers,” Nemec said. “I think 20-plus years ago when I went to school (mergers weren’t) a thing. But this is just the reality. We need to be flexible and we need to support each other. I think it would be great to pull in more and more kids, but we also need to collaborate and support each other’s initiative. I’m eager in all different aspects to support athletics and to support individual students’ needs.”

Nemec said Lake Placid is a sports town and it needs to be emphasized and promoted as best as possible.

“It’s really important for young people. It’s a really important vehicle for so many different aspects,” Nemec said. “Just interaction and socialization, just a lot of life skills with that. I just want to promote or continue to (promote) the mantra of Lake Placid and engage young people. Athletics is central to kids’ lives and it’s just a really important vehicle or mechanism for young people to have great experiences.”

Nemec acknowledged Lake Placid’s athletic success this past year, including its sectional titles in baseball, girls’ cross country and girls’ Nordic skiing, and said he wants to build on the success but wants to see growth for individual athletes and teams.

“I think that’s really important,” Nemec said. “I also think being supportive with teammates and learning to work with each other coaches and players alike. I think the third aspect is to exude sportsmanship. Play hard but you want to shake hands at the end of the day.

“The North Country is small but it’s important to have that respectful competition amongst communities. I’ll be eager to facilitate and oversee that,” he added. “Success and growth. Being supportive of teammates and a great attitude and sportsmanship as well.”