DANFORTH, Maine — Houlton native Chris Bossie has taken over the East Grand athletics department from long-time athletic director Chris Young.
Bossie, who also will be teaching English for grades 7-12 at East Grand School, returned to The County in 2016 after spending several years in Jordan, Israel
“I’ve always thought it would be fun to be an AD,” Bossie said. “I really enjoy sports and coaching, and the AD position allows me to work with more athletes, more coaches, and more schools.”
In high school, Bossie was a standout athlete playing soccer, basketball, and baseball, but he switched to lacrosse at Bowdoin College.
“I learned how to play from some friends and a clinic the coach had, and then I played junior varsity for two years before moving up to the varsity my junior and senior year,” he said. “We were ECAC DIII champions in 1993. One of my teammates, Tom Ryan, played pro lacrosse for a number of years and is very famous in the lacrosse community. I like to joke that we combined for 594 career points — he scored 593 of them.”
Bossie has 21 years of teaching experience. After graduating from Bowdoin, he got his start at Kimball Union Academy, a private boarding school in Meriden, New Hampshire, where he spent 12 years teaching English. At KUA, he coached boys and girls soccer, girls basketball, and boys and girls lacrosse.
After KUA, Bossie moved to Jordan, where he worked at King’s Academy, a boarding school outside of Amman founded by King Abdullah II. There he taught AP English, was a dorm head, and was a class dean (part of the Student Life Office administration), and also coached girls soccer, fitness, and skeet shooting.
“I met my (future) wife at the school,” he said. “She was also a teacher and administrator there.”
While in Jordan, Bossie had an opportunity to speak with the king a number of times.
“I taught Crown Prince Hussein in 11th grade English and was his class dean for two years,” he said.
As exciting as it was to teach English in Jordan, Bossie said he felt a yearning to move back home after his first child was born. He returned to the area in June 2016.
“We had spent our summers here when we were teaching in Jordan, and we very purposefully moved back to the area for the quality of life after working in the boarding school scene,” Bossie said. “We wanted to raise our kids in this area.”
Taking over the sports program for Young will be a challenge, he said.
“My goal would be to make sure everyone has a positive experience with sports at the school,” Bossie said. “I think the coaches do a good job of providing that already, so I hope to continue to support them in their efforts and keep everything organized.”
Bossie and his wife, Ruba, live in Linneus with their two daughters Jeeda and Yesmina.
