Spotlights

Licking Heights Band Spotlight: Micheal Britton

By Danny Deering

12/01/2025

      Michael Britton is a clarinet player for the Licking Heights Marching Band. He is a senior at Licking Heights High School. Michael plays clarinet, bassoon, and trombone. He has been in the band for six years and started marching band in his freshman year, 2022. Outside of school, he spends his time playing in 4H Band and playing games with his online friends and his brother. If he could learn another instrument, it would be the Soprano Saxophone because, “I would choose the soprano saxophone because of its unique in-between of the sweet side of the clarinet and saxophone combined, also it looks cool.” Says Michael.

      Michael has good leadership skills and is on top of his priorities; handling school work, marching band, and 4h Band. He is also a squad leader for the clarinet section in the marching band. He is there to help rookies and his section. They have two section mascots who are stuffed animal geese, Sir Sillister Silly the Goose and Mrs. Sicilia the Goose.

      His favorite music piece he’s played is “Arabesque”. It is a wonderful piece of work. His Favorite marching band show theme is “My Immortal”, this year's 2025 show theme. With the show this year, he has a beautiful solo playing the clarinet in movement 3. His favorite event that he’s played at is Licking Heights vs. Watkins, October 7, 2022, because he quotes, “One of my best performances, where I got everything right”.

     Overall, Michael is an amazing clarinet player. Something that he would say to someone interested in joining marching band, “I would say that if you plan on joining marching band, you should be ok with being told what you need to do to improve, that way when you look back on how well you did during the season, you can see growth.”

LHHS Teacher Spotlight: Mr Doerr

By Hayley Stout

12/15/2025

Mr. Doerr has been teaching for 25 years, but this is his first year at Licking Heights. He teaches cybersecurity and Google Applications and especially enjoys teaching computer networking and network addressing. His favorite part of teaching is seeing students have that “aha” moment—when everything finally clicks and begins to make sense.

When asked about his funniest memory from teaching, Mr. Doerr shared a moment from his previous school. “One day in the Animal Management lab, a small dog was running around. I squatted down to pet it, and it ran over to me, hiked its leg, and proceeded to urinate on my shoe,” he said. “Getting peed on was not on my bingo card as a teacher.”

One thing Mr. Doerr wants students to know about him is that he returns the energy he receives. If students are respectful and kind, he will be the same in return. He was inspired to become a teacher by his family and his love for information technology. Teaching runs in his family, and he saw it as an opportunity to share his passion.

The best advice he has received came from his dad, who told him to “stay on good terms with the maintenance staff, janitors, and secretaries.” Outside of the classroom, Mr. Doerr enjoys hip-hop and classic rock music, podcasts, Star Wars, Doritos, video games, drag races, and carpentry. 

Licking Heights Band Spotlight: Eva Nogueras

By Danny Deering

11/5/2025

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Eva Nogueras is a senior at Licking Heights High School and is a color guard member in the Licking Heights Marching Band. Eva is also a senior at C-TEC studying Cybersecurity and Information Technology. In her free time, she enjoys either doing schoolwork or playing video games!

Not only is Nogueras a color guard member, but she is also a squad leader in her section. Eva is very passionate about helping out her section and is always there for the rookies or any questions that come her way. This is her fourth year of color guard, and she performs with flag, rifle, and saber. So far, Eva’s favorite band show would be My Immortal, this year's 2025 marching band show theme. Eva says, “My favorite part about the band would be going to competitions and actually competing.”

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Her favorite event every year is going to Newark for our final competition of the season, and this year it's the color guards' third year with Overall Best Auxiliary in AA band! Eva’s words for if you're interested in joining the marching band are, “If anyone wants to join band or color guard, do it! You find so many friends in and out of the Licking Heights Marching Band-o.”

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Licking Heights Band Spotlight: Aubrey Courtright

By Danny Deering

11/5/2025

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Aubrey Courtright is a color guard member at Licking Heights Marching Band. She is a senior at Licking Heights High School. Aubrey does flag and rifle. Rifle is her favorite because she loves learning new techniques that she learns are glorious. She has been in color guard for two years. Aubrey is a soloist in this year's marching band show, My Immortal, in movement two. In her free time, she is a part of the swim team.

Aubrey may not be a squad leader, but it’s important to her that rookies are taken care of and do their best because once the seniors are gone, it’s their responsibility to help the new rookies.

Aubrey's favorite marching band show theme is En Route, because “En Route it was really fun and upbeat”. Her favorite event that we’ve played at is the 2024 Pumpkin Parade in Circleville, Ohio. Courtright's favorite part of color guard is “Making unforgettable memories at football games,” she states. Her words for anyone who would like to join the marching band or color guard are, “It won't be easy, but the memories and friends you'll make will be all worth it.”

Licking Heights Band Spotlight: Michael Britton

By Danny Deering

9/26/2025

Michael Britton is a Senior clarinet player for the Licking Heights Marching Band. Michael not only plays clarinet but also the bassoon and trombone. He has been in the band for six years and started marching band in his freshman year, 2022. Outside of school, he spends his time playing in the 4H Band and playing games with his online friends and his brother. If he could learn another instrument, it would be the Soprano Saxophone because, “I would choose the soprano saxophone because of its unique in-between of the sweet side of the clarinet and saxophone combined, also it looks cool.” Says Michael.

Britton has good leadership skills and is on top of his priorities: handling school work, marching band, and the 4H Band. He is also a squad leader for the clarinet section in the marching band. He is there to help rookies and his section. To aid in his leadership, he has enlisted two section mascots (stuffed animal geese), Sir Sillister Silly the Goose and Mrs. Sicilia the Goose.

Michael has had his favorites over the years.  Michael’s favorite music piece he’s played is “Arabesque”, while his favorite marching band show theme he’s been a part of is “My Immortal”, this year's 2025 show theme. With the show this year, he has a solo playing the clarinet in movement 3. His favorite event that he’s played at is Licking Heights vs. Watkins, October 7, 2022, because he quotes, “One of my best performances, where I got everything right”.

Overall, Michael is an amazing clarinet player. Eh has one more piece of advice for anyone interested in joining marching band, “I would say that if you plan on joining marching band, you should be ok with being told what you need to do to improve, that way when you look back on how well you did during the season, you can see growth.”

LHHS Teacher Spotlight: Katerina Diaz 

By Blind Penn

2/7/2025

Katerina Diaz is one of our high school mathematics teachers here at Licking Heights High School, where she teaches Algebra 1 and Geometry. She is a hard-working,respected and well-liked teacher. Diaz grew up in the south suburbs of Chicago, where she graduated from Alan B. Shepard High School.She also met her husband Alberto, in her high school art class. After high school, Diaz  went to Illinois State University. While enrolled at Illinois State University, Diaz spent a summer semester at Hokkaido University in Japan. Diaz always knew she loved to travel and had dreamed of studying abroad and this was her chance. Diaz later graduated Illinois State University with a Bachelor's degree in Mathematics.  

After Graduating Diaz and Alberto knew they didn't want to live in Illinois for the rest of their lives, but they had no clue where they wanted to go or how to even start the moving process. So they printed out a map of the entire United States and started by crossing out all the states they did not want to live in. The biggest thing was they wanted to experience all four seasons. They instantly crossed off the southern states because they don't get snow and the Diaz's love snow. The search for a state soon narrowed down to Minnesota and Ohio. Minnesota didn't get nearly hot enough in the summer for the Diazs. The search was over and Ohio was picked but where in Ohio? They had to live near a major city for Alberto's work. They started by narrowing it down to three major cities in Ohio and road tripped to Columbus and decided that was the place they wanted to live. 

Diaz enjoys hiking,backpacking,Brazilian Jiu Jistsu,reading and art. Diaz and her family enjoy long backpacking trips. They load all their equipment and drive to a park and often hike 2-3 miles into the woods. They then will set up camp and spend the night and hike back the next day.  Diaz and her husband often have 35-40 pounds of equipment in their backpacks while her kids often carry 10-15 pounds. 

When asked what motivated Diaz to be a teacher she said this, “I have always loved math. My Mom would give me math problems at night when I was a kid and we would work on them together. She had me doing double digit addition at four years old. Math always came easy to me… until I got to Geometry. It was the first time I had to think in math class and I LOVED it-- it quickly became my favorite. I especially loved proofs. I remember redoing proofs multiple times to see if they could be done in different ways. When we walked into class, we were expected to write the homework problems we needed help with on the board. Another student who understood the problem was expected to write their name next to the problem, work it out and then explain it to the class. I was told that I had to stop taking problems because I took too many, and then my Geometry teacher, Ms. Chang, told me that one day I would be a math teacher. I took a minute to think about it and decided then and there that she was right. Everything I did after that point was to become a math teacher.”

This is Diaz's fourth year at Licking Heights where she has no plans of leaving. When asked what Diaz likes about Licking Heights she said “I love the students and my coworkers. Greeting students every day, whether they are my current students, past students, or students I have not had, makes me happy. The students here are good people and I love being part of their lives, even if it is only for a little while. I hope they all move on to find success in whatever way that looks like for them. I have also built some really great relationships with my coworkers. There are some really great people here at Licking Heights.”

Staff Spotlight: Ginny Schrader 

By Blind Penn

11/25/2024

Ginny Schrader is a high school mathematics teacher at Licking Heights. She is a hard working, well respected teacher. Schrader grew up in a small town named Lima, New York, where she graduated from Honeoye Falls High School. After high school, Schrader went to SUNY Geneseo, where she earned a Bachelor's Degree in  Elementary Education and  Special Education with a concentration in Mathematics. Following undergrad, Schrader attended Elmira College where she earned her Masters Degree in Reading. While  she originally studied to be an elementary/special education teacher, her principal convinced her to obtain a secondary math certification. 

She met her husband, Adam, during her junior year of college (SUNY Geneseo). After she graduated they lived and worked in NY for a few years before moving southwest to Texas for Adam's work. She lived in The Woodlands, Texas for 4 years before moving to Ohio for Adam’s job in 2011. She stayed home with her kids for a couple of years and in 2014 Mrs. Schrader began teaching at Heights. This is her 10th year at Heights and she has no plans on leaving. 

When asked why Schrader likes Licking Heights she responded “Licking Heights has so many different types of students with such fun and unique personalities. I am constantly having to change and improve my teaching techniques to meet my student population and that challenges me everyday. I enjoy teaching at Licking Heights because there is never a dull moment. I also enjoy the staff at the Licking Heights as they have become some of my best friends.” Schrader enjoys traveling to new places with her husband and enjoys taking long bike rides and hikes.