Alumni Spotlight

Apr

28

2026

All Around Aaron

About Us, Alumni Spotlight

By: Elizabeth Boyd Aaron Tate is a former athletic director and current school board member. He emphasizes how leadership in schools isn’t always easy, especially when it comes to balancing athletics, academics, and funding. Tate has experienced this firsthand and uses his background in sports to guide the way he makes decisions today. Before joining the school board, he spent years involved in athletics. He played sports throughout high school, and that passion continuously grew and he eventually became an athletic director. That experience helped shape his leadership style. He explained that being in a leadership position means making tough…

May

23

2023

Katie (Knopp) Garner, Class of 2004

Alumni Spotlight

Katie Garner attended Federal Hocking High School and graduated in 2004. She is now the Family Education Intervention Coordinator for Sojourners Care Network. Katie said, “Federal Hocking provided me with a great diverse education which has helped me to be very diverse in my job.” She feels that the open minded education helped her perform many tasks at work as well as give her a more open outlook within her career. I asked Garner about some of her favorite high school memories and teachers which she spoke about passionately. Her favorite teacher was Mrs. Collins saying she was the most…

Mar

16

2023

Hayward Knopp, Class of ’94

Alumni Spotlight

By Haley K. Hayward Knopp is a former student of Federal Hocking High School, as well as Tri County, and graduated in 1994. Hayward currently works for 7 Rivers Marine, a boat shop and repair located in Coolville as a boat mechanic. In this profession he puts all of his math skills to use and auto mechanics from Tri County. During high school you would likely find him in one of his classes, but he also enjoyed working on teacher's cars for them. He saw it as great practice for the future since he wanted to be an auto mechanic.…

Oct

06

2022

Alan Gilchrist, Class of ’97

Alumni Spotlight

By Lizzy G. Alan is a Federal Hocking graduate. After graduating, Alan attended Hocking College and received his Associate's Degree in Business Management. When Alan was 8 he started helping out at his family business. After 35 years Alan still works with his father at Gilchrist convenience and specialty store. At the store Alan takes care of all aspects of the business including, taxes, payroll and mail, as well as purchasing, displaying, and selling merchandise. Alan works with family or people that are so close to him he considers them family. Alan states, “Because of the freedom and fun I have…

Jun

01

2022

Charlie Murphy, Class of ’12

Alumni Spotlight

After graduating in 2012, I began my Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from Ohio University’s Honors Tutorial College in Fall 2012. I received my B.S. in CS from OU HTC in 2016. While at OU, I helped found Bobcat Tabletop, OU's board gaming club. Subsequently, I served as both treasurer and president. Additionally, I was a member of OUs chapter of the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) — a professional society for computer scientists — all four years of undergrad. As a member of ACM, I was able to participate in the International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC), which has…

May

10

2022

Isaac Miller, Class of ’17

Alumni Spotlight

I am graduating from Ohio University's E.W. Scripps School of Journalism. I started college undecided but changed my major at the end of my second year. One of the highlights of my time at OHIO has been working for University Communications and Marketing (UCM), the university's official communications department. I often write stories to advertise events, highlight achievements of students and/or faculty, and highlight alumni. These stories are published to the OHIO News site and also shared to the University's social media accounts occasionally. I was also the design director of Southeast Ohio Magazine for my journalism capstone class. This…

Feb

17

2022

Cindy (Grimes) Saunders, Class of ’98

Alumni Spotlight

I have been teaching for 19 years. After teaching at Fed Hock for 2 years, I moved on to Berne Union Elementary in 2005. I have been teaching first grade here for 16 years. I am currently the president of the Board of Directors for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Fairfield County, was named Alum of the month in June for the Patton College of Education and am an Epic! Master Teacher for the second year.

Jan

03

2022

James Farrington, Class of ’99

Alumni Spotlight

I work at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton Virginia, as an Engineering Technician. My job consists of integration, assembly and final testing of research modules heading to space. Any item that will be sent into orbit, must undergo a process of checks to ensure it safely arrives at its destination, and functions as it is designed, once it gets there. This includes building the module to flight specifications, testing performance in vacuum chambers, and vibration tests. Shortly after High School I joined the Navy, where I learned how to work on Radar Systems. After I served my time, I…

Dec

13

2021

Carrie (Ferguson) McCormack, Class of ’98

Alumni Spotlight

I am one of five children, I am the only first generation college graduate in my immediate family. I was lucky enough to attend Berea College in Berea, KY. As with all 1700 students accepted, I received a full scholarship for my tuition. At my college it was required to learn to swim or pass a swim test, have a job on the college campus, and attend cultural events called convocations. Learning to swim at age 19 is something I am so proud of and has helped me to have a growth mindset to continue to be a lifelong learner.…

Nov

30

2021

Miles Hadley, Class of ’21

Alumni Spotlight

I’m at Ohio University for Music Production, and I spend my free time working with independent artists from all across the country. I recently executively produced, mixed, and mastered an entire collaborative record with my close friend, Isaiah True Weaver. Feel free to check it out! New Album: https://linktr.ee/isaiahtrueweaver