The Warrior Legacy: Nina Litherland

Lakeside has a lot to offer. One of my favorite activities has been marching band. It’s a great way to make friends and memories, have fun, and use musical talents to glorify God in the most public way—marching in parades. I also enjoyed being a part of the musical in the pit band, but acting is also a great opportunity. I have been a part of FFA all four years at Lakeside and I think every student should consider joining even if they don’t live on a farm. Many teachers stand out for me too. Band Director Mr. Pufahl always had a positive attitude and was encouraging around me. I’ve had so much fun doing anything and everything band-related throughout the past four years. Art teacher, Mrs. Tetzlaff, is a really good teacher, but my favorite part about Mrs. T is how easy it is to talk to her. I always know if I need someone to talk to, she will be there. Pastor Toepel, my Spanish teacher, aka Señor, was also my homeroom teacher—I learned so much in his class while having fun. Mrs. Krauklis is a gym teacher and my former math teacher. I love Coach K’s personality and how she tries to make everything more fun. Her class made me enjoy math, and she encouraged me so much to become a teacher. Mr. Doering, History, Government, and Financial Literacy teacher, teaches my least favorite subjects, but he made them so interesting and fun that I looked forward to his classes every day. Lessons from his Financial Literacy class will be extremely helpful for the real world coming up for me. Now a counselor outside Lakeside, I loved Pastor Helwig’s religion class with “Question Day” and singing every Thursday. PH’s class was more than just a religion class—it was a personal class that taught things about real life that I think is awesome for juniors becoming young adults quicker than they might want to. Pastor Yahnke had a big place to fill when PH left, and I thought he did a really good job of that. I have gotten the most out of his senior religion classes than any other year. We really dive deep into hard topics and questions that need to be brought up for young adults. So many lifelong memories for me!

A 2023 LLHS grad, Nina will attend Martin Luther College this fall to major in education. She shares, “I would love to be a high school art teacher or upper grade school teacher.” She and her family are members at Zion in Columbus.