“I loved going to Antioch Community High School. I think ACHS was a good foundation for those of us who perhaps are unsure of what they want to do in life. I mean, I didn’t go to high school thinking I wanted to go to college. I went to high school thinking, ‘What do I do next?’” said Paul Hettich.

For decades, teens have face the nerve-wracking decision of what they are going to do with their future. Like many teens, not knowing what he wanted to do, after graduating in 1983, Hettich enrolled in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program and attended Loyola University several times a week to learn about the army. “I needed money for college, plain and simple. I joined the army so I could get the funds for college, but after a while I began to enjoy it, so I stayed with it,” Hettich said.

Besides attending Loyola University for ROTC, Hettich also attended the College of Lake County and got a certificate in general marketing. Within his 26 years of service, Hettich become an army reserve officer and S3 for the 308th Civil Affairs Brigade, and has traveled to Canada, Germany, Korea, Macedonia, Poland, Turkey, Djibouti and Uganda. He has also completed five deployments in Iraq, Bosnia/Kosovo and to the Horn of Africa.

One of Hettich’s favorite classes in school was English, which he was taught by retired principal and English department chair John Whitehurst. Besides English, Hettich enjoyed his reading, psychology, woods, metals and drafting classes. “My teachers were influential enough where years later now I have a bachelor’s degree, a master’s degree.

“The foundation they provided was excellent,” Hettich said. Next to his educational achievements, all four years of high school Hettich was involved in varsity track and chess club. Outside of school Hettich was in a band with his friends and was a member of the National Canoe Racing Association. After school, Hettich said he would, “walk to Antioch Lake with my canoe and do laps for practice.”

All of this hard-work, determination and practice awarded Hettich third place in the nation for his canoe racing. Hettich also is an Eagle Scout in troop 92. “All of my teachers, coaches and mentors had made an impact on me that I still reflect on to this day,” he said. Although Hettich was involved in many different activities, he still says that if he could change anything about his high school experience, he would have wanted to get more involved in theater. “I would have studied more in high school, and I also would have been in theater since I have a bigger appreciation for it now. I would have also liked to try out for football,” Hettich said.

One of his most fond memories from high school was when the football team made all-state and got to play at Soldier Field in Chicago. Throughout his life, Hettich has been involved in numerous group and community activities that involve a lot of teamwork and friendship. “Being a Sequoit is about community, teamwork, and friendship. Having been a Sequoit means that you are able to say with pride ‘I was an Antioch Sequoit’ and that you were part of an organization and community that worked as a team,” Hettich said.

Hettich cannot emphasize enough that Antioch Community High School and being a Sequoit revolves around community, teamwork and friendship. Hettich said, “One of the best things about coming from a high school in a small town, is many of my friends today were my friends from high school and even when I was in first grade at St. Peter’s.” Besides this amazing sense of community and family, Antioch Community High School simultaneously provides a sturdy structure that shapes young people into fine adults. “When I left Antioch, I felt that I was more whole. After I graduated I felt like I had become a better person through high school; physically, mentally, and emotionally. I had more direction morally and was more well-rounded,” Hettich said. Today, Hettich is actively involved in the Antioch American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, is a fourth degree Knight of Columbus and is a board member of The Eagle Nature Foundation. The continuous sense of community and friendship that ACHS inflicted upon Hettich has surely has stayed with him throughout his entire life and does not seem to be leaving any time soon.