Logan Nethers
Honorable mention female Scholar-Athlete
Logan Nethers
Licking Valley
Grade-point avg.: 4.25
$1,000
Sports played: Soccer (4 years), track (4)
Academic highlights: AP Scholar; engineering and industrial technology student of the year; scored 33 on ACT
Athletic highlights: Three-time first-team all-league in soccer
College choice: Ohio State (anticipated major: biomedical engineering)
Photo location: Wilson’s Garden Center in Newark, where I worked the past two springs. While there, I fell in love with plant care and developed a deeper appreciation for nature and the vital role of plants in our society.
Home front: I am an only child, but I have enough cousins that growing up it didn’t feel like it. I live with my mom, Summer, and my stepdad, Shawn. Or, depending on the day, with my dad, Heath, and my stepmom, Sunny.
Favorite subject: AP chemistry was one of the most challenging and rewarding classes I took in high school. The thrill of being able to work out a problem on paper, and then prove the results in the lab, was an unparalleled experience.
Least-favorite subject: While I generally enjoy math, I am not a fan of statistics. I think I could grow to love statistics if I was using it to analyze data that is from meaningful research, but doing textbook problems where the results have no real-world impact is not for me.
Prized possession: My mom got me a handmade glass heart in Oregon. We went together over spring break my sophomore year, and I fell in love with the untamed feeling of the coast. The next time she went, she brought me back the heart so I’d have something to remember my favorite place by.
Favorite book: “The Hobbit,” by JRR Tolkien. It started me on an incredible journey through Middle Earth that continued with “The Lord of The Rings” trilogy.
Favorite movies: I adore the “Harry Potter” books and movies. My mom and I spend a weekend every winter watching the movies together and wishing we were wizards.
Favorite television show: “The Good Place” was spectacular. Not only were the characters hilarious and relatable, but it also showed that no matter who you are, the most important thing is that you keep trying to be better every day.
Favorite musician: Hozier not only sings incredible songs that personify nearly every emotion, but he also uses his platform to try and change the world for the better.
Essential app: Over quarantine I could not have lived without Libby, a digital library app. I normally prefer to read actual books, but the library I work at and love has been closed. Being able to explore, if only in fantasy worlds, kept me sane while at home.
Favorite home-cooked meal: I used to spend every Sunday eating my great-grandma’s homemade country noodles and mashed potatoes. She and my grandma taught me to cook, so their meals will always be dear to my heart.
My cooking specialty: I prefer to bake over cook. I recently found an amazing brownie cookie recipe and made it my own.
Favorite restaurant: Steak ‘n Shake holds some of the best memories of high school. While milkshakes always make me happy, there is something about laughing with the other throwers from the track team after practice that makes me love the restaurant.
Guilty pleasure: From time to time, I will stay up the entire night reading fantasy books.
Proudest sports moment: My senior season, I had a save rate of above 82%. There were too many amazing moments to pick a favorite, but knowing that mathematically I was making a difference for our team was the greatest feeling of all.
Sport I’d like to try someday: I want to try competitive whitewater rafting. The first time I went rafting, I fell in love with the high-stakes environment. It would be a thrilling experience to take to the rapids in competition.
Story behind my uniform number: My soccer field number was 7 and has been since I started playing soccer competitively at age 7.
Favorite athlete: Megan Rapinoe is an amazing soccer player with unprecedented success who also fights every day for equality.
Inspiration: Alan Turing changed the tides of World War II and became the father of modern computing despite the fact that the world wouldn’t accept him for who he was.
Dream job: Ideally, I would like to work at NASA to research the impacts of space travel on humans, or as an astrobiologist. The stars provide us with many mysteries that I want to help unravel. The opportunity to become an astronaut and conduct research in space would be my biggest dream come true.
Place I’d like to travel: When I was young, I loved Percy Jackson and Greek mythology, so I would love to see Greece.
Something most people don’t know about me: I love geology and collecting rocks. My favorite is a piece of quartz treated with various elements to give it a rainbow appearance.
Least-favorite household chore: Mopping. I always manage to step somewhere that is wet by accident and then I have soggy socks. No one likes soggy socks.
Something I can’t get right no matter how hard I try: I have more than 30 plants and have worked at a garden center but cannot keep a fern alive.
Words to leave by: “And then I am going to rattle the stars.” — Sarah J. Maas
By Ray Stein
rstein@dispatch.com