Correspondent photo / Karla Dines
Katherine Ahmed served eight years in the Ohio Army National Guard before going to Youngstown State University and earning a degree in education. She is now choir director at Champion High School and performing arts director at the middle school.

Both of her parents were lieutenant commanders in the U.S. Navy. Both of her grandfathers were veterans of World War II. After high school, Ahmed decided to join the Ohio Army National Guard.

“I wanted to go to college and grew up in a military environment. At the time, the Ohio Army National Guard was providing 100% tuition assistance for college,” Ahmed said.

She completed basic training in Fort Jackson, South Carolina, and Advanced Individualized Training in Virginia.

Soon after basic training, Ahmed’s unit was deployed to southern Ohio in response to severe flooding after receiving 12 inches of rain. Her unit arrived with a convoy of trucks, cranes and heavy equipment to the flooded area.

“I remember going down to southern Ohio and filling a lot of sandbags soon after I got in. Our entire unit was deployed down by the Ohio River. The area was declared a disaster area. As an engineering unit, we assisted in repairing bridges that had been washed out. At that time, I was so young and so far down in the ranks, I just filled a lot of bags with sand to prevent water from coming into different residential areas,” Ahmed said.

She spent a total of eight years with the Ohio Army National Guard, working out of the Austintown-based 216th Engineer Battalion, serving six years active duty followed by two years inactive reserve duty.

“I was the first female in that engineering unit. I was their 92 Alpha Automated Logistics Specialist. I worked in the motor pool, which is the garage. I was a parts clerk, where I controlled the logging in and logging out of all vehicles. My unit did a lot of community projects, such as building bridges,” Ahmed said.

“I once changed a tire that was bigger than me. It was a 5-ton dump truck,” she said.

Ahmed and her unit traveled to Nicaragua at one point, where they built a school. When 9/11 happened, they were deployed to New York City to help with the cleanup. Ahmed served as a liaison between the families affected by the attack, communicating with them about the whereabouts of their loved ones and their status. She decided shortly after that not to reenlist.

“I was lucky that it was quiet up until 9/11. I lost some friends in the cleanup. It was difficult. I think it partially helped to make the decision whether or not to re-enlist. I was ready for a career change,” Ahmed said.

Regarding the reserves, Ahmed said, “It was a really wonderful experience because I did what was called Active-Duty Reserves. Rather than doing just one drill weekend a month and two weeks of training every summer, I was able to work full-time for about six months. I also did recruiting during that time.”

“I had a lot of opportunities in the military. I was able to sing the national anthem at certain events. I remember my sergeant saying to me, ‘You should go to school.'”

She attended Youngstown State University, where she earned her undergraduate degrees in education and was a voice student at the Dana School of Music. She later earned a Master of Education degree to become an Early Childhood Intervention Specialist. She worked for the Youngstown City School District for six years and has been with the Champion Schools for 15 years, where she is the choir director at the high school and performing arts director at the middle school.

Ahmed was this year’s winner of Champion School’s A+ Teacher Award, after being nominated by one of her former choir students. The winner is chosen after the school rates multiple essays submitted by students nominating teachers for the award.

Ahmed and her husband Mike are the owners of Hodus Tobacco in Warren and Hodus Botanicals and Tobacco in Youngstown.

Katherine Ahmed

AGE: 47

RESIDENCE: Cortland

SERVICE BRANCH: Ohio Army National Guard

OCCUPATION: Performing Arts Director at Champion Middle School and Choir Director at Champion High School, owner of Hodus Tobacco in Warren, and Hodus Botanicals and Tobacco in Youngstown

FAMILY: Husband, Mike Ahmed; and three daughters, 12, 7, and 5