Mrs. Heather Athmer has been teaching American History on Team 8Red for 10 years. She joined Highland School District in 2001 teaching fourth grade, after graduating from McKendree University and earning her BA in Elementary Education with endorsements in Language Arts, Social Science, and Middle School. She later earned her MA in Teacher Development. She lives in Highland with her husband, Scott, and two children, Josh and Abby. Abby is a Junior at Maryville University and Josh is currently a Junior at HHS. In her free time she likes to scrapbook, go camping, and spend time with her family and friends doing anything outdoors. She also enjoys pampering her 4 Labrador retrievers, Belle, Josie, Oakley and Ozzie. Mrs. Athmer sponsors Model UN and Operation Snowball at HMS as well. Click on her picture to send her an email.
Mrs. Chastity Hyre has been teaching 8th grade English Language Arts at HMS since 1997 and loves getting to know her students. She is a 1993 HHS graduate and received her BA from SIUE in Secondary English Education with a minor in Speech Communication. Later, she received her Master of Science in Education (MSEd) with a major in instructional technology from SIUE's Department of Educational Leadership. She coached HMS track for over 10 years and met her future husband while coaching HHS cross country. She is married to Brad, has one daughter named Kalysta who is a senior at HHS, and has a VERY cute Cavalier King Charles Spaniel dog named Luna. And, she loves her mom to the moon and back. Mrs. Hyre enjoys spending time with family and friends, cooking, baking, yoga, swimming, hiking, gardening, reading, shopping, and going to sporting events...Go Cards ⚾️, Blues 🏒, and Ohio State Buckeyes! 🏈 🏀 😁 On most days, she can spell just about anything. Email her.
Mrs. Angie Hartlieb has been teaching math since 2001 and loves anything with numbers! She grew up in Highland and went on to receive her B.S. in Education with a Middle School endorsement at Eastern Illinois University (2001) and M.S. in Educational Administration at SIUE (2010). She currently lives in Highland with her husband (the loud history teacher across the hall!) and two children, Logan and Layna. She also has 2 bonus children, Geoffrey (wife Alyse) and Hannah (husband Zach), as well as a bonus grandchild, Crew! Aside from relaxing at home with her family and Schnauzer dogs Indy and Scottie, she enjoys traveling and is currently training for her first half marathon. She also loves to play Jeopardy and can figure out the square root of any number while reciting the quadratic formula! Click her picture to email her.
Mrs. Brittany Meredith is our science teacher on Team 8 Red. This will be her 9th year of teaching middle school science. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology, a minor in Chemistry, and a Secondary Teaching Degree from Southern Illinois University of Edwardsville. She obtained her Master's Degree in Curriculum and Instruction from Southern Illinois University of Edwardsville in 2022. She is married to her high school sweetheart and has two children. She loves spending time with her friends and family, going for walks, traveling, reading, and everything science related. Click her picture to email her.
Mrs. Teri Ammann is our resource teacher on Team 8 Red. This will be her 19th year teaching for the Highland School District. She earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Southern Illinois University of Edwardsville. She is married to her husband Andy and has two children. She spends her free time traveling, gardening, taking walks, and shuttling her kids to all their activities. Click her picture to email her.
Mr. Plocher graduated from Highland High School in 2015. He earned his Associates Degree from Kaskaskia College and received his Bachelor’s Degree in Education from Greenville University in 2020. He taught at Roxana Junior High School from 2020-2023. At Roxana, he taught 6-8th PE and Drivers Education, while coaching Boys and Girls Varsity Tennis and Junior High Boys Basketball. Currently, he teaches 6-8th PE, 8th Health, and coaches Varsity Girls Tennis for Highland. He lives in Highland with his wife Maddisen Plocher and two dogs: Wimbley and Aussie. In his free time, he enjoys playing tennis, basketball, golf, watching sports, and taking on home improvement projects with zero home improvement skills. I look forward to being a Bulldog again and helping the youth of this great community.