Pickerington High School North is a public high schoolinPickerington, Ohio. It is one of two high schools in the Pickerington Local School District. In the city of Pickerington, it is referred to simply as "North" and their mascot is the Panther.
In 2002, "Pickerington High School" split into two high schools, Pickerington High School Central and Pickerington High School North. Pickerington High School North opened on August 24, 2003.
The school's sports programs include football, boys basketball, girls basketball, wrestling, boys tennis, girls tennis, boys soccer, girls soccer, boys golf, girls golf, cross country, cheerleading, track and field, Boys Volleyball, Girls Volleyball, Boys and Girls lacrosse, baseball, softball, marching band, and orchestra.
Ohio High School Athletic Association State Championships
The Pickerington North High School Band program has over 140 wind and percussion members who participate in various performing groups including the Pickerington High School North Marching band coined "The Marching Panthers". Other groups including the OMEA Class AA Symphonic Band, Class B Concert Band I, and Class C Concert Band II. The Pickerington North Band is directed by Gregory Benson and assistant directors Chris Carmean and Matthew Guerrieri
The Pickerington North Band has served much success in its 19 year history including the following:
A number of notable incidents of racism have occurred at Pickerington High School North,[4] including two students (one black and one white) who appeared having "former slave" and "former slave owner," respectively, painted on their backs during a football game in 2014,[5] a student who appeared in blackface captioning herself as "#n***amegan" on Snapchat in 2016, and yet another student appeared dressed as a member of the Ku Klux Klan in a Snapchat in 2016. The latter two incidents spurred a "cultural-sensitivity training" session.[6][7] However, in 2020, a school assembly which discussed police brutality and violence against Black people during Black History Month caused a number of parents of white students at the school to complain that the program was "politically charged."[8]
Later, in June 2020, the Pickerington Local School District (PLSD) released a statement which noted continuing work to "[c]reate periodic open public forums in which all individuals are encouraged to freely discuss cultural, racial, and ethnicity issues that can provide insight and improve our ability to work together as a community."[9]
