McNicholas welcomed many new teachers to the faculty this school year. The McNicholas Milestone is starting “Teacher Features” to highlight teachers for their excellence in their role as a teacher at McNicholas.
Mr. Eric Hickman, a Biology and Environmental science teacher, is our first teacher feature. Hickman has been teaching for 30 years. He planned to retire until McNicholas reached out about an opening in the Science department. Hickman says, “I told God it has to be the perfect situation for me to start teaching again.”
Hickman’s teaching career has moved him across the country. He taught at Cincinnati Public Schools for 15 years, the Atlantic School District for several years, and then taught in Jacksonville, Florida. Although Hickman has taught a lot, he didn’t originally want to teach.
Hickman started out as a pre-med major. He was going to be a doctor, and then he wanted to be journalist. He achieved his degree in writing and wrote for a magazine… Once he got bored of it, he went back to his “first love” science. Hickman said, “that is how the teaching came to me.”
His inspiration to start teaching was a student during his student teaching placement. He was ready to quit until that student came up to him on his last day and said, “I just wanted you to know you made a difference for me.”
Like that student, the students at McNicholas know he is making a difference. One of his students Kennedy Trapp, a freshman, says, “He makes everything fun and enjoyable in his teaching.” McNicholas appreciates his positive impact in education.
The McNicholas Milestone 