In the halls of St. Edward, music fills the air. Beautiful symphonies linger in the ears of the students. Coming from class 116, Mr. Hickey can be caught at the scene of the crime.
Mr. Hickey is the newest member to the St. Edward faculty, taking over the music program this year. Even though he has been here for only a brief time, he has thoroughly enjoyed his time. He is excited to build this program up since in his earlier jobs, he has always walked into established programs. This school year, he is excited to build something new, teach more music, and host concerts. Mr. Hickey’s plan for this program is to make it as close to a public-school choir as possible. He wants the choir to be the best and have the coolest opportunities possible. He wants to bring St. Edward’s choir back to its prime.
Friday, September 26, 2025, was the comeback of the St. Edward choir as they sung the hymns at the annual homecoming Mass. Everyone was excited to see the choir back in action. Their performance on Friday was regarded as beautiful, and exciting by multiple staff members. St. Edward hasn’t seen an actual choir since 2019. Many people are excited to see what Mr. Hickey and the choir will do next!
Before coming to teach at St. Edward, he was teaching at Woodland Academy. He helped with the orchestra and choir during his time there. He also previously taught at Glenview Middle School and did the orchestra there too. “At Glenview, they had one hell of an orchestra and this one girl was very skilled with her violin,” Mr. Hickey said while looking back at his time at Glenview.
He started teaching in 2019 – 2020, so he has been teaching for a while. He did not always want to become a music teacher though. When he was younger, he wanted to become a computer programmer but, in his words, he sucks with computers. He started music at the ripe age of nine and has never let go of it since. He has played loads of instruments since then too! From the violin to the guitar, what can’t he play? His favorite instrument is the trusty violin because of how skilled he is with it. What made him like music so much is how challenging it can be to learn, but the thrill of performing makes it worth it. To this day, he still gets nervous about performing.
Music has always been a part of him. At an early age, his dad got him into rock, which is one of his favorite genres. He listens to every genre there is. He regards Freddie Mercury as the best artist to ever live. He went to Maine South High School, which has a strong music program. He had some amazing music teachers in high school that inspired him to be a music teacher; you could say it was destiny. Once he got to college, he got a bachelor’s degree in music education with a focus in violin at North Park University. When talking about his time at North Park he stated, “You learn so much when you get into music education. My teachers were like walking textbooks; they could answer your questions without any hesitation.”
Mr. Hickey is so passionate about music, and it makes sense after getting to know him during this interview. To anyone who is thinking about playing an instrument or getting into choir but is too scared to because it is not popular or seems embarrassing, Mr. Hickey says to you, “Just do it! Music is the best part of a child’s education and helps with all fields of study!”
