This year’s HMSA freshmen began the school year without a Biology teacher. The search for a new Biology teacher continued all throughout first semester. As second semester started, the search finally ended.

Starting second semester of the 2015-2016 school year, Mr. Ickes became the new Biology teacher.

This year will be Mr. Ickes’ twentieth year in education. He has taught Biology for a total of eight years, and has been a part of administration for twelve years. He was a teacher at Hawthorne High School from 1997 to 2003, and was the assistant principle at Lawndale High School from 2008 to 2009. He also taught at private Catholic schools for thirteen years.

Mr. Ickes earned his bachelor’s degree at Loyola Marymount University and his master’s degree at CSU Northridge. At LMU, he majored in Psychology and minored in Biology, and at CSUN, he studied Educational Administration.

His passion for Biology started as a child. He always favored the subjects math and science. His mother’s profession as a nurse further enabled his passion for science.

Mr. Ickes finds Biology significant because it’s everywhere. He loves to observe and be a part of nature. He also believes that we “take (what we see) for granted because it is always there and we just don’t pay attention to it.”

He loves all kinds of sports too. He especially enjoys snowboarding and traveling with his family. He watches his daughters play water polo and softball and his youngest daughter dance in live performances. His idea of a perfect summer vacation is “[taking] a road trip up the coast or spending time hiking through Arches National Park in Moab, Utah.”

Below are a few more of his favorite things:

• Book: The DaVinci Code
• Music: Anything from the 80’s
• Sports: Baseball (he is a die-hard Angels fan), snowboarding
• Singers: Steve Perry (Journey), Joe Elliott (Def Leppard), Jon Bon Jovi

Mr. Ickes was welcomed by enthusiastic and motivated students. He has something for them too:

“Work hard at school and things will come to you that you never expected. Your education is the key to all the great things in the world that you can experience.”