Mr. Nickels Retires

Social studies teacher John Nickels’ room is a time capsule. Thousands of postcards from places around the world line the four walls and ceiling tiles of his room. Pick up one of these postcards and Nickels will tell you about the time he took students to China before the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Stare into to the eyes of the styrofoam Orcs on his cabinets and he will tell you about seeing the Lord of the Rings sites in New Zealand. Ask him about the decoratively lettered names of students around the room and he will tell you his favorite memory about them.

But as Nickels’ career comes to an end this spring, he won’t be hanging up any more relics in 315. He’s done making memories at Shawnee Mission East, and he can only hope he has made an impact on students’ lives.

In his 27 years at East, John Nickels has seen over 10,000 students flow through his classroom. Over the years, he has collected bits and pieces of memories from students. The majority of these memories came from international trips — a favorite tradition of his that he started in his fourth year of teaching.

Through these trips, Nickels no longer had to try to explain to kids what places in the world were like — he could show them. His trips had no official connection to East and were coordinated through a travel company.

On his first trip, he and other chaperones took six kids on a 3-4 week trip in Europe. Over the next 39 years, Nickels took his students around the world. The students on these trips –mostly underclassmen — did more than just the average tourist. On their trip to New Zealand, they met the prime minister. They traveled to China after they had an earthquake and helped those in need, becoming friends with the locals. On his final trip, Nickels took his kids to Beijing, China. On that trip, they certified East’s first and only sister school, Nan Jang.

By the time Nickels took his last trip in 2008, the number of students had grown to about 40 per trip. Though he had to stop traveling for medical reasons, Nickels succeeded in connecting with many kids on these trips.

Nickels has developed relationships through school as well. While his trips were a major way of doing this, he has other ways too. He has been very active in the school community over the years. Not only did he coach basketball and freshman football at East, he was a very involved sponsor of STUCO in the late 60s and early 70s.

Nickels is known for not limiting himself to the school curriculum in his classes. He regularly holds “discussions” in which students anonymously ask questions that stimulate debate or ask for advice from their peers. Through having kids write time-capsuled senior letters and read thought-provoking books, he tries to get kids think about their future.

“Sometimes kids open up and just talk about things, about living, what its like being around [East], hearing about other people doing things for others, caring about animals,” Nickels said. “How to deal with stuff others are doing to you. How to help others. Those are all way more important than another river.”

One of Nickels’ traditions is his “green square” talk, where he tells his students that bigger the impact they have on the world around them, the larger their “green square” on the timeline of history will be. He persuades the students to create the biggest green square that they can in their lifetime, something he has tried to do through his career as a teacher.

AP government teacher Ronald Stallard, who has been working in the social studies department with Nickels for the past six years, believes that Nickels’ lessons will be carried on by his students. Stallard also believes that the knowledge and life skills they have absorbed from him will guide them through their life and will radiate to others around them.

Now, Nickels’ career is coming to an end. He’s done expanding his green square. Though Nickels takes down a few more postcards each day, the students and teachers he has touched will still have the good memories that can only be attributed to him.
Read more about Nickels here