Meet the principal at Peacock Middle School

For the rest of the school year, we'll feature an occasional series in the Neighbor section introducing readers to the men and women who sit in the corner offices of schools across DuPage County.

Beyond learning why they entered education, you'll find personal details, such as whether they head to the North or South Side for a baseball game. We hope you enjoy getting to know them as much as we have.

Who: Reinhard Nickisch, principal, Peacock Middle School, Itasca District 10

Age: 58

Family: Wife, Cindy; sons Ryan, 25, Derek, 20; daughter Lily, 9; sister, Barbara; and mother, Antonie.

Grew up in: Germany and North Side of Chicago.

Your ultimate pet: I had never had pets before I met my wife. We've been fortunate to have had three dogs during our marriage and they have all been and are wonderful. But if it wasn't for Cindy, the ultimate pet would have been no pet.

What's your education philosophy in one sentence? Show every child the respect you wish to receive in return, which then opens the door for meaningful and, ultimately, successful teacher and student relationships to develop.

Personal hero: My parents.

How did you wind up in education? I had what I even then realized was a very poor set of teachers in my second year of high school and believed that kids deserved better.

What is your dream vacation? A beach on Maui.

If you won the biggest lottery in history you'd … Continue working until they change the lock on my office. I would also make my family comfortable and, in particular, move my mother from her retirement home in Florida to our home. Since my father and, most recently, my sister both died of diseases for which cures are being researched, my newly received assets would help support scientists' endeavors in those areas.

Favorite reality show? None. They all appear to be an abject waste of time to watch.

Cubs or Sox? Is there another baseball team in Chicago besides the Cubs?

If you could invite one literary character to dinner, who would you pick and why? Jack Ryan, the protagonist in many of the Tom Clancy novels. I can't imagine all of that intelligence and problem-solving ability residing in one person. That's certainly why he's a fictitious character, but I would love to listen to his accounts of the international intrigue about which his life is centered.

Musical guilty pleasures: I love early Elvis Presley, the time from 1955 to 1958 when he was at his peak and in 1968 when he made his "comeback."

Favorite childhood book? I read mostly sports related books, but my favorite story was the one about Lou Gehrig's life. I still love to watch "Pride of the Yankees."

Bungee jumping, rappelling or parachuting? Why? Sometimes I feel I live "on the edge" just living a normal life.

What's the most innovative program you've seen so far at school? The use of our video production capabilities at Peacock to motivate seemingly unmotivated students to engage in writing and the visual arts when producing video.

This opportunity opens the door to more formal instructions in areas such as writing and reading. Through the years we have had our TV studio, countless students have been reached that I believe otherwise would have had little formal connection to school.

Two have actually gone on to broadcast careers as TV producers and writers for news programs (WGN and a station in Missouri).

Latest new "it" word you've heard from a student? It's not so much an "it" word but a "language," with its origins in text messaging or IMing. Some students do so much of this electronic communication that the abbreviated language finds its way into formal writing at school. It drives language arts and English teachers crazy.

What lasting impression do you hope to leave? I hope that kids remember me as a principal who treated everyone with respect and tried to make every student feel welcome and a part of our school. If children can learn to respect each other's uniqueness and diversity, what wonderful hope we have for our future.

What's the worst influence on today's youth? Cultural influences, in particular girls' clothing trends, have every administrator becoming the clothes' police. It's a terrible distraction in school when female students wear what they see their favorite "pop tart" wear. The current clothing trend seems to absolve boys, but who knows what's around the corner for them.

Thing that makes today's students distinct? Their ability to communicate with one another. At no other time in history do children have available to them the variety of tools with which to communicate. This is as much a benefit as a liability, as we are seeing more cases of student-initiated harassment and intimidation taking place almost exclusively through electronic means.

If I could change one thing about the world it would be … that we as citizens of the world appreciate each other's diversity and uniqueness and at the same time become better stewards of our environment.

This is a challenge for all of us, but a challenge that actually falls to schools, as they must plant and then nurture the seeds for these characteristics to ultimately develop in all children when they reach adulthood.

If you could paint your office any color it would be … Cubbie blue, of course!