Cameron Citizen-Observer
Cameron, Missouri
Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Ethan SICKELS, the Principal at Parkview Elementary School since 2005, has decided to leave the district at the end of the 2007-08 school year and move to the Nodaway-Holt School District. "I have had a great staff to work with here at Parkview," said SICKELS, "and the kids have been wonderful. Even though we have all had our moments, we have always known we were all here for the same purpose, to get these kids headed in the right direction."

SICKELS, who hails from Kellerton, Iowa, first came to the Cameron School District in 1998 after attending the University of Northern Iowa. He taught sixth-grade and seventh-grade pre-algebra through 2001. SICKELS also coached 8th-grade Football and Basketball and seventh and eighth grade track while he was at CMS.

Ethan went back to school in 2001 to obtain his master's degree in Education Leadership, at Northwest Missouri State University, and he was awarded a Graduate Assistantship at Horace Mann Elementary on the university campus.

After earning his master's degree SICKELS took a position at Plattsburg for the 2002-03 school year, teaching elementary and high school math, he also was the coach of the Girl's Varsity Basketball and Track.

He assumed the position of Elementary Principal at Stewartsville in 2003 and remained at that school until 2005. Ethan coached the Girls Softball program while at Stewartsville.

SICKELS returned to Cameron in the fall of 2005 as Principal of Parkview Elementary and has remained in that position until the present time. His experience at Cameron has been invaluable for SICKELS, especially with the Reading First Program, which is in its fourth year at Cameron and will just be beginning at Nodaway-Holt.

"I was invited to interview for the Superintendent's position," said Ethan. ""My friend Karma COLEMAN, the Elementary Principal suggested that I come up and interview and said 'That way I could work for you.' So I interviewed, but the school district really wanted Karma and so she took the job of Superintendent. Then she suggested I come to work for her as Elementary Principal. I thought it over that night and then decided to apply for the position. I was lucky enough to get the job."

The Nodaway-Holt School District is a consolidated school. The high school is in Graham, Missouri and the Elementary school is in Maitland. Skidmore was the other town involved in the consolidation. The schools house about 230 students, kindergarten through high school.

There were several reasons this job was attractive to Ethan SICKELS. "I liked the chance to get back to a smaller school," SICKELS said. "The proximity to Maryville also gives me the opportunity to begin work on a doctorate in Education Leadership and Policy Administration."

Another factor in Ethan's decision to leave Cameron was to be a little closer to his mother's home in Kellerton. An only child, Ethan lost his father just last week, and felt that any move he made would be to the north of Cameron.

Ethan would like to thank all of the Cameron Patrons for the years of support and the privilege of being able to serve the children of Cameron.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, May of 2009