It’s all about “The Dash.’’ That’s what Angie Hicks says when asked what final thoughts she’d like to share with UMOJA readers.
That “Dash” – the time between when you were born and die – represents everything a person has done, supported and stood for in their lives. And for someone like Dr. Hicks, currently Associate Superintendent for Middle Schools at Madison Metropolitan School District, that dash includes her commitment to community and equity in education.
A native Madisonian, Dr. Hicks grew up on Madison’s south side, graduated from Madison West High School, obtained her Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Wisconsin Madison, and her Masters and Doctorate degrees from Edgewood College.
Hicks cherishes her tight knit southside Madison roots. “I’m a native, born and raised on the south side of Madison,” she says. It was a formative place to grow up.
“I believe it was my being raised by a “village” that helped me to see that my life’s purpose and calling was not about me, but about everyone around me. It was a place that taught me how people show up and support each other, give back to each other, help raise and pour into you.”
She remembers feeling a strong-willed concern for others around her, even at a young age. It earned her a reputation among her peers. “I’ve always been out there, speaking my mind, standing up for others when people are not being supportive of our kind.”
That early experience – and a key realization later in life – fuels passion for her work as Associate Superintendent of Middle Schools, a role she describes as coach and thought-partner to Middle School principals – listening and helping them navigate and craft their own roles as school leaders, creative problem solvers and education innovators.
“We all want to support young people to grow and become the best versions of themselves,” she says. “As education leaders, our experiences bring a different type of focus and intentionality. For many of us, it’s a calling.”
She knows that calling and the District world intimately. Hicks has served the Madison community for more than three decades. She serves on the District’s Health & Wellness Committee. Prior to her appointment as Associate Superintendent of Middle Schools, Dr. Hicks spearheaded the District’s “Early Literacy Task Force” and held many roles in the district, ranging from principal at Wright and Badger Rock Middle; assistant principal at Sherman and Hamilton Middle; instructional resource teacher/grant facilitator at Frank Allis Elementary; teacher at Whitehorse Middle and Emerson Elementary; tutor coordinator; custodian; and senior clerk-typist.
Her commitment to education equity has earned her the Lois Gadd Nemec Outstanding Alumnae Award; MMSD Principal of the Year; Charles Hamilton Houston Institute Difference Maker Award for Outstanding Service in Education; and 100 Black Men Outstanding Educator Award.
In addition to her professional work, she maintains active and strong roots within the Madison community, serving as a board member on the Northside Planning Council, Community Partnerships, volunteer roles at Mt. Zion Baptist Church and serving on the Steering Committee for Madison Study Circles on Race.
But when asked what brings her the biggest joy and delight, she replies in a single word: Serving.
She explains: “Serving children, giving them the tools, skills and experiences they need to live a life and have success.” She adds, “I want to help them see beyond where they are in the moment; to not let their circumstances dictate the outcome of their futures. My goal is to be able to help them to live and thrive and be free. As an educator, that’s my responsibility.”
“Serving and helping them see the world outside of themselves and how to make it better. That’s the joy,” she says.
That joy motivates her work, but she recognizes the individuals and insights that have shaped and inspired her along the way.
She credits her mother as “the strength of strengths” who nurtured and grounded her and let her “be who she needed to be,” as well as the Community Elders who were instrumental models through their examples.
She attributes her teachers as inspiration for what would become her professional career, especially her 4th grade teacher Mother Geraldine Bernard – Madison’s first African-American teacher – as one who gave young Angie a glimpse of professional excellence and what could be possible. Later as Hicks began her professional career, educator and advocate Christine Hodge mentored, supported and “saw the beauty and strength” in Hicks’ potential.
But surprisingly, despite the support and strong role models, Dr. Angie Hicks did not begin her life journey with an educational career in mind. How did that change?
“I was in the military, overseas in Germany when I gave birth to my daughter,” she explains. “It was my daughter’s birth that made me stop and ask myself: “What can I do to make a change in the world so that she can have a good life?”
She soon realized that Education was a place where she could have an impact on the greater community, and ultimately the world.
How would that happen?
“It’s like with every child you come in contact with – good, bad or indifferent – you can make an impact and end up impacting every individual who comes in contact with that child,” she explains.
So, she set her sights on how to make that impact in the world as a professional educator and leader.
“My hope is that a piece of my heart – or whatever I am giving them, showing them or helping them — is implanted in them. And then they take that and implant it in someone else.”
After all, it all gets down to ‘The Dash’.
“It’s not about the self, accolades or awards, it’s about ‘The Dash’,” she adds. “Not our birth, not our death, but it’s the dash – the in between — that’s going to tell the story about what we stand for as an individual, a community and how we’re going to change to make it better.”
“As a community and humanity, we need to ask ourselves: What are we willing to take a stand on in support for the greater good of everyone? What are we willing to work on to improve? How are we going to come together so that we are truly our brothers’ keepers?”
Perhaps we would do well to consider doing it like Dr. Angie Hicks, starting with one heart at a time.
