By Brett Schlossberg
People are interesting. If you listen long enough, you may find out something about someone that is unbelievable or hear about a crazy experience: “what happened was….” The truth is, everyone has a story to tell. You may never know what story is hidden in each person’s mind.
AP US history teacher Dr. Bill Nicholson, Dr. Nic for short, writes and shares stories about his life with his classes. Any students who have had Dr. Nic can remember the stress and workload of taking an AP class and how his storytimes provided an engaging and fun reward for after a test.
“The feedback I’ve gotten from students has just been overwhelming…,” Dr. Nic said. “We were talking about the southwest in APUSH, and I just kind of briefly gave a five minute excerpt from it; they were so intrigued they asked if they could hear the whole story that Friday, and I shared it with them. And one kid says… ‘Do you have any more?’, and then it just kinda catapulted from there. And I decided, well, the day after a test would be storytime. Once we complete a unit, we test on it, [and] I give the kids a break. We have storytime where they can just relax and listen to stuff about my life or my observations.”
Dr. Nic wants to inspire and teach his students by sharing his life experiences. The stories also give him a new perspective on life.
“If they are comfortable with it, I’m happy to share,” Dr. Nic said. “A lot of teachers would not be happy, a lot of teachers would think this was inappropriate and over the line, that you need to maintain distance… I found that… sharing my life with students… humanizes me and give[s] them some good insights into life.”
Rylie Gardiner ‘26 in particular enjoys hearing Dr. Nic’s stories in his APUSH class this year.
“I think it gives students a more personal relationship with a teacher…,” Rylie said. “I think that just, like, overall builds a more working relationship, especially since we spend so much time with our teachers.”
Many who have heard his memoirs have suggested Dr. Nic publishes them. Although he does not know how, he admits that is a goal of his for the future. With his impending retirement at the end of this 2024-2025 school year, perhaps that is even close.
“I don’t have the first clue about how to do that…,” Dr. Nic said. “I would definitely be interested in that [publishing my stories], I just don’t know how at this point. That would be a good retirement project… lots of folks have certainly told me that they would buy it if it was published.”
Whether you were in Dr. Nic’s AP US History class, his Modern World class or his Maymester, think back to the story you heard. Maybe it can teach you something you hadn’t thought about before or help you through a rough time in your life. Whatever it may be, we all can get something out of it.
“It [telling my stories] brings me off of the teacher pedestal, and I become more of a person to kids,” Dr. Nic said. “And they [the kids], I’ve learned that they just love learning about their teachers’ lives– ‘what did you do growing up when I was their age?’ [or] how I respond to death… failure…how do I deal with successes and triumphs.”
Below are excerpts from one of Dr. Nic’s many great stories. This one is about how he became a teacher:
from My Path to The Honorable Profession (2007)
Why did I major in music to become a history teacher? Well that’s easy. I have no idea. I didn’t know I wanted to become a history teacher at the time. I had visions then of becoming a renowned concert pianist, or maybe a conductor, but, as with so many things in life, aspirations and realities do not always coincide. I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to study music, and even though it may have been somewhat unpractical, it was my passion and it still is. Music is my solace and comforter…my friend during the good times and my emotional outlet during the bad. So no matter how many times my mother would scan the Sunday paper and sarcastically comment: “Hey, look at all these jobs advertised for music majors…oh, how are you ever going to be able to choose between them”…I stuck to it. But wait. I found out half way through my first quarter at Emory that I could double major. I could now choose another major of great practical application, one that held immense promise for almost certain lucrative employment after graduation. So what did I pick? You guessed it…history.
Oh, my mom was so thrilled when I informed her of my momentous decision. The first Sunday after I told her, out came the Sunday want-ads and there, once again, my mother, with eyebrows raised in utter disbelief, audibly gasped as she read through the paper noting as she went along the prodigious number and variety of history jobs out there for the taking. Now armed with a degree in not one but two power-packed fields, I was sure to earn enough money to support both her and Dad and all our relatives in their old age. Undaunted by her sarcasm, I courageously set forth to show her that my chosen fields of study had merit and that I would one day be the greatest piano-playing, orchestra-conducting historian ever to walk the face of the earth. Well, once again, reality set in. By the time I graduated with a bachelors’ degree in 1981, I had begun to question my choice. My God, what have I done? My mother was right…there weren’t high-paying history or music jobs out there. Whatever am I going to do? I decided this time that practicality would be my sole guide, so I did what any unemployed piano-playing, orchestra-conducting historian would do. I took a job in finance!!
