by Kieron Kramer
A resolution commending Ron Cicchinelli upon his retirement from Troy High School was passed in October by the Rensselaer County Legislature, and the presentation was made before the regular meeting on Tuesday, November 9.
Ron Cicchinelli is retiring from Troy High School as an American History teacher. He was originally from Waterford and attended Siena College as well as Russell Sage College. Cicchinelli, known to most of his students as Mr. Chick, began his teaching and coaching career nearly four decades ago and retired with many fond memories throughout his career from Keveny, Catholic Central High School, Rensselaer, Hoosick Falls Central School, Bishop Gibbons and most recently Troy High School.
Stan Brownell made the presentation to Mr. Chick. He started by asking, “Why is a guy from Hoosick making this presentation?” The reason is that Mr. Chick started in Hoosick Falls as a substitute teacher where he taught the social studies class, replacing Donald Roy when he took a leave of absence to fight cancer, and Brownell was in that class 30 years ago. “You got me going in the right direction,” Brownell said to Mr. Chick, “you’ve touched a lot of lives.” Mr. Chick almost became a permanent fixture at Hoosick Falls Central School, but Roy came back to teach the following year and another social studies teacher, Warren Eastwick, had not yet retired, so Mr. Chick moved on to a permanent position at Bishop Gibbons.
