The Road Home: Jim Hickel (’09) Brings His Work Ethic Back to CNY

James Hickel, WHS Class of 2009, started college in Florida after graduating from Weedsport. He attended Embry-Riddle, majoring in aerospace engineering, and had some great experiences starting his life away from Central New York.

After gaining experience in another part of the country, Hickel made the decision to come back to his home area and transferred to the University of Buffalo to major in mechanical engineering. After graduating, he moved back to Central New York to take a job at O’Brien & Gere (OBG), a large national engineering firm that for more than 70 years has offered services that include advanced manufacturing, energy, environment, and water study.

He got his job at OBG during his senior year of college. He and other members in OBG work together to design and to meet the satisfaction of the customer. He also has a hobby, which is scuba diving. This is really interesting because you can experience and  explore what’s it like underwater. During his childhood, he always had an interest in the engineering field. His dad was an engineer and his mother was a nurse. He also has siblings who had went down the engineering path, except for his sister, who went into the medical field. One his brothers also works at OBG.

During his high school years, James took courses that helped him get ready for his future job. One of the courses he took was Design and Drawing Production (DDP). This course really helped his career because he is doing the same exact concept at his job. He took other courses like, precalculus and calculus, which is recommended if you want anything do with engineering.

Mr. Graziano, Jim’s calculus teacher, noted that Hickel’s curiosity and willingness to work hard set him on the path to success: “Jim was always trying to figure out the tough problems and was willing to ask questions when he didn’t know something.”

He also took physics and chemistry. In sports, he played football throughout his middle school year.

During his college years, Jim took Engineering 101, and also took MATLAB; a programming course that had helped him at his job. Also, he took statics (physics) course, that covers material science, and race car dynamics, learning how cars work and creating formulas of how cars move. He played intramural football where you make a team and play against other teams that was created within the school. He lived in an apartment during his college years with three other friends of his. Surprisingly, one of his friend’s mom own the apartment so they got a discount. Jim graduated with a bachelor degree in science and in mechanical engineering.

Life after University of Buffalo: As a member of the OBG company, his role draws on many facets of his academic work at the University of Buffalo, his internship experiences, and the communication skills he honed throughout his experience on campus.

Jim was married to Stephanie Piascik on May 14th of last year. Stephanie, also a Weedsport graduate, and Jim met in high school and have been together ever since. She went to Spain for education, and now works at Destiny USA.  Everything Jim has done in the past has led him to a successful path and the future ahead of him.

Jim has some advice for current students looking to achieve success after high school: “Try hard, don’t let obstacle stop you. Always keep your head up.”