Stories by Susan Curnow Breedlove following interviews of Noah, Aron and Steve Kozicky
Noah Kozicky – Generation “four” at Henry High School
Noah Kozicky is proud to represent the fourth generation of his father’s family to attend Henry High. He is set to graduate in 2025. His brother Miles graduated from Henry in 2021. Noah chose Henry as his high school after attending Olson Middle School and Jenny Lind Elementary School because it’s close to home and because his dad is a teacher there. He says, “I like how welcoming it is here and how every educator cares about you. They keep me on track.”
This young man has a bevy of interests and activities. He has taken music classes at Henry including piano, guitar and jazz band. Noah credits the school’s electronic music lab instructor Mr. Williamson for “teaching me how to make music online and for setting the foundation for music theory which can be very difficult.” In addition to academics, Noah has been on the basketball and baseball teams. He is a skateboard athlete and is proud to be a second cousin to professional Nyjah Houston, one of the top street skateboarders in the world.
Noah is thinking of applying to the U of M or St. Cloud University for college where he will
hopefully play baseball and be a music major. When asked what he thinks is important about being the fourth generation of his family to attend Henry, he said, “It shows how long the school has been around and how long our family has been living on the Northside.”
Noah’s advice to Henry students is “Take freshman year seriously, don’t get off on the wrong track.”
Aron Kozicky – Generation “three” at Henry High School
Aron Kozicky, Noah’s father, is a 1994 alumnus of Henry High. He serves as a math teacher at the same high school from which he attended after going to Shingle Creek and Olson Elementary Schools and Franklin Middle School. Following graduation Aron attended North Hennepin College. While working as a general contractor, he went back to college at the University of Minnesota where he completed degrees in math, history and education at the age of 39. His vision of being a teacher was shaped by David Wicker and Carol Borne, two of his teachers at Henry.
When it came time to select a school to fulfill student teaching requirements, Aron chose Henry High. When it was time to select a school to be a classroom teacher, he again chose Henry High. (Olson Middle School was also in the running.) This respected educator says, “It is important for me as a teacher to teach in the community in which I live. First and foremost, it feels like home.” You may see Mr. Kozicky out in the baseball park coaching, which he says is rewarding as he gives back what he got as a player. He calls it, “that ‘Ah hah’ moment in teaching baseball, the thrill of students making connections of how to play the game.”
Aron says, “It has always felt like family to me at Henry. I am proud to be a part of a community where I was definitely in good hands while I was a student. I have a philosophy of ‘pay it forward approach to life, meaning that some things that people passed on to me in the past are still relevant to pass on to students today.”
Steven Kozicky – Generation “two” at Henry High School
Aron’s father, Steven graduated from Henry High in 1968 after attending Hamilton and Lowell Elementary Schools and Jordan Middle School. He had a choice of going to North High, where many of his friends went, or Henry, as they lived on 35th and Thomas, the dividing line for the schools; he selected the later as his father had gone there. His three sons are alumni of Henry. Like Aron, Steve has lived on the Northside all of his life both in the Near-Northside and in Camden where he resides now with his wife, not far from Aron.
Steven played tennis and baseball and was a varsity boys’ sports editor and photographer for the school newspaper. There was a lot of turmoil in the U.S. when Steve was a senior — including civil unrest, the assassinations of Martin Luther King and presidential candidate Robert Kennedy, and the Viet Nam War in full swing. A lot of his friends discussed going into the armed services. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy. After early release with an honorable discharge, Steve enrolled in North Hennepin Community College to obtain an Associate of Arts degree in field equipment culminating with work on computers. He retired from IBM after 39 1/2 years.
Steve says, “It makes good family stories to have had four generations attend the same high school. I’m proud of it. I have fond memories of going to Henry High School.”
Walter Kozicky – Generation “one” at Henry High
Steven’s father Walter graduated from Henry in 1947. He attended McKinley Elementary School and Jordan Junior High. Steven says that stories about his dad indicate that he was a mischievous student. One of his teachers, Mr. Hoerschgen, made a deal with him that if he were to go get the teacher’s lunch from his nearby home after checking in, he would give him a passing grade. While in high school, Walter worked on the grounds of the nearby Crystal Lake Cemetery. Following graduation, he took machinist classes at Dunwoody and worked at General Mills and various machine shops. Walter Kozicky passed away in 2021.
Wallace Kozicky
The great-grandfather of Noah, grandfather of Steve, and father of Walter moved from what is now Ukraine to Canada in 1912, then to North Dakota, and then to International Falls taking jobs on farms. Taking a train, he made his way to Minneapolis in about 1915 where he gained employment at a mattress factory. Story goes that he didn’t like working with chicken feathers so he a got a job at the Pillsbury A Mill right next to the Stone Arch Bridge on the banks of the Mississippi. He lived in North Minneapolis on 37th and Humboldt where he raised his family. His last residence was on 42nd and Zenith in Robbinsdale.