Schools
EPCHS Alum In The Spotlight: Nick Codiamat, Class Of 1997
Nick Codiamat remembers the valuable skills he learned years ago from an English teacher who is now one of his colleagues at EPCHS.
EVERGREEN PARK, IL — Students who have attended Evergreen Park Community High School over the past six years know Nick Codiamat as one of the school’s most compassionate teachers.
But two decades earlier, Codiamat was among the Mustang students navigating through the challenges of finding their life calling.
“Having Terri Pool, my English teacher, for a college prep writing class helped immensely,” said Codiamat, now one of Pool’s colleagues in the EPCHS English department.
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“She helped me with writing instruction and essay skills,” he added. “I’m still using what I learned from Ms. Pool in my classroom today.”
Codiamat said becoming a teacher was always in the back of his mind growing up, but was finally convinced by his older sister — EPCHS alum and current Eisenhower High School teacher Kerry Fialkowski — to go for it.
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So after two years at Moraine Valley Community College and taking some time off to work in sales and other jobs, Codiamat earned his bachelor’s degree in English education from Saint Xavier University in 2003.
After working for a few years at Thornton Township High School District 205 in the far south suburbs, he was hired at his alma mater by EPCHS Director of Curriculum Deb Schillo in 2016.
“I’ve been here ever since, and I’m never going away,” he said. “This is a fantastic place to work.”
Codiamat said teaching at the school he attended can be “pretty surreal” at times.
“I never thought I’d return to teaching at my alma mater,” he said. “But it has been great. I love it here. The kids and staff are amazing.”
In addition to teaching English, Codiamat serves as a Dean and the faculty sponsor for The Mustang Monitor online student newspaper.
Although coming into The Mustang Monitor role with no newspaper advisory experience when he took on the job in 2016, Codiamat credits Chris Mikulskis, another EPCHS English teacher, for showing him the ropes.
“I really enjoy meeting with kids in a setting where they can write about what they enjoy,” Codiamat said.
Outside of work, Codiamat enjoys fitness, playing softball and volunteering at his parishes, St. Catherine of Alexandria and St. Linus in Oak Lawn.
In Evergreen Park, he’s determined to “help kids become bigger successes than myself.”
“I want these kids to succeed in life,” Codiamat said. “Students are deserving of second chances, and additional opportunities to obtain skills they’ll be able to use in the trades or their careers.”
