This school year, I'll be highlighting VCHS's greatest asset: its people. More importantly, I want to share with you what makes them tick - their purpose, their goals, their aims, their calling.
Growing up in Chicago, 8
th
grader Peter Nowicki was impersonating
Chicago’s
lead singer Peter Cetera thinking about his future bride to be – Laura Nowicki. Visualize with me as young Peter sings…
You're the meaning in my life
You're the inspiration
You bring feeling to my life
You're the inspiration
Want to have you near me
I want to have you hear me saying
No one needs you more than I need you…woooo
Young Laura and Peter went to Chicago high schools 3 blocks from each other but didn’t meet until their 20s when he was a waiter and she was a waitress at Poor Phil’s Bar and Grill. Throwing in the apron, Mr. Nowicki left for Japan to teach English for a year (Japanese was his college major), but upon his return to the U.S., his first call was to Laura.
Back to their high school years, Mr. Nowicki all of 4’5” his freshmen year rose in prominence to take command as Fenwick’s Student Council President by his senior year. Social by nature, he’s self-described as an academic “slacker.” Mrs. Nowicki, on the other hand, was quiet, studious, responsible, a standout volleyball player and what would become the necessary yin to Mr. Nowicki’s yang.
After college, they married and later moved to the Vail Valley in 2001. For some time, they straddled homes between Chicago and Edwards, with Mr. Nowicki working for the Chicago Board of Trade as a U.S. Treasuries trader and Mrs. Nowicki fulfilling her vocation as a mother and homeschooler to their children. The Nowickis have 7 children, yes 7, and they go as follows: Tyler, Jake ’18, Simon ’20, Vincent ’22, Cecilia (12), and twins Giorgie and Paolo (6). One of their family highlights was a spiritual pilgrimage to Europe in 2013 where they spent 9 months traveling to 13 countries and 51 cities.
The Nowickis are all in at VCHS. Mr. Nowicki serves on the Board of Directors and Mr. and Mrs. co-teach our Junior Ethics/Social Justice Theology course. What do they love about teaching? Why do they do it? Getting their students to think, to ask questions, to consider the big issues of the day that so few high schoolers grapple with - that’s what motivates them. And why have they invested so much in VCHS? Christian Community! And a one of a kind high school option in the Vail Valley to help students explore faith and develop a love for Jesus.
And why is faith so important to the Nowickis? Hear from them - “There are highs and lows in life but when the dust settles, all that’s left is Jesus. We’ve realized that everything is fleeting and we are just passing through this world. It’s then that you realize there’s nothing else but Jesus. If you don’t think these things through, you wind up just going through life’s motions. And why is exploring and discovering the meaning of life so important? Because when the answers start coming, you’ll know how to live your life.”
The Nowickis, lives of purpose…
