Owen Hickey

Owen Thomas Hickey; The youngest of 3 children and youngest grandchild of 20, born to two 1st generation Irish Immigrants. Currently in pursuit of an Organizational Communication Major with a Double Minor in Business as well as Recreation, Sport, & Tourism. Throughout this process, I attended the University of Illinois in hopes of showcasing my talents on the college football field. A hard nosed and disciplined student athlete with a lot of life experience in many fields. My Father and Grandfather built over 120 homes in the Chicago-land area before both becoming Mechanical Engineers for the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District. My Mother was an Accountant for Cook County from the south side of Chicago, father from the North side, Both Grandparents immigrated from Ireland. All I've ever known in life is to be a blue-collar guy, to earn everything, and expect nothing. I have the dedication, drive, and passion necessary for excellence as well as the discipline to take me there. I like to live in accordance to a quote by my former basketball coach and mentor, "Put your head down, work your tail off, and one day you'll look up and like where you're at. It's not about what you do, it's how you do it."

• SERVICE: Over the course of High School and College, I have participated in more than 200 Hours of voluntary community service for service programs like Special Olympics, NEDSRA (Northeast DuPage Special Recreation Association), and the local food pantry as well as other service organizations. I enjoy doing service work because it allows me to give back to the community and put other people's needs before my own, especially when they are already at a disadvantage or could benefit from the assistance of others in any way shape or form. My eagerness to participate in community service voluntarily comes from my religious and moral foundation of wanting to help others as well as being a part of a cause that is bigger than just myself.
• CHOIR: I have sang in a German-American Choir since I was 3 years old and am still in it to this day. Being apart of such a special group has allowed me to expand into the German culture as an Irish kid who would be clueless otherwise. Due to being a part of this group, the group gets the privilege of traveling across Europe every 3-5 Years to showcase our singing talents as well as a little reward for our hard work over the years. I have been on 4 singing trips touring Germany and many other countries throughout Europe. Some other countries I have had the opportunity to sing in or travel to because of the choir group include Italy, Ireland, Austria, France, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Denmark, Switzerland, The Netherlands, & Belgium.
• MUSIC: Growing up, I dabbled in many musical instruments playing everything I could get my hands on. As I already mentioned, I have been in a German-American choir since the ripe age of 3 and am still in it to this day. We played the recorder in elementary school and after excelling in that I wanted to try my hand at other instruments. My next challenge was the piano, but I did not fall in love with it as I thought I might have. Soon to follow was the cello and the trombone beginning in the 5th Grade. I thoroughly enjoyed both for a year but it was time to focus on one come middle school and in 6th grade, I chose to focus on the trombone. Over the next three years I was the first chair trombone for our symphonic band as well as first chair in the schools extracurricular jazz band. Come high school, I chose to focus on sports rather than music, but my love for the arts is still alive and well.

I own a dog and have since I rescued him back in October of 2022. Being a pet owner to a young Pitbull Terrier by yourself as a 20 year old in college is a lot of responsibility and has only gotten me on more of a daily routine and made me more disciplined. It makes me feel like a father because they are such needy creatures and I am solely the reason for his growth & survival. I think having an animal that requires as much time and care as a Pitbull Terrier, can teach you a lot about growing up and accepting those real life responsibilities from a young age. I say I rescued him but in reality he rescued me. I unfortunately felt the need to medically retire from football after 2 years, and felt a bit lost in my life path at the time. Three months later, I had a new best furry friend as he got me out of my funk and feeling like my old self again. I also own and take care of two goldfish but they are no where near the work of my big hyper puppy.