Faculty & Staff

Not many people in college major in Organ Performance and minor in Latin.

Alicia Haggin did. And that fits perfectly with her work today.

When teaching music, she sees it as a chance to helps students grow in their faith, as she did as a youth when singing in the choir.

“I wasn’t just sitting with my parents, but expressing my own faith and finding my own place serving the church,” she recalls. “I hope some of my students can have a similar experience.”

When teaching Latin, Mrs. Haggin seeks to enrich students’ understanding of Western history and of other languages, including English.

“I tell them 60 percent of English words come from Latin,” she says. “I enjoy the looks on their faces when they make the connections and it becomes relevant to them.”

Since 2003, she has been a church music director in several nearby churches (Philo, Osman, Bongard) and taught music at St. Thomas Catholic School in Philo from 2004-10. She came to St. John in 2022.

Working in Christian settings suits her. “I like talking to students about the Christian context of music in Western history, or about how God used the Roman Empire to spread the Gospel,” she says. “If I did that in public school. I think they’d fire me!”

Mrs. Haggin has a Masters Degree in Music from the University of Illinois.