“You Rock My Socks Off”: Kilgour Honors Beloved Teacher with Permanent Tribute

For more than 30 years, Rickie Bell has greeted Kilgour School students with joy, encouragement — and a high five.

“Hi guys! Nice to see you this morning. You rock. You rock. You rock,” Bell called out, as he does every morning at the school’s front entrance.  

 “Welcome to school today. I’m glad to see you,” he yells out.

But now, as Bell prepares to retire, that ritual will live on in bronze.

In a surprise ceremony filled with emotion, laughter and heartfelt tributes, Kilgour School unveiled a student-commissioned sculpture of Mr. Bell’s hand. It is a permanent replica of the outstretched hand that has greeted generations of students for decades.

“You, Mr. Bell, are a lighthouse guiding us into school with warmth and love,” said sixth-grader Naiomi Hodesh during the ceremony. “And because of you, we’ve learned how powerful it can be to simply show up for someone else.”

The sculpture was the sixth-grade class gift, a secret project months in the making. Students and staff collaborated with renowned Cincinnati sculptor Tom Tsuchiya to create the bronze replica using a 3D scan of Bell’s actual hand. Bell’s daughter had told him he needed a medical scan for a brace — a ruse to keep the project under wraps.
“When he got there, surprise! It wasn’t the doctor’s office — it was Tom Tsuchiya with a 3D scanner,” said sixth-grade student Cole Bisher. “That scan became the starting point for the sculpture.”

Tsuchiya, who has created work for the Cincinnati Zoo, the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown and landmarks across the city, the country and on other continents, said this project stood apart.
“I got a chance to observe him interacting with the students, high-fiving as they walked into the school every morning,” he said. “This is the perfect way to immortalize him… capturing his enthusiastic spirit and how much he is absolutely connected.”

He called the hand Bell’s “iconic pose.”

“Instead of just modeling in clay, I thought it’d be neat to do a digital scan so it’s accurate — a hundred percent to his hand,” Tsuchiya said. “This one image… distills his personality, the memory that students have of him.”
The sculpture sits on a child-height pedestal near Kilgour’s front entrance — just the right height for students to continue the tradition.

“You can still high-five it,” Tsuchiya said. “It’ll continue to give you high fives every day. Forever.”

Bell, clearly moved, said, “I’ve never had anything remotely close to such an honor. I just can’t even believe this is happening to me.”

He thanked the staff, led by Principal Angela Cook-Frazier, and reflected on his journey from custodian to teacher at Kilgour.

“I started as a custodian here and then I was going to Xavier (University),” he said. “I graduated and was hired in. I’ve had various positions here and I’m just overwhelmed with the kindness and appreciation.”

It was former Kilgour principal — and former CPS superintendent — Mary Ronan who first recognized what Bell could bring to the front steps of the school.

“When I saw the news story about Rickie Bell retiring and the beautiful sculpture of his handprint commissioned by the sixth-grade class, I felt it was so well deserved,” said Ronan, now superintendent of Norwood City Schools. “Over 25 years ago, I asked Mr. Bell if he could help with the traffic concerns during morning student arrivals. I never imagined that he would become the welcoming face students saw each morning — offering high fives and setting the tone for a great day. Long before society widely recognized the importance of emotional support for young people, Mr. Bell was already providing it, greeting each student with warmth and positivity every single day.”
Over the years, the high five has become more than a greeting. It has become a symbol of consistency, warmth and community.

“In sports, high fives are really important,” Bell said. “So instinctively, I just started giving high fives. And then it just caught on like wildfire and it’s still burning to this day.”

For Bell, the act was never just about a gesture.

“I fill my heart and my spirit up with the best information I can get my hands on,” he said. “Then I regurgitate it here by bringing that love and that sincerity.”

To him, the work was about building legacy.

“I just couldn’t ask for any more of a legacy than being kind and the kindness continuing with or without me,” he said. “It’s big. It’s big.”

Principal Cook-Frazier echoed that sentiment. “You all are the class that gets to make him remain with us forever,” she told students. “The classes coming up next will not have this experience — but they will now, because of your gift.”

Bell, emotional and smiling through tears, summed it up simply.

“Thanks just doesn’t sound like enough, but thank you. From the center of my existence.”