Mr. Hackman was featured in the March1999 Issue of then nationally published Wildbird Magazine for his conservation work with young people.
2000 Madison County Soil and Water Conservation District Secondary Conservation Educator of the Year
2000 Special Merit Award from the Mississippi Wildlife Federation for Outstanding Contribution as a conservationist.
2001 Mississippi Urban Forest Council Certificate of Recognition for Statewide Leadership in Conservation Education for the Ribbons of Green Project which was initiated in Mr. Hackman’s Biology classes at Madison Central.
2001 Madison Central High School Teacher of the Year
2001 Madison County Secondary Teacher of the Year
2002 Mississippi Association of Conservation Districts Conservation Educator of the Year
2007 Mississippi Wildlife Federation State Conservation Educator of the Year
2007 Jackson Metro Area Outstanding Educator
For 17 years, Mr. Hackman and his students worked with Graduate Research Programs at both Southeastern Louisiana University and LSU on various research projects being carried out in the Southeastern Region, most notably, capturing and banding a threatened species, the beautiful Henslow’s Sparrow, that winters in the coastal pine savannas. There, students were involved in helping to capture, collect morphometric data, humanely obtain a small blood sample for DNA analysis with no harm to the birds, and to outfit the birds with tiny radio transmitters for radio telemetry work which was used to determine site fidelity on these wintering birds, among other processes of the graduate level research.
As a result of his successes in the ornithological research field, in June 2018, Mr. Hackman was honored to be a featured speaker to a group of scientists in Queensland, Australia, where he shared information on his and his students' ornithological research activities in Mississippi.
Mr. H has served as the ‘Voice of the Jaguars’ PA announcer for eleven of Madison Central’s athletic teams over the years, including Slow Pitch Softball, Fast Pitch Softball, which he no longer does due to outside commitments. He currently does the PA work for Volleyball, Boys Soccer, Girls Soccer, Boys Basketball, Girls Basketball, Baseball, and of course, Football. Two years ago he began trying to fill the very large shoes of Madison Central Baseball's legendary announcer, Corey Ray. Obviously, no one can replace Corey, and he is greatly missed by all in the Jaguar Family.
Previously, Mr. Hackman served as Head Volleyball Coach for 5 years at Callaway High School and served as the Assistant Volleyball Coach here at MCHS for three years and then Head Volleyball Coach for four years, as well as being the assistant coach for the lady Jaguar Fastpitch Softball team for four years. He also serves as the emcee for Madison Central’s Beauty and Beau Pageant each year.
Mr. Hackman is the sponsor for Madison Central’s Shine Bible Study and sponsors the MCHS Ornithology Club. He also participates in the MCHS Faculty Bible Study held on Thursday mornings.
In the community, Mr. Hackman has served as president for Madison’s first Community Theatre, Playhouse North, and as a charter member, has served three times as the President of Center Players, Madison’s current community theatre group. He recently took Madison’s Center Players show, Second Lady, to competition at the Mississippi Theatre Association’s State Conference in Columbus, where his show took numerous honors: Lauren Ray won Best Actress, Ken was named Best Director, and the show brought home to Madison the Warren McDaniels Award for Best Show. They went on to represent Madison and the State of Mississippi at the Southeastern Theatre Conference competitions in March of 2017 at SETC- the world’s largest theatre convention. Previously, he served four consecutive terms as Chairman of the Secondary Schools Division of the Mississippi Theatre Association, and was responsible for the secondary state festivals each year, along with accompanying the winners to the annual SETC conferences all over the Southeastern United States.
Mr. Hackman has emceed several local Junior Miss / Distinguished Young Woman pageants, and served on the original board of directors for the Miss Mississippi affiliated Miss Madison the City Pageant. He works with the Boy Scouts of America in the development of Eagle Projects, where he has been instrumental in developing a series of Chimney Swift Towers on campus to help provide both nesting and roosting locations for Chimney Swifts, as more and more people seek to rid them from nesting in their chimneys.
Mr. Hackman shares his knowledge all over the state as “The Birdman” on the statewide radio broadcast Weekend Gardening Show, filling in as a guest host when Garden Mama, Nellie Neal is out. He gives numerous slide presentations to garden clubs and civic clubs as well as libraries throughout the state of Mississippi. He has given over 75 presentations in the last few years, including the Statewide Association of Federated Garden Clubs Annual Conference in 2002 and 2013. He has served in the past as the President of the Jackson Audubon Society and the Mississippi Ornithological Society, where he is currently serving as Immediate Past President on the Board of Directors.
Mr. Hackman is a founding board member and the current president of the Central Mississippi Volleyball Association, (also known as Madison-Ridgeland Youth Club Volleyball), and manages gyms, as well as refereeing and/or coaching in the league to provide lower cost opportunities for young ladies in Central Mississippi to play the fastest growing sport in the state. He has also served as a referee at both the high school and the university level.
Each summer, Mr. H leads tours all over the world, taking no profit for himself in order to keep down costs, so that citizens of our area can experience other cultures and ecosystems of the world. He has led tours to Australia, New Zealand, Costa Rica, Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands, and quite a few countries in Europe. He is currently signing up adults and students from various schools for a tour to Germany, Austria, and Switzerland for this coming summer of 2024! Call or email Mr. Hackman for details. The sooner one signs up, the better!
Mr. Hackman lives here in Madison, and is happily married to his gorgeous wife of 40 years, Ruth, who recently retired from Southern Farm Bureau Life. He has two beautiful daughters. Mandy, 34, works for the Mississippi State Department of Education as the Director of Career and Technical Education Quality, after teaching for nine years at MCHS. Allyn, 24, is an administrative assistant for an insurance firm. The Hackmans are charter members of St. Matthew’s United Methodist Church,
