After 34 years of teaching including nine at WHHS, Alaric Harris, a seventh-grade social studies teacher, decided to retire. He made a large difference throughout his time at WHHS including being the class advisor for the class of 2020 and starting the middle school mock trial team, but he said his greatest accomplishment was “connecting with kids in a way that made them think highly of me…I’m proud of that, that kids knew that I cared about them and because of that I was able to be successful with them.” 

Before Walnut

Originally Harris believed that his career would go in a very different direction from being a middle school teacher. Junior year of college he was a political communications major who thought the next step in his life was to go to law school and eventually work in politics, possibly on a political campaign. 

“The woman I was dating at the time was an education major, and I had a gap in my schedule so I decided to take this education class so we can hang out a little bit more,” Harris said, “I fell in love with the discussions we were having in the class and the visits to schools and..it was just like…wow, I could have a lot of fun doing this. And that’s what got me interested in education, and so then I kind of went and reworked everything that I had originally thought I’d be doing senior year…and haven’t regretted a moment of it since.” 

His teaching journey started in New York then he moved to Ohio where he taught at Marian Middle School, West High School, Woodward Career Technical High School, and Shroder Paideia High School before getting a job at WHHS.

Effie for Life

Harris greatly enjoys teaching middle school and has spent most of his time teaching seventh graders. In fact when he came to WHHS to be interviewed for a middle school teacher position he was told that if he waited a little while a high school position might open up, but he declined and said that he only wanted to teach middle school. As he likes to say, he is an “Effie for life.”

“I figured out a long time ago that I like teaching middle school, particularly seventh graders,” Harris said. “I liked the energy in the room. I liked the enthusiasm that they bring. My wife once described it as my ability to harness the energy in the room, and point it in a positive direction…I think that’s part of the reason why I was successful with them is because I like being there.” 

His love for teaching seventh graders has certainly been noticed by his students as he helped them transition from a smaller elementary school to WHHS’ overwhelming environment. 

“I think he’s a really good teacher, to have, especially on the seventh-grade level because he’s so welcoming and so warm and you just come in as a scared little seventh grader having no idea what the heck you’re doing, and he’s just in there laughing it off and listening to his music and chatting with everybody…as much as he likes to joke about torturing America’s youth he really is just such a warm character that I was really thankful to have my seventh-grade year,” Ella Lucas-Palmer, ‘23, a former student of his, said. 

Some students felt that he impacted them so much that they decided to return the favor. 

“On the last day of school [in 2016]…[some students] took it upon themselves to take up a collection, and they bought me tickets to go see the Yankees play the Indians in Cleveland because they knew this had been a rough year for me and they know that there’s nothing I love more than the New York Yankees…The idea that they thought about who I was, what I cared about what would make me happy…I don’t know what to say about kids who do that except yeah, I love them and I’m gonna miss them,” Harris said.  

Lessons Learned

During his time in the classroom, Harris helped introduce students to many new topics and helped them to learn many new lessons in a different way. 

“I think [I’ll miss] how he taught history in a non-Eurocentric fashion because that is the first history class that I ever learned about Africa. Because we usually just focus on the Mayans, Incas, Aztecs and then China and India, [and] Rome. But, you know, we never really do Africa or the Middle East. So he had a very different teaching style. And you know it’s kind of no nonsense,” Michael Wheatley, ‘23, a former student of his, said. 

However, students were not the only ones that learned from him, fellow teachers learned from him as well. 

“He gave me a piece of advice that I think about a lot.” Kathleen Keener, a Latin teacher who worked on a seventh-grade team with him, said, “He said that if he is starting to really hate teaching or hate his job he takes a really long time to think about whether it’s teaching itself or if it’s the school..and then [he] change[s] whenever he needs to change. I think that that has really helped me just kind of put things in perspective like you know am I just having a tough time right now? Is it the place? Is it teaching itself? And I think about that a lot just like something to help me guide my career.” 

Even teachers that didn’t work as closely with him feel that Harris has taught them something. 

“He has [made me a better teacher]… I’m always striving to be the best I can,” Wayne Wiggins, a fellow Social Studies teacher who worked across the hall from him, said,”It’s one of those things he instilled in me and other colleagues to try to do the best you can with what you got…I’m not perfect but I’m still working. It’s a constant process. Now, that’s one of the things I learned from him. It’s the process I’m always working to get better–learn to grow. And I guess every day is a learning experience in teaching.” 

Looking Forward

As Harris is transitioning from constantly working to having an infinite amount of free time he is especially excited to travel the world with his wife. Currently, he has been to 48 of the 50 states as well as traveled abroad several times including Australia and Ireland which he would love to visit again. His love for traveling is shared with his wife and so they have been discussing biking across the country and visiting all of the national parks after she retires in two years. The two have also recently outfitted a van so that they can go camping around the country together. 

“There’s this trail in Spain called El Camino, and it’s like 500, 600 miles across Spain, and [my wife] wants to go walk the El Camino, and I’m not busy that year so I guess I’ll join her,” Harris said. 

He is also looking forward to finally being able to do some home repair, helping his wife out with gardening, being able to read books that are not work related and possibly getting back into drawing since he liked to do that when he was younger. 

A Walnut Legacy

As well as being a teacher at WHHS, Harris started the middle school mock trial team after hearing about the high school mock trial team and wondering if something similar could be done for middle schoolers. He did some research and found out that there was a league for middle schoolers so he started a team. 

“We had a fabulous time. I loved working with [the mock trial team],” Harris said. “It was a lot of fun. We had a couple of attorneys who came in and worked with us. And I’m proud also because we did a really good job, and they really shined when we got to Columbus… for us, it was an after school activity, once a week, and we were competing with kids for whom mock trial was part of their school curriculum and still, we would consistently win our cases…every single year we brought home the awards for best attorney and best witness. So I was really proud of the job they did..and they really worked hard.” 

After working at WHHS for nine years the mock trial team is just a small part of what Harris is leaving behind. As such many students seem to feel that their lives have been impacted for the better by Harris and that he will leave a lasting legacy. 

“I think that he affected every student who passed through his class, you know, 100 kids every year in the seventh grade. And, I mean there’s some teachers that you forget but he just isn’t one of them. He is really really memorable,” Wheatley said. 

Additionally, Harris formed strong friendships with his colleagues that will continue on even after he is gone. 

“I would say [he is] just like a big brother, definitely, he had a leadership role…When it comes to education, he was the best in the business. I always called him a rock star,” Wiggins said. 

Before he leaves however Harris has a few words of wisdom that he would like to impart on his students. 

“Enjoy the time now. Just don’t don’t rush it,” he said, “Don’t be in a hurry to get out there and do the next thing, just enjoy the thing that you’re doing now. So you know, my little Effie friends, enjoy being an Effie, you know, it’s a good time, it is a lot more fun than you think it is… For seniors, there are too many ways to make money to end up doing something you don’t love doing because you’re gonna spend a lot of time on it you’re gonna spend a lot of energy doing it.. don’t settle because…the more you enjoy what you’re doing, the better you are at it, and it shows.”