This year, we have a new teacher, Mr. Harris! This will be his first year teaching at Chesterton High School, and he’s located in the downstairs B hall. He teaches Principles of Criminal Justice and Fundamentals of Law Enforcement. He is so excited to teach here! Let’s dive in and get to know him!
A little bit about Mr. Harris’s background is that he was in law enforcement for twenty years before becoming a teacher. We want to thank Mr. Harris for his service in law enforcement first. He soon became an SRO (School Resource Officer) for an elementary school. He says, “When I was there, I decided I wanted to start teaching.” He taught social studies at Krueger Middle School last year. Something really cool about Mr. Harris is actually from Chesterton! He went to Chesterton High School and graduated in 1999.
So how did he end up here at Chesterton, you may be wondering? Mr. Harris explains that, “This year, towards April and May, SRO Swickard got a hold of me and said they were looking for possibly a new teacher.”
I got the wonderful chance to interview him, and you can tell he really cares about what he is teaching. He really plans the lessons for his classes, too. He wants students to learn and continue with a good base knowledge of law enforcement when they graduate and go into the field. He explains how he hopes that soon he’ll have some people from the sheriff’s department come to talk about who hires police and how they get hired, and he’s hoping to have a police canine come in soon! He says, “We’ll hopefully have a lot of fun in class and hopefully learn something too. I want people to enjoy my class and hopefully learn something as well.”
He really hopes that kids take away, “What they need to be prepared to be a police officer.” He adds, “I want to help them know the laws. I want them to be able to succeed.” He hopes his background helps him share a more in-depth look at law enforcement.
Outside of school, he likes spending time with his son. He helps to coach his son’s baseball and basketball teams. He also likes to play slo-pick softball, and he likes to bowl. He also likes to show Trojan spirit by going to the basketball games and football games.
I had a lot of fun getting to know him, and I’m sure you have too! He’s happy to be a part of our school, and we’re so happy he is a part of Chesterton High School!! We hope it’s a great year for Mr. Harris and all the students at Chesterton!
