In the back of my head, I think I knew from a very young age that I wanted to be a teacher. It was mostly about finding the right subject matter that got me super excited about teaching.
I remember watching a movie with my parents that had a scene where a Black woman was reading a French newspaper. I thought, ‘Wow, that must be so cool to be able to see words that are not in English and know what they mean.’ It seemed surreal to me. It seemed like a superpower.
The seed was planted in my mind when I had to take a world language in middle school. Spanish was already full, so I had a choice between French and German. Mrs. Buckner, my 6th grade middle school counselor, suggested French. And the rest is history.
Little by little, I unlocked that superpower. I fell in love—with French and the way language lets you see the world differently. I was fortunate to have incredible teachers who nurtured that love. And because of them, I went on to study French, Spanish, German, and Greek.
The deeper I immersed myself, the more I realized: It was my calling to bring that same superpower to students in my own community.
I can’t imagine doing anything else for the rest of my life.
I’m an Indy native through and through, born and raised in the city. I went to a large, traditional public high school with about 650 students in my graduating class.
I had great K-12 educational experiences. Still, I was one of only a few students of color in many upper-level courses, including the world language classes I took. That reality shaped a big part of my commitment as school leader at Herron-Riverside, where most of our scholars are students of color. Rigorous, upper-level courses filled with a sea of Black and Brown scholars must be and is the norm. I’m proud to support that work with my colleagues here.
Part of my commitment to the work is remaining in the classroom. Three French teachers, in particular, were foundational in shaping who I am as a teacher and school leader.
Ms. Fife and Mrs. Hilgemeier were the quintessential French teachers. Ms. Fife wore berets and introduced us to French food and Mrs. Hilgemeier brought the culture and language to life in ways that were joyful and fun. The laughter and playfulness in my classroom today come directly from what I experienced with them.
Ms. Manweiler, my third teacher, was demanding in all the best ways. She was no-nonsense. Her class was rigorous; she made it clear that excellence was the expectation. I appreciated that seriousness because it reflected her deep care for the subject and for us. From her, I learned the importance of keeping the bar high for students and never lowering it, even when the work feels hard. My sense of precision as a teacher comes from her, and my students are better for it.
I owe all three of them more than I can ever express and more than they could possibly know.
Because I didn’t have any teachers in my family, I didn’t have a frame of reference for what that would mean for me. So, I took my cues from how society views the teaching profession and dismissed it as a career path.
Even though I was excelling in language classes, I had a passing interest in science and thought being a doctor was the logical career choice. My freshman year of college, I quickly realized my heart was not in it. I realized that the study of language was where my true passion lied, and I subsequently majored in French, minored in Spanish, and went on to study many other languages.
So, I did what I loved in college and lived in a nice little bubble. Then I graduated and realized, ‘Oh geez, I gotta figure out what I want to do with my life.’ I decided to lean into what I loved and returned to the idea of teaching. Because I didn’t take any formal education classes while at Wabash, I applied to a transition-to-teach program called Indianapolis Teaching Fellows. One of the best decisions I ever made.
Of all my diplomas, the one from Indianapolis Teaching Fellows means the most. It codified a lot of the magic that I was experiencing in the classroom and how to make sure that students had access to the highest quality instruction at all times.
Additionally, it was a transition-to-teach program in Indy. It allowed me to be a teacher in my community. That was something that was important to me. I wanted to contribute to Indianapolis, which has given me so much.
Indianapolis Teaching Fellows instilled in me a very high bar of instructional excellence when I am in the classroom. And I get to be in a place that shares that same vision. Herron-Riverside High School is a classical liberal arts and sciences public charter high school. It is the #2 charter school in the city, ranked by U.S. News & World Report, and boasts a student population of mostly students of color from around the city and the world. I am very proud of the work we do.
Part of how we make this work successful is our philosophy. Students take five core classes all four years: math, science, English, social studies, and Latin (yes, Latin!). Students can automatically take college-level courses their 9th grade year and have access to over 75 free college credits through AP and Dual Credit partnerships with IU-Bloomington, Ivy Tech Community College, and Marian University.
Herron-Riverside was recently awarded the The Excellence in College Readiness Award by the IDOE by meeting various college preparatory benchmarks, and it included a $250,000 award to our school! Plus we had two full-ride Lilly Scholars last year! And, with all of the work we do to prepare students for college and beyond, Herron-Riverside students get direct admission into Indiana University, Indianapolis.
All of this because of the incredible work our teachers do focusing on the minutiae of instruction and the rich culture that our students bring to our building. I am just so grateful to be a part of this work
I think it’s important to come into education realizing that we’re helping people grow. Human beings are complex, especially growing human beings, and understanding the brain science behind students’ actions is important to me as an administrator and teacher.
Of course, you’re going to have a lot of dynamics in a school. Navigating it with a team of like-minded individuals is the secret sauce — it’s what allows the entire community to speak with one voice about what it means to be a member of the community. Because ultimately, teaching is so much fun! And I wish people could hear more of that message.
Too often, I see so many social media platforms and influencers talk about how bad it is to be a teacher. Imagine if this is all you hear as a child, as I did growing up. We need more voices sharing how wonderful and truly special it is to be an educator in our time. It is such a gift.
People ask, ‘How do you have time to be the principal and a teacher at the same time?’ To which I respond, ‘I need to be a teacher to be a good principal.’
Being in the classroom is at the center of how I support the faculty, and it informs the instructional moves we make as a school.
The privilege to do this work with a team of people who believe the same thing is why I have been with Herron Classical Schools effectively since I graduated college. It was my life’s ambition to be a teacher—nothing more. But, this network’s leadership saw how deeply I cared about the many facets of teaching and gave me many leadership opportunities: Director of Curriculum and Instruction, then the Director of Multilingual Learners, then Testing Coordinator, Dean of Students, and when we started Herron-Riverside, the Assistant Head of School alongside one the greatest educators in Indianapolis and Founding Head of School at Herron-Riverside High School, Katie Dorsey.
In my role now as Head of School, I get to share all the best practices I learned from Indianapolis Teaching Fellows as well as my time as an adjunct faculty member at Marian University with our team of best-in-the-city educators. And, I am supported by an amazing team of administrators and leaders who believe the same thing I do: all students, regardless of their background, will have an opportunity to receive a world class education in the heart of Indianapolis.
As I keep saying, it’s a gift to do this work with the students and adults in our building.
Beyond how me being in the classroom influences instruction, it also influences our culture.
We had a student who was getting into verbal altercations, who wasn’t turning in homework, who had no enthusiasm for school. When I was the Assistant Head of School (and not teaching), he and I would often butt heads—so many conversations about discipline and culture and what it meant to be a student here. I talked so much about the importance of education and being a part of our community. But what he heard and saw was me being a disciplinarian. For years, we didn’t understand each other.
The breakthrough for both of us was when we saw each other in the classroom.
When I transitioned to becoming the Head of School and subsequently also teaching French, he begrudgingly had to take the class for an elective credit his senior year. And I saw him on my roster and knew we’d be in for a time. But no longer was I seeing him as someone who needed to learn school culture; I was seeing myself. And it became my mission to summon everything I knew about teaching to ensure he learned French by the end of the year.
And he took off. He quickly transitioned into the Honors section of French class. And the confidence he was building in his ability to speak the language was affecting all the rest of his classes.
Before, he had a very low GPA. Quickly, he was earning consistently at least a 3.7 GPA. The teachers would tell me, ‘He’s been talking about your class all the time and he really wants to do well.’ I saw in him a young scholar who was funny, clever, and dutiful to his work. And he saw in me a joyful, spirited, and caring adult who wanted the best for him inside and outside the classroom. We saw each other.
It’s his story that I take with me every day that has made me a better teacher and Head of School.
I come from a big traditional high school and went to a small, private liberal arts college. I began teaching at a large traditional high school and have landed at a small, liberal arts and science college preparatory network.
Choice is good! I like that there are different models of education for the needs of students. Classical schools, like Herron Classical Schools, are one model for that. I think there are other models that make sense for students and family needs. On the whole, I think the choice movement is a good one.
The challenge with the choice model, however, is that sometimes we have a saturation in the market where anybody who has any kind of idea about any kind of model (regardless of whether it’s a good model) can just start a school. We’re seeing that in Indy. And what happens is there become just too many schools for the student population in the city. Then we see schools close. And this is terrible for families and especially so for students. I think it’s incumbent upon us as a city to really think about how we can take advantage of choice and also consolidate in a way that makes sense for the student population that we have.
There’s no financial or academic barrier to coming to Herron-Riverside High School. It really depends on whether the family feels that this model works for them. I think it’s a great space that we’re in, and I think it’s a good opportunity for Indianapolis. But again, we can oversaturate the market by creating too many charter schools that try to do too many things, and then we (as a city) are not fulfilling our mission of educating all students.
People talk about diversity in terms of color, but the way that diversity affects us most is often socioeconomic and often cultural. We have students who come to Herron-Riverside High School from neighborhoods around Indianapolis where the median income is $100,000 and others where the median income is $35,000, and so those students and their families obviously have different experiences. The challenge, opportunity, and joyful work for us is: How do we promote interconnections between family, school, and city? How do we create an identity and culture so that students understand who we are in the larger urban context? It’s ongoing work that, with the right people, makes the work sustainable and fun.
Ultimately, I do this work because I believe in the transformative power of education as a way to unlock potential. Teaching, for me, has always been both intellectual and moral work. I see classrooms as spaces where curiosity is cultivated, excellence becomes habit, and where students learn to connect their own stories to something larger and more enduring than themselves.
To be sure, my purpose is deeply shaped by my own journey. I know what it feels like to be one of the few students of color in upper-level courses and that experience continues to drive me. At Herron-Riverside, where the vast majority of our scholars are students of color, my commitment is to ensure that rigor and belonging are synonyms of the work we do.
I stay in the classroom because it keeps me grounded in the heart of the work. It is what I love most — the joy of student discovery and the student realization that they can do anything and confound any expectation. And as much as I love the work, it can’t be done without a team of teachers and school leaders who deeply believe the same thing. And I am privileged to be in a building where this is so.
Herron-Riverside is the dream. Beyond it being one of the best schools in the city, its secret sauce is that it is a small, diverse campus where scholars are known, challenged, and celebrated. Together, teachers and school leaders lead this community because we see in our classrooms and in the halls and on the field what education can and should be: rigorous, joyful, inclusive, and transformative.
This is the work. And I get to do it. And for that, I am always grateful.
–Emanuel Harper
Teacher & Head of School at Herron-Riverside High School
Indianapolis Teaching Fellows, 2010 Cohort
Indianapolis, IN
