Meeting the needs of every child.
Every Wednesday, I will share a resident of the South Bay contributing to making our community a better place. Today’s WCW title belongs to Cassondra (Cassie) Harris who teaches English two honors and English three at South High School on top of instructing the girls' drill team.
Cassie grew up in Redondo Beach and graduated from Mira Costa High school. Several years later, she completed the scholars program at Santa Monica college, and later transferred to UCLA. Cassie graduated with a major in English and says that she absolutely loved college!
Growing up, she wasn't always sure that she wanted to become a teacher. She says that she many family members are teachers and knew that teaching was harder work than most people think it is. “I knew that I loved working with kids and that I loved the literature and writing. However, I was also interested in the field of psychology,” she says.
Cassie grew up watching her mother prepare lesson plans, grade assignments, and witnessed her going to help in her classroom on weekends. Despite growing up around a teacher, she says it was not until she began tutoring for the AVID program at Mira Costa that she realized she was really interested in the field of education. She says, “I really enjoyed helping teenagers with their writing and discussing literature.”
Since becoming a teacher, Cassie learned very early on that students will respect you if you are respectful to them. “It's important to never judge a student because often we don't know what is going on in their personal life,” she says.
She enjoys seeing when her students have a light-bulb moment and they understand a concept that they were having a difficult time with. Also, she likes being able to stay in touch with past students and see them grow into successful adults.
When Cassie is not improving her students’ English skills, she enjoys coaching the Drill Team. She has been the Drill Team adviser at South High for the past 10 years. She says, “Many people get Drill confused with cheer. Although Drill still supports the school by attending and performing at basketball and football games, their performances are dance-like in nature.”
Her responsibility as a Coach is to monitor and manage the team. She organizes practices, performance, and events. She also attends all of the practices, performances, and events. By doing so, she gets to know the kids on the team very well because they spend so much time together. She says, “I think of them as part of my family. We are currently in our competition season. Our final, USA National competition is this coming weekend!”
Cassie would like others to know that most teachers become educators because they love kids and love their subject of choice. She says, “We often care for the children of others as if they are our own.”
When Cassie is not teaching her students or coaching, she enjoys paying it forward by doing the simple things. She says, “Paying it forward doesn't always mean a grand gesture. I like doing simple things, like taking time to say hi to strangers passing by, or helping an elderly person who needs assistance in the grocery store. You never know what someone is going through, or how a simple favor might make their day.”
She loves living in the South Bay mostly because a lot of people stay here. She says, “It's really nice to have so many close friends that live in the area.”
Thank you, Cassie, for empowering the children of our future to learn, grow, and become all-around wonderful members of society.
“Teaching is not easy. Teachers take lots of time to plan their lessons well to ensure that each student's needs will be met.”
– Cassie Harris