Brian Harris

        Brian Harris has been a math teacher at Hidden Valley High for 8 years. He attended James Madison University where he majored in mathematics. When he graduated college, he had many job offers from different schools in the Roanoke Valley. However, he chose Hidden Valley and does not regret that decision whatsoever. He spends his time in school teaching many different types of math, including but not limited to, Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2, Calculus, and AP statistics. Mr. Harris Has a wife named Olivia and currently has no children.

Mr. Harris tries his hardest to be interesting while teaching. He said, “I try to keep class interesting by having a sense of humor. I think teenagers need to have fun.” He also takes an intellectual approach to explain things and help his students learn why something is the way it is. “I have a firm believe that kids want to know why things are more than just how to do it, and sometimes we do a lot of how to do it and just move on. But, if I can try every now and then to really explain why things are I think that makes kids more interested in what they’re learning,” he said. He not only takes intellectual approaches to subjects and tries to be incredibly interesting, he also tries to be friendly with his students whenever he can. He said, “We want to prepare you for your SOL tests, and we get so bogged down that as a teacher we forget to try to be human with you and be a good friend when we need to be. We forget to do that as teachers sometimes, and that’s just as important as anything else.”

            Mr. Harris is a very valuable teacher and a wonderfully compassionate person overall. When looking at the things he does to help his students achieve and the ways he helps connect with them, we can see that he is a very special person in our community. With that, I can say that Mr. Harris truly is a Hidden Hero among all of us.