An experienced teacher returns to Santa Fe

Santa Fe welcomes Kasey Harrison, an experienced debate/speech, competitive drama and humanities teacher. He hopes to make an impact on students that will last them a lifetime. 

Harrison comes from a family of educators, and he has a wife with two kids himself. He spends a large portion of his free time watching movies and television. His favorite movie is Stephen Spielberg’s 1975 suspense film Jaws, and one of his favorite TV shows is Ted Lasso.

Harrison taught as a student teacher here at Santa Fe nearly two decades ago, and after teaching at Norman High for the last 15 years, he is finally back. 

“I’ve always sort of said if I were going to leave Norman, it would be for the Edmond Santa Fe job,” Harrison said.

Harrison had a student-mentor relationship with the previous debate teacher, Mr. McCabe, the two of them discussed what it would mean for Harrison to become the new teacher. Harrison plans to continue what McCabe was trying to do with the program while making it a tad more competitive.

“While I do miss McCabe, Harrison seems to care very much about speech and debate,” said Lailani Beltran-Hodge, a junior debate student. “Debate is a safe place for me, and I enjoy the fact that he (Mr. Harrison) creates a serious environment around it.”

Harrison hopes to have a large impact on his students and thinks debate is one of the best ways to do that. When Harrison was in high school, the impact his English teacher had on him prompted him to want to do the same with a new generation of students. 

“Finding your place in high school and finding your people in high school is really important, so I wanted to be able to be someone who could be there for those students, who speech and debate was their place,” Harrison said.