NEWBERRY — Born and raised in Newberry, Sarah Harvey is going back to her alma mater as Newberry High School’s newest assistant principal.
A 2002 graduate of NHS, Harvey started her career as a teacher at South Aiken High School and filling in for certain administrative roles.
“My head principal at South Aiken, Bryan Skipper, took me in and said he saw some qualities and that I should pursue administration, so I started looking into it and decided to start my master’s, which wasn’t easy because I had two infant twin sons when I started it,” Harvey said.
After completing her master’s, Harvey moved back home and taught at Mid-Carolina Middle School for three years.
“Mrs. Westwood was also nice enough to allow me to do a lot of administrative duties, so when this opportunity became open, this is a school that I hold dear to my heart and I knew I wanted to be back and was ready to be in that role,” said Harvey.
Harvey’s new position came about after working alongside NHS Principal Kyle Cannon last year, completing internships and working football games to gain more experience on the high school level.
“When the opportunity came up, I knew that I really loved the staff, the school and the direction it was headed. Mr. Cannon’s leadership skills are phenomenal so I’m able to learn a lot from him, so when the position opened I wanted to jump on the opportunity and at least apply for it,” said Harvey.
As she continues in her first year as assistant principal, Harvey wants to continue to work alongside her co-workers and Cannon to provide support for both the students and teachers.
“That in turn impacts students the most. The students see them all day, everyday and they are their number one contact, so we want to provide the teachers with the best environment they can have to create a positive learning environment for the students,” said Harvey. “We’ve all agreed that that is our mission this year, to make teachers happy to come to Newberry High School every day, feel supported and part of a family.”
Along with providing support to the teachers and students at NHS, Harvey also wants to continue to build relationships with the students’ parents.
“Me particularly, I follow a lot of the juniors and seniors that may be in danger of not graduating on time, so I work closely with their parents to ensure that they are attending their classes and doing their projects. Some of the phone calls are just making sure we’re on the same page and providing each student with all of the support they need. I think overall we have a very good parental support base for our students here at NHS,” said Harvey.
Although it has already been a busy first year for Harvey as assistant principal, she is happy with all of the relationships she’s already established with her co-workers.
“It’s a different busy, but it’s a good busy. When you’re in a classroom you’re kind of worried about your own world that’s happening in there. Administratively, you have to look at everybody’s world and sometimes the objectives that you want to accomplish that day get pushed to the side,” Harvey said. “I’ve had to really get used to not always finishing everything I want to finish in the time I want to finish it, but I’ve really enjoyed it and the relationships I’ve established and I feel like being in my first year I still understand what teachers are going through and I hope I never lose touch of that and with that being able to help them as much as I can.”