(by Don Meador, Allen County Schools)
The Allen County Intermediate Center (ACIC) will welcome a new assistant
principal this year. Allen County native Trey Harper returns home after a
13-year career with the Glasgow Independent Schools.
Harper is a 2001 graduate of Allen County-Scottsville High School. Four years later, Harper earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education at Western Kentucky University. Harper also has a Master’s of Arts in School Counseling and his Educational Leadership Certificate from the University of the Cumberlands.
After undergraduate work at WKU, Harper taught first grade for four
years at Highland Elementary before moving into a guidance counselor role at
the Glasgow school. He feels as if his years as a counselor has prepared him to
switch administrative roles as he transitions to ACIC.
“In working as a school counselor, I helped on the preventative end, trying to keep students from making choices that might end with a disciplinary referral to the office,” Harper explained. “I also worked with them afterwards, the kiddo’s and maybe help to repair the negative choices they had made and hopefully help them make better choices in the future. I also handled a lot of administrative work in that role so I was able to see the ins-and-outs of what makes a great assistant principals. I was also able to work with some great principals at Highland Elementary.”
Harper also brings to the Intermediate Center first-hand knowledge of the Leader in Me program. Like ACIC, Highland is a Leader in Me Lighthouse School, a fact that will makes his transition to ACIC easier.
“To be able to hop in with a school that has achieved Lighthouse status and with people who value the process of using the habits and recognizing those habits in students make me feel comfortable coming in,” Harper explained. “It is a different school but ACIC is a school that embraces the process.”
To students and parents, Harper says that he will be available to help
in any possible way.
“My door is open,” Harper said. “I love communication between school and home. I love to be involved. I want to be someone that is approachable and someone that people enjoy spending time with. I will be in the classroom because I want to see kids learning. I want to do my best to be an active member of not only the school community but also our community at large. I want to be someone that the kids can come to, rely on, and trust in and also the parents can do the same. I want to gain the parents trust to the point that I am a friendly contact here at school and somebody that they are comfortable with.”
Harper and his wife (Mallory) are the parents of five children, Ivan,
Jace, Henry, Mary Claire, and Stella. In his free time, Harper enjoys hunting,
fishing, kayaking, coaching youth sports, and playing music. He also is active in
his church and the family business.