This school year, Harker will be welcoming new teachers into the school community. They will be teaching subjects ranging from language to debate. The teachers all come from different backgrounds and will be sharing their knowledge and experiences to students uniquely.

Carmela Tejada: Spanish

Courtesy of Carmela Tejada
Carmela Tejada was born in Lima, Peru and joined the language department to teach level 3 and level 4 Spanish. Tejada received a graduate degree at Stanford and began working there befor hearing about Harker during her time there. She wanted to join Harker because of its reputation, good location and academics.

“I have heard many things about you guys, very driven but also very kind is more important than academics. I am eager to, hopefully, have the opportunity to do some volunteer work with students, elementary school students and see if we can do that,”  she said. “Kindness is part of our values, I am excited about that and also about working with the other Spanish teachers. This is a very strong team.”

Scott Odekirk: Speech and Debate

Harker Directory
Scott Odekirk will be teaching Introduction to Debate, Intermediate Speech, Intermediate Congressional Debate, Competitive Speech and Competitive Debate this year. Odekirk used to teach at Copper Hills High School in Salt Lake City before coming to Harker. Before that, he coached college debate for ten years mainly at Idaho State University. He also competed in debate events during his high school and college years. Outside of school, Odekirk spends most of his time taking care of his daughter, but when he has free time, he either golfs or watches NBA basketball and is huge Utah Jazz fan.

“[Harker] is a great place to be a teacher,” Odekirk said. “For a teacher, this place is wonderful. The amount of support, resources, school philosophy, everything is just fantastic for a teacher, but I think the thing I was most excited about… is to dig in with the students.”

Agnes Pommier: French

Courtesy of Agnes Pommier
Agnes Pommier will be teaching French 1, French 3 and French 3 honors this year at Harker. Madame Pommier previously taught at Fremont Union High School and Homestead High School. She was born in France and first pursued a business degree and worked 11 years in finance for companies such as Louis Vuitton before switching careers.

“I want [my students] to be confident and patient with themselves that they can really reach the next level of proficiency in their speaking skills, because learning a foreign language is not as easy as a math or science subject,” she said. “I want to tell them to… also be open to the cultures of French countries, not all France but Quebec and West Africa, Northern Africa, exploring the French-speaking world.”

This piece was originally published in the pages of The Winged Post on September 6, 2017.