Phil Harris Has Many Goals for Student Activities

Photo by Max Linton

Mr. Harris, the new Director of Student Activities, comes to Middlesex with the goal of “breathing life” into the school’s events, whether that be encouraging clubs to host outings, ensuring that school-wide activities are enjoyable for all, or rejuvenating the Middlesex community service program. Mr. Harris has “always worked in some capacity with youth” because he likes to “create an opportunity to help students grow.” Before Middlesex, he was the middle school director in a program called Stepping Stone, a long-term college preparatory program that works with students from marginalized communities in Boston to help them get into and thrive in college. Because of Stepping Stone, Mr. Harris was exposed to private schools in and around Boston, one of them being Middlesex.

As Director of Student Activities, Mr. Harris wants to assist in creating events that “help students share their passions and interests with the rest of the community.” He plans to accomplish this goal by restructuring club programming at Middlesex. He began the year by creating a culture around club heads taking greater responsibility in holding more events and meetings. In years past, many clubs have fizzled out over the school year, but Mr. Harris hopes that the organization he has implemented will “encourage club leaders to take ownership of their activities, so they can showcase their work.” Middlesex already has many annual events, and Mr. Harris wants to improve these traditions to make sure that everyone finds them enjoyable, both during this school year and for years to come. Mr. Harris has already received help from the previous Director of Student Activities, Brenna Morrisey, and he frequently collaborates with senior Student Activities Officers to understand what has worked and what has failed pertaining to past events. At the officers’ advising, he added a point system for Field Day, and, in the future, he intends to plan events according to the advice of students because “at the end of the day, these events are for the students.”

Although Mr. Harris’ current focus is clubs and campus events, he also works to create strong community service opportunities for students to take advantage of. He wants to have off-campus weekend community service opportunities, and also looks to create some sort of regular community service programming.

Outside of his role as Director of Student Activities, Mr. Harris lives in the Peabody dorm and devotes much of his time to running and following his favorite sports teams: the Miami Dolphins and the Phoenix Suns. He became a Miami Dolphins fan because his father was a fan, and he supports the Phoenix Suns because they were the best team on his first video game, NBA 2K5. He grew an interest in running after a friend encouraged him to join the cross country team during his senior year of high school. At Middlesex, one can find him running with members of the boy’s cross country team, an activity which he has found especially helpful coming back from injury after the Boston Marathon. So far in his time at Middlesex, Mr. Harris has already created palpable change, as his push for active clubs with regular meetings has reshaped extracurricular life; ultimately, his goal is to create a culture where “members of the Middlesex community can share their interests with the rest of the school.”

Ella Coffin