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Sam Harris, a beloved history teacher at Menlo-Atherton High School, died at the age of 40 on Jan. 28. Family, friends and colleagues say he had a special way of connecting with his students.
Born in Fresno on June 30, 1984, Harris grew up in a picturesque suburban neighborhood in the Central Valley with a house full of dogs and cats on an acre of land. The backdoor to the Harris home was always open to all neighborhood kids, said Renee Chambers, Harris’s childhood best friend. She lived two doors down from his parent’s home.
Harris graduated with a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of California, Los Angeles, and obtained his teaching credentials from San Francisco State University.
An unexpected love for teaching
Upon graduating from college, Harris was unsure what career path to follow, said Hal Harris, Sam’s father. His uncle, who was a retired vice principal at Sunnyside High School persistently offered a substitute teacher job to Harris and he continuously declined to take it. It wasn’t until he learned that the position earned $120 a day that he finally agreed, his father said.
Surprisingly, he loved it. It came as a surprise to many that his first day as a substitute would lead to over a decade-long career as a teacher.
“It was as simple as not knowing he wanted to be a teacher to that’s all he ever wanted to be,” said Hal Harris.
Months later, the young man moved to the Bay Area to pursue his teaching career in South San Francisco where he started substituting and was eventually hired as a social studies teacher at Westborough Middle School. Over the past nine years, Sam taught AP United States History and government at Menlo-Atherton High School.
Sam’s mother, Sara Hedgpeth-Harris, described her son as unique, fearless, engaging and intelligent.
“Learning was a sacred thing for him. He was a voracious reader and learner,” Sara Harris said. “He wanted to show his students how fun it can be to learn things.”
Harris had an affinity for books. As a child, teachers would complain about him reading during class rather than paying attention to the lesson, his mother said. As an adult, he had developed a diverse library of books about world cultures, religion, democracy and even collected historical memorabilia.
His classroom was covered in posters promoting women’s rights, the Black Lives Matter movement, Eleanor Roosevelt, Martin Luther King Jr. and more. He made learning fun by incorporating funny stories, jokes and music.
His co-teacher at Menlo-Atherton High School, Andy Stuart, said in the classroom, Harris was “energetic, electric and kind.” He particularly cared for democracy and felt a deep responsibility to teach students about the government, their rights, complex legal cases, the Constitution and more, Stuart added.
Harris’s dedication to his students extended past his responsibilities of teaching history and government. Stuart said he had a personal connection with his students and would take the time to talk to them individually about their futures. He would also take notice of kids who were struggling and offer them guidance.
“He gushed over all of his students,” said Chambers, who remained friends with Harris for over 30 years. “I mean, he really bragged about them. Even when we were at the bars, he would talk about his students.”
Chambers said when Harris was teaching, he was probably thinking of himself at that same age. “That makes me happy to know that he was living his childhood again through teaching,” she added.
Golf, music and furry friends
Outside of the classroom, Harris was an avid golfer, animal lover and melomaniac.
At the age of 7, he was introduced to both golf and baseball by his father, who was a former college baseball player. Hal said he thought his kids would also become baseball players, but both Sam Harris and his brother took an affinity to golf. As an adult, he became a highly competitive amateur player and was part of a recreational league.
On the golf course, he would befriend wild foxes and squirrels that would follow him, said his mother. Growing up with a house of pets, Harris learned to become a very patient man, a trait that served him well as an educator, his father, Hal Harris added. Sam Harris also had a dog named Oliver, which his students grew familiar with.
Chambers said her strongest memories about her childhood with Harris involve their shared love for music that developed in their early 20s.
“There were a lot of nights he and I would spend in his red Jaguar and we would listen to whole albums from start to finish. There was a time we would do it almost every night,” Chambers said.
The two would listen to rock albums by Velvet Underground, Can and Joy Division and even experimental music. Even though they mainly listened to rock together, Chambers knew that Harris’s real taste in music extended to rap.
“He really loved Earl Sweatshirt and MF DOOM. He really liked the beats,” she said. “He had a good ear for music.”
Celebrating Sam Harris
In the days after Harris’s death, students and teachers at Menlo-Atherton placed flowers and letters outside of his classroom. The student newspaper, M-A Chronicle, wrote an obituary in remembrance.
Harris is survived by his parents, Hal and Sara, his brother Charlie and many family members.
A celebration of Sam Harris’s life will be held at noon on March 22 at Laurie Meadows Park in San Mateo. The Harris family welcomes the community to donate to the Peninsula Humane Society and SPCA in his name.
