Andalusia High School’s new history teacher, Harrison Mims, is no stranger to the Andalusia City School system, but is excited about his new challenge of teaching seniors.

Mims spent the past year at Andalusia Junior High teaching history and is now teaching seniors government and economics.

“It is a good feeling to move up to the high school,” Mims said. “The students are definitely more mature, but one thing that surprised me is just how much more general knowledge the students know. I know that the tradition of excellence goes all the way through the schools in Andalusia so it was nice to see just how smart the students were in the high school.”

Mims is originally from Bay Minette, Ala., but went to Andalusia Elementary School and Andalusia Middle School from Kindergarten to eighth grade. He then moved to Century, Fla., and graduated from Northview High School. Mims then earned his bachelor’s degree in history from the University of West Alabama.

Mims’ inspiration to teach comes from his parents, who were both in the education field for as long as he can remember.

“My dad was the assistant principal at Andalusia for a while and my mom taught reading for what seems like forever,” Mims said. “I saw the impact and memories that they made with their students. I saw how they were able to invest themselves in other people’s lives and I knew that I couldn’t get that at any other job.”

Mims said that his goal for this year is to make sure his students are as prepared as they can be for college.

“I want them to be able to sit in a college class and not feel scared,” Mims said. “I know that if I lay the foundation for college now, then they will be prepared come the time.”

When Mims teaches economics, he teaches with a different mindset.

“When it comes to economics, I want my students to be fiscally responsible,” Mims said. “I want them to know the ins and outs of our economy and be responsible.”

Mims said that the biggest challenge of teaching seniors is the small window of time that he has with the students.

“You only have one shot when you only teach twelfth graders,” Mims said. “They are in your class for only eight months and then you may never see them again. When I was at the junior high, they would still be around and I would see them at school, but once they leave the high school, I may never see them again.”

Mims earned his master’s degree educational leadership from Auburn University in early August and has been thinking of ways to use it in his coaching strategy.

“We were taught a lot about how to put systems into play,” Mims said. “No matter how important a task is, you can always put it into a system or an order of events.”

Mims will be an assistant football and girl’s basketball coach this year.

Outside of the classroom, Mims loves to fish, read and travel with his family.

He and is wife, Natalie Mims, a fourth grade teacher at AES, have one child and one on the way.