An honors assembly at St. John’s School in Hollywood, Maryland, took a surprising turn on April 29, when officials from the Catholic Schools Office of The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington stepped to the stage to announce that Allie Harper, a fifth grade and resource teacher there, is a 2024 Golden Apple Award-winning teacher.
Perhaps fittingly, the backdrop for the stage was the setting for the school’s spring musical, “Crazy for You,” which Harper co-produced, and the students cheering for the teacher seemed to express that feeling about her.
In an interview a few moments later, Shannon Armsworthy, whose daughter Ella is in Harper’s fifth grade class and whose son Parker, an eighth grader, had her as a teacher three years earlier, said, “They love her!”
Armsworthy, who was a teaching colleague there and now teaches fourth grade at Father Andrew White, S.J. School in Leonardtown, said students in Harper’s class “love to go to school every day” because of the joyful spirit in her classroom, where learning unfolds in an atmosphere of faith and fun.
The Golden Apple teachers, who will be honored at a May 16 dinner, will each receive a golden apple and a monetary award of $5,000 from the Donahue Family Foundation, which sponsors the annual award for teaching excellence and dedication to Catholic education.
After the Golden Apple Award announcement during the impromptu ceremony at St. John’s School, Harper in an interview said that attention was “a little overwhelming,” but she felt “extremely happy and grateful.”
“Being in a Catholic school is where God is calling me to be. I don’t think I’d be anyplace else,” she said. The greatest blessing of her work, Harper added, is “just the kids and being able to share the faith with them.”
Growing up in a military family, as her father Michael Harper served in the Air Force, Allie Harper was born in Idaho and lived in Mississippi and later Germany before the family moved to Calvert County, Maryland. Her father is now retired from the Air Force, and her mother, Joy Harper, works as a nurse. Both parents joined the surprise announcement for their daughter at St. John’s School.
After the announcement, Harper, her parents and her fifth graders were treated to a special breakfast that included an egg casserole, a sausage and bacon and potato dish, muffins, fruit, donuts and golden apple cookies.
Allie Harper attended elementary school at Cardinal Hickey Academy in Owings and later graduated from St. Mary’s Ryken High School in Leonardtown. Her own education in Catholic school continued as she earned a bachelor’s degree from The Catholic University of America in 2017, and a master’s degree in special education there the following year.
Her connection with St. John Francis Regis Parish in Hollywood, where she continues as an active parishioner, began 1o years ago in 2014, when she was hired as a camp counselor at the Summer Program there, which serves up to 400 children ages 5 to 11 each summer during the 10-week program that is designed to help youth deepen their Catholic faith and their love for Christ. She served as an instructor at the camp from 2014-16, and has been the camp’s assistant director in the summers since then.
Harper began serving as a third grade aide at St. John’s School during the 2017-18 school year, then as a kindergarten and resource aide the next year. In 2019, she became the fifth grade teacher at St. John’s, and she has also been a resource teacher there since 2021, helping students with learning challenges.
“I consider this place like my second family,” Harper said. “… The teachers here are like my moms and my best friends.”
In a reflection on her life as a Catholic school teacher, Harper wrote, “I choose to work in a Catholic school because I cannot imagine not being able to share my faith with those around me. I can share about the faith I grew up with and live out each day… I am able to teach Catholicism not just as a separate subject, but I can weave it into all the subjects that I teach.”
Harper added, “I give everything that I have to my students because I truly love them… I build relationships with them by attending basketball games as a cheer coach, joining in dancing at their middle school dances, setting up for their eighth grade formal, and singing along with them backstage in the musical. I have been blessed to be a Confirmation sponsor for three students and a godmother for two students.”
The teacher wrote that her relationships with students extends beyond the fifth grade, as she has attended each one of their eighth grade graduations. “At a Catholic school, I am able to be a part of their lives even when they leave my classroom,” she wrote, adding, “I can build lasting relationships with my students centered on Christ.”
In an interview, Susan McDonough, the principal of St. John’s School, praised Harper saying, “For her, teaching is more than a job. It’s a mission.”
The principal noted that her own son was taught by Harper when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and teachers had to pivot to online classes with their students. “She was able to connect with the kids… not just academically, but spiritually as well,” McDonough said.
In a letter nominating Harper for the Golden Apple Award, McDonough wrote, “Allie Harper is a true blessing to have at St. John’s School.”
Also praising Harper in an interview was Rich Olon, St. John’s director of religious education and youth minister who also directs the Summer Program there.
“She’s great at pulling the best out of them (her students),” he said. “…The kids can tell she truly loves Christ and lives it out in her life.”
The spirit of faith and fun in her classroom could be seen that morning in two Marys at opposite corners of the room. In the front of the room was a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and on a wall toward the back was a quote from the children’s book and Disney movie character Mary Poppins, “In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun.”
Her fifth graders learn in a classroom decorated with religious imagery, but also with Disney figurines and Mickey Mouse ears. Harper in her reflection on teaching in a Catholic school said she uses a whiteboard for math lessons and also utilizes songs and videos to reach students with different learning styles.
“I try to make learning engaging and fun,” Harper wrote in her reflection, but added that she has a higher goal for her fifth graders. “I want my students to become saints through our shared faith and academics.”
