The Forsyth Academy principal credits this drive to growing up next door to her third-grade teacher, Ms. Martin, who helped her fall in love with education.
“She would do read-alouds with all these characters and voices, and I could just sit there mesmerized by her. I'm from a teeny tiny little town in Southwest Virginia….her reading to us took me out of my small town and let me go places that I never would have been able to go.”
After high school, Harnsberger attended Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, Va., and received degrees in psychology and education. Her first job in education took her back to her hometown to teach fourth grade, with Ms. Martin as her mentor.
Harnsberger joined the National Heritage Academies (NHA®) family in 2009 and taught fifth grade at Forsyth. Due to a family move, she spent a short stint elsewhere before returning to her fifth-grade teaching role. From there, she became a dean, where she excelled for 10 years before becoming principal.
“This is my third year as principal. I think that we have some of the hardest working teachers. I would put them up against anyone and they always go above and beyond.”
Harnsberger continues to lead with the same commitment by implementing exceptional outreach efforts to raise awareness of Forsyth Academy among parents of young children. Partnering with her director of school quality, she helped launch a program designed to bring children to the school for visits before kindergarten, ensuring they receive early exposure to pre-K readiness. She also frequently visits local daycare centers and invites daycare educators to the school, providing them with valuable insights on how to better prepare children for the classroom experience.
“We work with those teachers to help kids in daycare have more of an academic setting. That's a big passion of mine, making sure kids who don't have that opportunity go to a pre-K program can be exposed to that academia.”
Many of the neighboring schools do not have programs about moral focus, and Harnsberger finds many parents are looking for options for their kids who may be struggling with academics or managing relationships with peers.
“The first thing they see when they walk into our building is our Moral Focus board and pictures of students that we recognize each month. Sometimes you'll see in K-2 they're wearing gold medals because they've been showing their moral focus virtue the best that day. It's really our job at Forsyth Academy to be those role models, and I think that's huge for Moral Focus.”
Quick Facts:
- Harnsberger loves to camp and hike and completed 20 miles of the Appalachian Trail in summer 2024.
- Her family is in love with Harkers Island, near the Cape Lookout National Seashore along North Carolina’s shore. She especially loves the large, sandy beach, wild horses, and the opportunity to unplug.
- When she was 15, Harnsberger wrote a poem that was published in the Library of Congress.
- An active reader, she has surpassed her goal of reading 50 books this year.
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About Forsyth Academy
Forsyth Academy is a tuition-free, public charter school in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, serving students in kindergarten through eighth grade. It is part of the National Heritage Academies (NHA®)network, which includes over 100 tuition-free, public charter schools serving more than 65,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grade across nine states. For more information, visit nhaschools.com.
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