It is no surprise that Gayle Harris and her daughters, Jacquelyn and Tiffany, have become known as ‘Team Harris’ to their friends, coworkers, and professors. Not only have they been teaching together at the same school for three years, but they will also be graduating simultaneously on April 30, 2021, from Southeastern University with their Master of Education in Elementary Education degrees. 
Gayle always dreamed of getting her master’s degree with her eldest daughter, Jacquelyn, who she had previously taught with at a different school for 11 years. She never imagined that it would be possible to be joined by her youngest daughter, Tiffany, as well. “It just happened to be at the best time in each of our lives to do it together,” said Gayle.
A representative from Southeastern visited their school, Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary in Jacksonville, Fla., and after learning about the master’s program in education and its affordability, Gayle encouraged her daughters to sign up. What she hadn’t told them was that she had signed up too. She kept it a surprise until everything had been finalized.
Gayle recollected, “I told my daughters, ‘I’m going to lead by example. I want both of you to further your education, and I’m going to do it with you.’”
From that point, the Harris women held weekly meet-ups to check in on one another’s progress and collaborate on homework. Tiffany joked, “We never let each other procrastinate on assignments — we had constant text messages.” There was a healthy competition when it came to their studies, as they would often use challenges to motivate themselves by seeing who could score the highest on a certain project.
They also managed to take every single class together throughout their whole educational experience. “One of the most memorable moments was when it was time to register for classes,” said Tiffany. “My mom would come to my house the night that registration opened at 12 a.m., and we would scramble to get three spots for each of us in every class we signed up for.”
“It was stressful but definitely memorable,” laughed Jacquelyn.
In addition to being a very close-knit bunch, the Harrises are an entire family of educators. Gayle’s husband taught for 36 years before retiring four years ago, and her son is currently a Spanish teacher in Houston, Texas. As a result of the pandemic, all three of the Harris women are teaching virtually this year for varying grade levels at Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary. Gayle teaches third grade, Jacquelyn teaches second grade and Tiffany teaches fifth grade. They plan to return to the classroom in the fall unless there are three remote positions offered again.