Many people see Assistant Principal Jason Harris as stern, but outside of school he owns a business that is very important to him.
Located in Northeast Mississippi, Harris owns a farm that he rents out as a bed and breakfast.
Going to Mississippi at least twice a month, Harris is always looking for different ways to make the farmstay more enjoyable for his guests.
“A lot goes into the agritourism business,” Jason said. “The main thing is to have somewhere for people to stay if they want to stay in the farmhouse and within that, you have different agritourism activities, horseback riding, that sort of thing for people to go out and enjoy why they are there.”
A few years ago, Jaon decided to do more with the farm and connect it to his military service.
“The whole concept of Warrior Rendezvous started probably in 2019,” Jason said. “I wanted to do something with the farm, and having served in the military I wanted to create an environment for military veterans and their families to come and reconnect with themselves and also to relax and as I say, to find serenity to the soul.”
Part of the environment Jason is creating on the farm creates quite a buzz, literally.
“We have about 37 honey bee hives and we extract the honey once a year,” Jason said. “After we do that we sell the honey and again a certain percentage of those proceeds go back to a non-profit military organization.”
It’s an endeavor that is close to his heart, but it’s a different story for his daughter, sophomore Jaiden Harris.
“I would definitely scream and run away and my dad would laugh at me and act like it was a harmless insect like a fly or something,” Jaiden said.
Although the buzzing of bees may send Jaiden scurrying away, the farm has proven to be therapeutic for his family.
“I served in the military and also my brother served in the military,” Jason said. “He actually has a lot of struggles with PTSD and just seeing what he went through and him also staying about three years out at the farm and in his own words he said it really helped him reconnect with life and have a reason to want to live and strive to be a better father to be a better friend just to enjoy life from day to day.”
Jason would possibly be in Mississippi full time if he had his way, but his daughter had other thoughts.
“He asked me if I would be willing to move my sophomore year to Mississippi so he could go full time there, but I said I wanted to stay here,” Jaiden said. “So I think he’s really invested in doing that full time after he’s done at the school.”
Working on the farm full time is a goal for Jason in the future.
“My goal is to do this full time after I retire from education,” Jason said. “I am hoping at some point and time that I have enough revenue coming in where the agritourism activities and just a farm stay, in general, can be provided to military veterans and their families for free.”
