GHH Faculty and Staff Directory

His last name may sound familiar to you and for good reason. The Heisman Trophy is the most prestigious award in college sports and named after John Heisman, the great great grand uncle of Sam Heisman.

Heisman graduated Hillsdale College and began his career in education as a teacher and coach at Veritas Prep in Phoenix, Ariz. He moved to Texas and expanded on his teaching portfolio with Great Hearts, leading young scholars in Poetry, Literature, Composition, and Humane Letters. Heisman served as an Assistant Headmaster before taking the helm at Great Hearts Northern Oaks as Headmaster.

Heisman is committed to the Great Hearts culture and its mission of cultivating minds and hearts through the pursuit of Truth, Goodness, and Beauty.

“I love building a community centered around a life-changing course of study. More particularly, I love helping teachers become excellent teachers and professionals. I love running a nimble and high-performing leadership team, and I love seeing our mission communicated in accessible ways.”

Laurel Fischer, our founding Assistant Head of the Lower School, grew up in California and received her undergraduate degree from St. Johns. She has previously worked at other Great Hearts Academies in Arizona as an apprentice teacher, middle school teacher, second grade teacher, and online teacher, as well as a curriculum writer and literacy team member at the Great Hearts lead office in Arizona.

An experienced Great Hearts staff member, Laurel was excited to bring this model to Louisiana to help create an option for free, classical education in her own city, which has limited options for families. “The children of Baton Rouge deserve an education that meets them where they are at and takes them as far as they can go. Our intervention program does exactly that!”

Her favorite thing about this role is working with the teachers to help them toward their goals and development.

As an Assistant Head of the Lower School, Laurel supports teachers with their student growth goals and curricular implementation. She observes them, helps create plans for intervention and EL students, and helps guide them toward the best ways to connect their students with the great ideas of the past.

Ms. Carelus grew up in West Hempstead, New York, where she attended West Hempstead High School before earning her BA in Spanish and Education at University at Albany in upstate New York.

In her junior year of college, she was accepted into Teach for America as a part of the 2018 corps and moved to Louisiana to teach grades 9-12 at East Feliciana High School and grades 10-12 at Cristo Rey Baton Rouge Franciscan High School. She also coached soccer and track.

Ms. Carelus resonates most with Great Hearts through our culture of being passionately committed.

“My teachers have played a part in shaping me into the person that I am today, and I have worked hard to be just as passionately committed to my craft, students, families, and community.”

Ms. Carelus’s favorite part about being a Dean of Students is building and fostering relationships with her students and their parents.

“As a Dean, it is not only a privilege, but my duty to cultivate in my student’s moral excellence. I am able to work together with students and their parents, as a team, to instill virtue and moral character that leads them towards what is true, good, and beautiful.”

Drew Thomas, our Dean of the Lower School students, grew up in Lexington, Kentucky, and earned his undergrad degree from the University of Kentucky and Masters in Divinity from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Before working for Great Hearts, Mr. Thomas served in pastoral ministry as an Anglican priest and taught at a classical school in Virginia.

As a Dean of Students, Mr. Thomas appreciates the opportunity to form relationships with students and parents and set the stage for a positive and vibrant culture at Great Hearts Harveston for years to come.

Mr. Munn grew up in Central, Louisiana and earned his bachelors in theological students and minors in philosophy and ethics from Franciscan Missionaries of our Lady University. Him and his wife, who he met while studying at FranU, have been happily married for 3 years and now have two children!

What attracted Mr. Munn to Great Hearts Harveston was our belief that every human person should have an opportunity for an education rooted what is true, good, and beautiful. “This type of education is typically accompanied by a tuition for private schools, but as a charter school, we have the ability to truly offer this education to all,” says Mr. Munn.

His favorite part about teaching is the life lessons that accompany lessons in class: the human formation. “We have the privilege of growing our knowledge in the subject matter as well as virtue, and I love the relationship between those two things.”

Mr. Munn models the concept of human formation not only in class, but also in his role as a husband and father. “In reflecting over my accomplishments in life, I truly believe getting married and raising two amazing kids is my greatest. The most formative time I have had as an individual has come at the hands of lessons learned as a husband and father,” he says.

Meet our Reading Interventionist, Mrs. Daglow! Mrs. Daglow began her teaching career at Great Hearts North Phoenix in 2018 while she simultaneously earned her master’s degree in education at Arizona State University.

Upon the development of Great Hearts Harveston, Daglow traveled to Baton Rouge to meet the Harveston team that Mr. Heisman was building and was immediately convinced that it would be a force for good in the community. She and her family moved to Baton Rouge in June of 2023 to help bring a high-quality, classical education to our city.

As a reading interventionist, Daglow helps students build the skills they need to become successful readers!

“Reading is arguably the most important thing a student will ever learn, and it is an honor to be a part of teaching students first to decode, then to understand, and finally to love books,” she says.

Daglow’s favorite memory thus far is with one of her first-grade scholars, who was unable to read at a beginning-of-Kindergarten level. Because of their consistent, hard work together over the course of many weeks, he developed the skills to read sounds, then individual words, and eventually entire sentences.

“One day, he opened his book and read easily to me from the page. Tears sprang to my eyes, and my heart was full of gratitude for all he had accomplished. He had been very capable from the beginning, of course; all he had needed were the right tools and a little support.”