Similar to the end of an era, AP World History teacher AJ LaNier’s departure from Rock Hill marks the closing of an impactful chapter. After four years of building intellectual empires in her classroom, she hopes to leave behind a lasting dynasty of thoughtful, globally-minded students as she moves on to Richland High School starting next school year.
LaNier has taught for 18 years—11 of those as an AP instructor, and the last four at Rock Hill. Before she became a teacher, LaNier pursued a pre-law track in college.
“I thought that was what my deal was,” LaNier said. “Then I started deciding I didn’t like my constitutional law classes. I liked my political thought, my political theory classes, and my social theory classes.”
Once certified in social studies, LaNier began teaching government and economics. But it wasn’t long before she discovered where her true passions lay.
“Come to find out—no,” LaNier said. “World [history] is where it’s at. That’s my absolute favorite. I love it because of all the cultures we get to talk about, and the different foods and languages and religions.”
AP World History resonated most with LaNier, offering the ideal backdrop to help students see the world through others’ eyes and foster empathy and open-mindedness.
“It’s like—look at this beautiful culture,” LaNier said. “It’s so different from yours, and doesn’t it have some really cool nuggets in it?”
LaNier is passionate about seeing her students take ownership of the material, especially when they contribute creatively to class discussions.
“I have this really long Mansa Musa alliteration, and a student added to it the other day, which is crazy,” LaNier said. “When a kid gets really excited about history, I get more excited. I’m more pumped. I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, I found someone who’s the same color nerd as me.’”
This year, as a participant in the Teacher Leadership Institute, LaNier brought new mantras into her classroom: “Be the light” and “Be the ball.”
“When I say ‘be the ball,’ I mean be the energy in the room, be the one that’s pushing things forward, getting people to get out of their comfort zone, getting people to interact more,” LaNier said. “Same kind of thing with ‘be the light.’ I want to be giving compliments to kids I don’t know. I want to be the bright smile, the ‘Hey, I hope you have a good weekend.’ I want to be that person to all those people.”
Beyond building a positive and energetic environment, LaNier also challenges students—both on-level and AP—to reach beyond expectations.
“I think we do a good job of keeping kids in AP, but I don’t know that we do a good job in high school with pulling the bright kids—the ones really trying hard in an on-level class—and challenging them in AP,” LaNier said. “I think that’s one of the things we could, in general, as a profession work on: giving more rigor, giving more opportunities.”
LaNier doesn’t just challenge her students academically— she challenges them emotionally too. One student, in their salutatorian speech, said LaNier taught him empathy.
“When he said that, I was shocked,” LaNier said. “I was like, ‘I teach empathy?’ with a question mark. But as the summer went on and I kept reflecting on it, I thought, ‘Okay… I teach empathy.’ Period. And now it’s, ‘I teach empathy’ with an exclamation mark.”
At the end of the school year, LaNier will help open the new Richland campus–-an opportunity that excites her.
“Once I’ve been there ten years, I’ll be able to say I’ve been there since the school opened,” LaNier said. “I hope people know my name before they even walk into my classroom and that they have a positive image of me. I hope they’re like, ‘Oh, I’ve got LaNier, I’m definitely passing the AP test this year,’ or ‘I’ve got LaNier, we’re going to do some really cool projects this year.’ I want to build a reputation that precedes me in a good way.”
Although she’s leaving Rock Hill, she carries its values with her.
“Before I interviewed at Rock Hill, I watched the video ‘We Are Rock Hill,’” LaNier said. “I found myself crying at the end when they were talking about the core values. I thought, ‘This is where I’m meant to be. This is where I belong. So even though I’m leaving—because it’s better for all kinds of other things, for my career, for my family life—I don’t want to leave the values that Rock Hill brought into my life.”
LaNier plans to bring Rock Hill’s emphasis on creativity, service and empathy to Richland.
“Richland’s already going to push [students] to excellence and unity,” LaNier said. “I want to kind of synchronize the core values and have the kiddos that are coming out of there be rigorously taught, achieving academically and know they are supported—so they can leave every day knowing that they’re loved, no matter if they made an A on their test or failed their test.”
Outside the classroom, LaNier embraces hobbies like collecting sneakers, playing video games, building with Legos, and riding motorcycles.
“I have two [motorcycles],” LaNier said. “One’s a tiny little mini-moto called a Honda Monkey. It’s silly and super fun. The other is a Triumph Trident. It’s fast, neon-colored, and wild-looking. Honestly, most of my hobbies are middle school to teenage boy type stuff.”
To mark her departure, LaNier will retire her “Monday shirt”—a personal tradition of wearing a specific shirt each Monday throughout the year—and hold a small ceremony.
“I’m leaving, but my heart’s still going to be here,” LaNier said. “I don’t think [Richland’s values are] antithetical to what Rock Hill is doing—I think they’re going to blend really nicely.”
