Chester Thai ’14, Ryan Quinlan ’14: Dr. Lee Pearcy, Middle and Upper School classics teacher, as well as former Classics Chair and Director of Curriculum, was recently awarded The 2012 American Philological Association (APA) Pre-collegiate Teaching Award. As one of two 2012 winners, Pearcy was recognized for his expansion of the Episcopal classics department as well as for his research and papers pertaining to classical studies.
The Awards Citation describes Pearcy as “an active scholar and involved member of the profession” who “brings a unique talent and perspective to his primary job as a teacher of classics to young people.”
It also noted that Pearcy “has also carried out extensive service to the profession, most recently as APA Vice President for Education and co-leader of the team that wrote the new APA-ACL Standards for Latin Teacher Preparation. Pearcy increased the size of the Classics faculty, made Greek a regular part of the curriculum, and led his department in the writing of a Latin textbook series.”
Pearcy is also a published author. He wrote The Grammar of Our Civility: Classical Education in America, as well as many other publications concerning the classics.
As a teacher, Pearcy has taught for 43 years with nearly three decades spent at Episcopal. He attributes his success to his personal devotion to his profession. “Probably ninety percent of success in life is showing up,” declared Pearcy, “and I’ve been showing up for a long time. Showing up means more than just physically being there, it means being ready and doing everything you can to deliver, conduct, produce, and help the best possible classroom lessons.”
On why he teaches, Pearcy stated, “I am one of those teachers for whom the most important thing is the subject. I really think that what I can help people learn, which is Latin and Greek, is really important to know.”
This year marks Pearcy’s final year teaching at Episcopal. “I have known a number of people who’ve retired from here, so I can almost guarantee that in four years, no one will know I was here,” remarked Pearcy. “However, what will stay are two things. First of all I think I helped the [Classics] Department become better than it was. The second one is [that] as a department chair, someone who showed up every day, and Director of Curriculum, I wrote a lot. A lot of things I’ve written have become official documents. I contributed some language to the school’s official documents that is probably going to last more than four years.”
Pearcy credited his legacy to his former teachers, stating “I remembered the person who taught me how to teach. It was a man named William Clark at the Englewood School for Boys. Every time I teach the Aeneid, [students] are being taught by Gilbert Hyatt, who taught the Aeneid to me. Steele Commager taught me almost more than anybody about how to read Latin poetry. You’re getting the people who taught me—that’s the lasting part.”
Pearcy revealed his passion to influence his profession by pre-collegiate teaching. “Nearly every year from here, we have one or two seniors who go on and become classics majors. And then we have a few of them who go on and become Latin teachers, or college professors,” remarked Pearcy. “If [I wanted] to have an influence on [my] profession, I thought I could have a better chance of it from here than I would have had from most colleges and universities.”
Pearcy commented, “Students think we’re far better and nicer people than we actually are, and it’s nice to go and be admired all the time. It’s a little bit like being an actor. There’s a return to the performance when your students do well; when the audience responds well you feel ‘oh, that’s great.’ I don’t really have a good answer to [why I teach], it’s just fun.”

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