SDSU’s Pierre Lear is more than just an athlete. The school’s record holder for the 60 and 110-meter hurdles is in his second year as a graduate teaching assistant and is instructing 67 students this semester.

Since he has experience in both fields, Lear thinks that he can apply what he learned from track to improve his skills and knowledge in teaching.

 “I’ve learned a lot from track,” Lear said. “Hard work and determination and how to get up when you fall down and I really apply that to teaching. Because I have some good days and some bad days in the classroom, but I understand that each day is a blessing and a gift.”

Even though Lear makes it look easy while competing as a track athlete and on his way to becoming a professor, his path to this point is far from easy.

Lear was adopted at nine years old in 2010 with his sister from Port-au-Prince, Haiti, after an earthquake and moved to Watertown, South Dakota, a 2,311-mile move.

“It was a crazy culture shock,” Lear said regarding the change from Haiti to the United States. “I came knowing maybe the basic level of English, but we spoke Creole, which is a dialect in a combination of French and Spanish and so my sister and I spoke to each other but knew very little English.”

Lear was also introduced to another culture shock when he saw snow for the first time when a January snowstorm rolled into Watertown.

Lear realized he had what it takes at State Track during his junior year of high school. By the end of the meet, Lear earned first in the 110-meter hurdles, 300-meter hurdles and a second-place finish in the high jump. This showing motivated Lear to work even harder for his goal of competing at the collegiate level.

When it was time to commit to a school, Lear decided to stay close to home and attend South Dakota State.

“Both my parents went here, my older sister Bailey went here and we were just a big Jackrabbit family,” Lear said. “We always came to the Hobo Day Parade ever since I could remember.”

In 2020, Lear officially joined the Jackrabbits. In his six years with the team, Lear holds two school records and multiple Summit League All-League Team awards from both the indoor and outdoor seasons.

Lear not only left his impact on the record book but also the people he has worked with along the way.

Eric Hanenberger, associate head coach for SDSU track and field says Lear is a leader on the team.

“He’s got a personality that kids are just gravitating towards,” Hanenberger said. “He’s super outgoing and he does a really good job of both leading by example and verbally, spiritually, you name it.”

Hanenberger is in charge of coaching the sprints, hurdles and relays and is in his tenth season with the Jackrabbits.

 “I think if you’re lucky, you get a kid like this once or twice in your career,” Hanenberger said.

Despite his success, Lear’s path hasn’t been without hurdles.

“It’s [dyslexia] affected me and for a long time I used that as like an identity piece, a label all the way throughout my life,” Lear said.

Dyslexia is a neurobiological learning disability that can make reading, writing and spelling difficult.

“All the way up until my sophomore year of college I had extended time on tests and papers,” Lear said.

A passage that would take the average student thirty minutes to read would take over an hour to read for Lear. But that didn’t stop him as he took extra time outside the classroom to work harder and improve his learning.

Lear’s hard work paid off after he was offered a graduate teaching position. Brian Romsa, an associate professor of sport and recreation management told Lear about an open position where he could obtain his master’s and teach. After some consideration, the hurdler jumped on the opportunity.

“He’s very passionate about learning, passionate about students, passionate about helping other people, he’s responsible,” Romsa said. “He follows through with stuff, works hard, creates a good environment. I thought that he could really push our program forward.”

Every class period, Lear tries to inspire his students by being energetic. This semester, the hurdler is teaching fundamentals of sport and recreational leadership (RECR 260).

“I understand that students are counting on me to bring that energy and deep down I really find my strength from my family and my faith,” Lear said. “And so every day, even though I might not be necessarily happy, I have joy because I know where my joy comes from.”

More than just his students notice his personality.

“I think his biggest strength is just his positivity and energy and passion,” Romsa said. “He’s always excited about stuff. And even when he’s facing challenges, he does it in a very positive way and believes that he can find the solution and keeps working until the job gets done.”

As great as Lear is, he can’t do it all alone and he has a great support system that inspires him.

“I would foremost say my faith in God has been the biggest inspiration,” said Lear.  “And from there just the people around me, my support system, whether that be my parents, my wife, Shania, and just my friends that have surrounded me.”

In his last year of competing in track, Lear has set big goals. For himself. He wants to compete at a high level whenever he is in an event and he wants to reach the Midwest qualifiers at Texas A&M and reach nationals in Eugene, Oregon.

The Watertown high school graduate is striving for big goals as a teacher as well. He wants to be a professor and then ultimately become a university president someday, possibly at his alma mater, South Dakota State.