Harper is a twenty-year-old staff member at Nickel Academy. A white man who grew up around Nickel because his mother worked there, Harper is used to interacting with the school’s students. Unlike the other staff members, he presents himself in a friendly, relatable manner, even establishing something of a friendship with Turner and Elwood, since he’s their supervisor on the Community Service work team. In this capacity, he drives Turner and Elwood off campus to illicitly sell food and supplies that the school receives from the government. He also drops them off at the houses of various powerful townspeople so that the boys can do chores for them. Despite his suggestion that he sees Turner and Elwood as equals, though, Harper is the person who eventually shoots and kills Elwood when he and Turner try to escape.