This year, English teachers Allison Conroy and Jenna Postler celebrate their five-year anniversary working at Jackson-Reed, so it’s only fair they finally get the recognition they deserve via a Beacon article. This duo is known for their ability to connect with students, humor, and relatability.
Postler and Conroy began working at JR at the same time and instantly became friends, bonding over their shared passion for the Bachelor and Trader Joe’s. But their similarities extend far beyond those two initial interests.
Scarily, Postler and Conroy both have navigated long distance with their significant others between DC and Chicago. “I go to Chicago many weekends,” said Conroy. Postler met her husband in Chicago, and they now reside in DC together.
Originally from what she referred to as “the great state of Pennsylvania,” it is common knowledge among many students that Conroy grew up with and still relies daily on Wawa coffee (which is also from Pennsylvania). Postler, however, who is from Vermont, is not big on Wawa and believes that “the loss of the Tenleytown Starbucks is something that we’re still dealing with the ramifications of years later.”
What both English teachers love about teaching is connecting with their students and forming personal relationships. In fact, they explained that engaging in conversations and getting to know them is a great way to get on their good sides (in addition to putting in consistent effort).
Not only is teaching personally rewarding, but it also comes with other perks… such as funny stories. “When you meet with your non-teacher friends, they delight in these stories you share,” said Postler. Conroy explained that one of her craziest stories was when she was a student teacher in Williamsburg. Her supervising teacher was absent, and during an unplanned fire drill, one of her seventh graders ran away. “Little Richard, we didn’t know at the time, was a runner,” said Conroy. “I had to jog probably about a mile into the woods after Richard and bring him back with me.”
While Postler doesn’t have quite as traumatic a story, she stresses the everyday bizarre dilemmas. “Your average Tuesday here is when a kid walks into the room and they’re like, I have a problem. And the problem is that they have a box of popsicles.” Postler continued explaining that there are only six popsicles, yet 26 kids in the room. “How am I to decide who’s gonna get the popsicles? Frankly, it’s a moral choice that I’m not interested in.”
When Postler and Conroy aren’t teaching or dealing with running children and a popsicle deficit, they spend their weekends exploring. Postler emphasized that she enjoys taking “day trips out of DC to see what there is to see.” And Conroy likes to visit her favorite book store, Lost City Books in Adams Morgan, to indulge in her favorite activity: buying books. They also spend time outside of school together; they usually watch the Bachelor, of course, But once spent 10 hours together roadtripping to upstate New York.
While neither Postler nor Conroy will allow their current students to follow their social media accounts, students can keep up with Postler’s dogs, @hickorythechin, on Instagram where Postler posts a couple stories a week of her two Japanese Chins, Hickory and Mutsu. While Postler isn’t ready to retire teaching for dog-influencing quite yet, she is still “working on getting those numbers up.” As for Conroy, if you’re lucky you may be able to snag a follow post-graduation, though who she accepts is on a “case-by-case basis.”
