Most of us love a good-rom com. Watching people meet for the first time and them feeling butterflies and infatuation, or maybe the opposite. But it’s not only in the movies that you see this in, it happens in real life. Even to the teachers here at NAI.

 Social Studies teacher Jason Winschel met his wife in June of 1996. He says it was “love at first sight.” Winschel was studying to be a priest and went to a seminar in Connecticut. The seminar happened to share a location with a girls’ summer camp. Both groups had been not to interact with the other, but Winschel and his future wife broke that rule. They were both in their twenties at the time.

Winschel describes her as, “the most stunning woman i’ve ever seen.” But he says she thought he was weird. Winschel states that he used to wear jeans that had many holes in them, and over them he would wear essentially “sweatpant shorts,” which made her a little dodgy at first. 

When he left the seminar, he tried to get a hold of her for a long time. Without cellphones or Instagram to look her up, he called around, eventually got in touch with her family, and finally was able to get to her.They’ve now been together for over twenty years. 

Biology teacher Jaclyn Beresford met her husband when she was 14 years old. She says, “He asked me to homecoming my freshman year.” She had known him prior. Her husband was friends with her friend’s brothers. She says, “Obviously, I thought he was really cute.” 

Beresford’s mother was a high school teacher and had Beresford’s future husband in class his freshman year when Beresford was in 7th grade. He told her mom that once Jaclyn got to the highschool, he was going to date her. Her mom rejected that idea. Despite that, they dated all throughout highschool, took a break when he graduated, and got back together around two years later. They got married when she was twenty-five and have been together ever since. 

English teacher Jeremy Rak has been with his wife for 12 years. They met through NAI. His wife’s parents are retired NAI teachers who would still attend staff functions like end of the year picnics. They would bring their daughter, a young teacher herself, along and that’s how she and Rak initially met.  When his future wife graduated college, she started subbing at NA and they would bump into each other in the halls. They became friends at this point and hung out a few times with other teachers.

In 2010, Rak spent a summer working as a camp counselor in Massachusetts, when one day she texted him that she was coming into Boston and wanted advice on what to do. They ended up meeting at the airport, had lunch together and walked around. They now count that as their first date, and they officially began dating that October. 

Phys. Ed. teacher Dave Schmidt and his wife have been together for 31 years. He was supposed to meet his friends on a Friday night after coaching football. He didn’t  want to go at first since it was pouring rain and he was cold. But he decided to go and while hanging out with his friends, he saw her along the way, which convinced him to stay out longer. 

It took him a few hours to get the confidence to go talk to her since he describes her as, “someone who stood out.” He says, “At first she kind of gave me the stiff arm.” After they got to know each other though, she learned that at the time he was an Elementary P.E. teacher and grew to trust him. That Saturday they went to dinner and just hit it off. They’ve been in love ever since. 

Want proof that your soulmate can truly be anywhere right now?  Look no further than your teachers.