100 Reasons to Love the Ed School Now
Harvard Ed.
Reason #76
Because Love Found Its Way to Campus
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WHERE ARE YOU NOW, 12 YEARS AFTER THE ARTICLE CAME OUT? JEFF AND EMILY: We live on a farm near Madison, Wisconsin, with our two children — a third-grader and a first-grader. Emily does educational programming for the Driftless Area Land Conservancy, and Jeff is the superintendent of the Sauk Prairie School District. YOU MET IN GUTMAN WHEN YOU WERE BOTH IN RICHARD ELMORE’S CLASS. EMILY INTRODUCED HERSELF: SHE HEARD JEFF WAS SMART AND THOUGHT HE’D BE GOOD FOR HER STUDY GROUP. WAS JEFF SURPRISED? EMILY: I don’t think Jeff was surprised because I was keeping my eye on him to make sure he didn’t leave before I had a chance to talk with him. In his version of the story, I am pretty sure he remembers we were making some sort of flirtatious
eye contact. Jeff also jokes that the only reason people thought he was smart that early in the year was because he wore glasses. It was literally the first week of classes. HOW DID THAT TRANSITION INTO DATING? JEFF AND EMILY: We naturally starting hanging out with similar people who became friends — friends that we still see pretty frequently even though we are now scattered across the United States.
BENZ AND WRIGHT IN 2003…
WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST DATE? EMILY: My apartment on Ellery Street. I traded Jeff dinner for answering some interview questions for a psych class.
…AND WITH THEIR KIDS NEAR THEIR HOME IN MADISON, WISCONSIN, IN 2019
ADVICE FOR ANYONE LOOKING FOR LOVE ON APPIAN WAY? JEFF AND EMILY: Don’t look too hard. If it is there, you will find it. Be open to finding lifelong friends. We know of at least two other couples who are now married with two children each from our HGSE master’s class. I don’t think any of us went to Appian Way thinking we would find a spouse. We did go ready to be surrounded by curious and talented people from all walks of life.
CREDIT HERE
In the fall 2008 issue of Ed., we ran a story about students and faculty who found love on Appian Way. Recently, we followed up with one of the couples, EMILY BENZ, ED.M.’03, and JEFF WRIGHT, ED.M.’03, to see where life had taken them since the article came out.