As many students walk down the hallways in the morning to set their stuff down in their classes, they take notice of the classic history teacher talk circle in their hallway. None of the other departments do this, most of them are in their classrooms planning for their first hour. Whether the history teachers are walking together down the halls, talking in their history hallway before school, or eating lunch together, there is a clear closer connection between this group of teachers rather than any of the other departments. More specifically, there is a deeper connection between Mrs. Woodruff and Mrs. Dillon. While all of the history teachers have a close friendship with one another, Woodruff and Dillon have something special leading them to be each other’s forever best friends. While their friendship has become so close throughout their years of teaching, it didn’t start that way.
“We were both young in our first couple of years of teaching,” history teacher Laura Woodruff said. “I was upstairs with Ms. Lutz at the time, and she was downstairs. So we were not close in terms of proximity at all, and we felt like there was a little bit of competition over the classes that we taught. I think even just applying for the job in general and starting a friendship like that, it’s gonna be intense.”
As Woodruff and Dillon did feel like there was a little competition between them during the first year of teaching, this was just a small bump in the road. Throughout their first year of teaching, Dillon and Woodruff realized they had many similar experiences throughout their lives before the job even though they are two completely different individuals. Finding this out led them to create a closer relationship with one another after having a small rough patch in the beginning.
“Throughout our first year, the more time we spent together, the more I think we realized we had very common experiences,” Woodruff said. “I wouldn’t say we have a lot in common though. We’re very different people, but we had a lot of shared experiences, like we both married our high school sweethearts which is one example. We have a lot of values that are the same, even though how we live our daily lives is very, very different.”
While Woodruff and Dillon consider themselves the best friends within the history department, Woodruff mentioned that their lifestyles are actually quite different from one another. This may seem like a negative to their friendship, but it’s actually one of the most significant reasons that makes them so close.
“I think Woodruff and I are legitimately the complete opposite on everything, but I think that’s what makes it so valuable,” fellow history teacher Erin Dillon said. “I think we can help each other see a different perspective, or, like, open our eyes to something new that we wouldn’t always have considered. I think also with that, I value our friendship so much because I can always rely on her to be completely honest with me or truthful, but also help me to see if there’s a better route to take.”
This special friendship isn’t just a secret, many of the history teachers know about them too. They find it amazing how even though there were some rough patches in the beginning, that didn’t stop them from making this endless friendship last for the rest of their lives.
“I think it’s just totes adorbs that they became very good friends when we hired them,” history teacher Matt Pedlow said. “We knew they had completely different personalities. They were opposites. If I could put a duo together for these two, they’re kind of like Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez. Very good friends who always support each other and usually act inappropriately around each other at all times.”
Dillon and Woodruff spend a lot of time together whether it’s planning their history classes together or doing fun activities outside of school. Their families are relatively around the same age as well which is another big factor in this friendship. They find that their husbands get along very well, leading them to spend a lot of time with each other’s families.
“Mrs. Woodruff and I work well together,” Dillon said. “We plan our US history or world history stuff together, so we’re great at complementing each other with planning purposes and schoolwork. Outside of school, we kind of do everything. We’ve been on a couple of vacations together. We do a lot of stuff with our families. Our husbands also get along, so we’ll do little day trips with them. We both have kids and we like to see them when we have the opportunity to. But we do kind of just like normal things too, like we go out to dinner all the time and get pedicures as well.”
Finding your best friend through a work environment is very rare and usually doesn’t happen. That’s why Dillon and Woodruff believe that they are pretty lucky to have found each other through this job. Even though, like many friendships, their relationship didn’t start on great terms, it didn’t matter. In the end, both Dillon and Woodruff found a friendship that will last them a lifetime.
“I think our personalities mesh really well with each other,” Dillon said. “ At the end of the day I’ll tell anybody who asks me, I feel very fortunate because I work with my best friend.
