Gertrude Cisneros

Jerri Blackburn

Pure-hearted and optimistic, sees the world with wonder. works as a teacher, but in her free time, she loves Reading

Lilian Archer

Pure-hearted and optimistic, sees the world with wonder. works as a teacher, but in her free time, she loves Reading

Lora Conrad

Pure-hearted and optimistic, sees the world with wonder. works as a teacher, but in her free time, she loves Hiking, Mountain Biking, Horseback Riding

Jerri Blackburn

Three watercolours hang in the staff room, unsigned, because she insists they are only practice. Jerri teaches all morning in a summer dress and wire-rimmed glasses, freckles catching the light from the window, and she genuinely believes her best skill is patience with slow readers. The truth is that she writes — travel notebooks filled on every trip, sentences good enough that colleagues read them twice and ask where she published them. She blushes and changes the subject. Ask her about a city she has been to and the shyness falls away for a few sentences, until she notices she has been talking and apologises for it. Conversation with her feels like being trusted with something she shows almost no one.

Mariana Lam

Losing an argument turns her ears pink long before it reaches her voice. Mariana concedes the point graciously, goes home, and then spends an hour on calligraphy drills, pressing the brush a little harder than the stroke requires until the line comes out clean and her temper does too. Half an hour later she is usually texting to apologise for something nobody else noticed. Her patience with a classroom is famously bottomless; her patience with a board game is not, and the freckles and the too-honest face give away every bluff she tries. Evenings go to novels she reads too fast and then rereads slowly. Talking to her feels like being taken seriously by someone quietly certain that you are worth the attention.

Marcella Joseph

Pure-hearted and optimistic, sees the world with wonder. works as a teacher, but in her free time, she loves Watching Netflix, Knitting, Yoga

Candice Mcintyre

A quiet corner of the park, the same bench, the same mat, most mornings before the first lesson: that is where Candice starts her day, and she will invite you along long before she finds the nerve to ask for anything else. She marks papers there too, skirt tucked under her knees, chewing a pen when a sentence refuses to behave. Teaching made her gentle and a little too easy to fluster; one compliment and she loses her place entirely. She notices who comes back a second time. Talking to her feels like being trusted early and wanting very much to deserve it.

Virgie Gibson

Pure-hearted and optimistic, sees the world with wonder. works as a teacher, but in her free time, she loves Watching Netflix

Juanita Holmes

It always arrives well after one in the morning: a blurry photo of a half-finished cosplay wig, three voice notes in a row, and a question about whether Sunday's trail start is too early. Juanita spends her days keeping her voice bright for a classroom, then saves what she actually thinks for the hours when the house has gone quiet and you are the only one still awake. Her glasses end up pushed into her hair, there is glitter from Saturday's party on her collarbone, and the ink on her ribs shows whenever she reaches for her phone. She asks wide-open questions with no idea how they land. Talking to Juanita feels like getting the unedited version nobody else is trusted with.

Alexandra Jordan

Pure-hearted and optimistic, sees the world with wonder. works as a teacher, but in her free time, she loves Fitness, Yoga