Perfect Pairs: Teacher's Edition

High school is a time where we explore who we are, what we want to do for the rest of our lives and, of course, who we like. It’s a time filled with giddy crushes, painful heartbreak and maybe even true love. We all know our peers are going through these romantic times, but the adults around us are too! In honor of Valentine’s Day, meet these adorable Samo teacher couples who make love seem easy. Mr. Chapman and Mrs. ChapmanSr. and Mrs. Chapman have worked at Samo since 2004. Sr. Chapman teaches Spanish and coaches Varsity girls’ soccer, while Mrs. Chapman teaches Language Arts just a mere building away. They have two kids together, an eight-year-old boy and a five-year-old girl. The two are looking forward to taking a couple’s trip to Dubai in November 2019.Q: How did you guys meet?Amy: “We all used to eat lunch together in one of our co-worker’s classrooms. I started in the middle of the school year, so I didn’t know how to do anything...and he showed me how. The rest just happened naturally.”Q: What’s your favorite thing about each other?Jimmy: Her heart. And her kindness. Her willingness to help others and see the best in others.Amy: “Oh gosh. Well I love that he has a big heart, and that he makes me laugh and he’s a good dad.”Q: If money or time wasn’t an issue, what would be your dream vacation or experience to have together?Amy: “Well for just the two of us, I’ve always wanted to stay in one of those huts in Bali or Tahiti, over the water. With the kids, I’d probably want to take them to Australia. I’d love to be able to experience that as a family.”Q: How is working in the same school as your wife?Jimmy: I couldn’t imagine not working with her. We can see each other when we want to, we even try to plan lunches together. She’s a bright light in my day.Q: Do you have a special song, or activity, or show that’s “your thing”?Amy: “We definitely do have a lot of dance parties at the house with the kids, that’s kind of our thing. And if we’re not too tired we’ll watch shows together, we like watching Lakers games together.”Q: Do you have lunch together ever? Amy: “We do have lunch together most days, when we don’t have students coming in and out,”Mr. Barraza and Mrs. BarrazaMr. and Mrs. Barraza met at Samo just five years go. After Mr. Barraza moved to Hawaii for another teaching job, the two kept in touch before seeing each other again at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). They have a two-year-old boy together, and co-parent Mrs. Barraza’s nine-year-old daughter.Q: What’s your favorite thing about each other?Pete: Her free mind and her free will and creativity.Kate: “Well there’s a lot of things that are wonderful about him. I think I admire him. I think he’s very intelligent and good-looking and interesting and funny.”Q: If money or time wasn’t an issue, what would be your dream vacation or activity to do together?Kate: I want to go to Puerto Rico or Cuba. I’ve just always wanted to go there. The beaches, the food, the people, the music. I want to dancing in Cuba with him!Q: How is working together?Pete: Sometimes we are able to kind of support [the students] in a different way that fuses into both classes (English and Acting).Kate: It’s pretty cool to share students students and build our own relationships with them. It’s really cool to talk about what we love about them together.Q: Do you have a special song/activity/show together?Kate: “I know this song so well and I play it all the time, we used to listen to it a lot when we were dating, I just don’t remember the name of it!” Mr. Thun and Mrs. Wethern Although this couple may not be the first to come to mind when thinking of Samo teacher couples due to their different last names, Mr. Thun and Sra. Wethern have been together for almost 10 years. Sra. Wethern teaches Spanish on the second floor of the Language building, while Mr. Thun works with AP Psychology students directly below her. They have rescued three cats together throughout their marriage and are planning to travel to Hawaii and Machu Picchu in the upcoming year. Q: How did you guys meet? Heather: We met at our colleague’s retirement party in 2009. I mean I guess we knew each other before that but that was the first time we really started talking.Q: What’s your favorite thing about each other?Charles: I love how compassionate she is as a person, mainly that.Heather: I like that he’s very supportive, he makes me a better person because he’s so hardworking. It’s small, but sometimes we go to the gym together and he loads the weights for me and it shows how sweet he is.Q: If money or time wasn’t an issue, what would be your dream vacation or activity to do together? Charles: We already go to Maui a lot, but it’d be nice if we could spend time in the nicest places on Maui, like hotel and resort-wise.Q: How is working together?Charles: I remember two years ago, these students put together this whole prom proposal that they wanted me to ask. They put a whole sign together and they brought her down here and everything, because we were chaperoning prom that year. It was more funny and cute than annoying. Heather: I think because of our last name, students don’t realize we’re married, but I like working with him in general. I never get sick of him or anything!Q: Do you have a special song/activity/show together?Heather: Right now we’re watching “Game of Thrones,” because he hasn’t watched it before, so I’m rewatching it with him. We like watching new shows together. Mr. Hechts and Mrs. Garcia-Hetch Mr. and Sra. Garcia-Hecht worked together long before they met at a mutual colleague’s birthday party. Mr. Hecht teaches multiple levels of math while Sra. Garcia-Hecht instructs Spanish. They have two boys together, aged 12 and 14 who currently attend John Adams Middle School. They look forward to having the whole family at Samo in a couple of years!Q: How did you guys meet?Veronica: Well, we saw each other around campus but we started really talking at a birthday party. At the party we were in a group, and the group gradually became smaller and smaller and by the end of the night we were sitting next to each other and just talking!Q: What’s your favorite thing about each other?James: There’s so many things. She has a great heart and she’s very, very kind, compassionate and caring. She’s also an amazing mother and wife, of course. Veronica: His humor, definitely his humor. He’s really witty. Q: If money or time wasn’t an issue, what would be your dream vacation or activity to do together? Veronica: Oh, I think he’ll say something different. We’re like total opposites! He’d probably never go for it, but I’d go back to Italy and travel the coast.James: You know what, my dream vacation would be to go back to Italy with my boys and my wife. Q: How is working together?James: We can go the entire day without seeing each other. So when we get home and ask each other about our day, it’s almost as if we don’t work together.Veronica: Once in a while, we’ll happen to have tests on the same day, and kids always think we schemed to torture them.Q: Do you have lunch together?Veronica: [laughs] Maybe once a year, and only if we have a meeting. I think it’s funny that we work in the same place and have the same hours, but our schedules are so different.Q: Do you have a special song/activity/show together, or something that reminds you of him?Veronica: One of the highlights, or special moments, at our wedding was a compilation of the music from “Grease,” so I guess that is our “thing.”