Recently, I had the pleasure of interviewing one of the new members of the faculty here at Delbarton. Ms. Christine Connelly, a first-year teacher (with us) has seven years of previous teaching experience, and currently teaches three classes of 9th grade English and one class of 10th-grade English. However, there is much more to Ms. Connelly than just simply being an English teacher.

I began by asking about her background and life before she became a teacher. Ms. Connelly grew up nearby in Chatham, New Jersey and has been local to this area for a long time now. Additionally, she attended high school at the highly respected Newark Academy, participating on both the swim and cross country teams. After high school, Ms. Connelly went to Lehigh for her undergraduate in English as well as Political Sciences, followed by her masters from Columbia’s Teacher’s College. Following the completion of her education at Lehigh, Mrs. Connelly, quite interestingly, interned with the Secret Service as she had originally wanted to join the FBI. In the Secret Service, Ms. Connelly dealt with counterfeit money, rode in the presidential motorcade, and even met President Clinton, the summation of a very intriguing internship. Additionally, she has worked in a law firm as well as public relations, finally deciding not to join the FBI, electing instead to go into teaching.

Ms. Connelly began her teaching career, after obtaining her master’s from Columbia, at the Newark Charter school, then the Robert Treat Academy, and finally Union Catholic, before joining us here. At Delbarton, Ms. Connelly is currently the assistant coach for the swim team and is looking to take up moderator’s duties with some more clubs or activities. When asked what her favorite part about Delbarton is so far, Ms. Connelly told me she loves both her own curriculum for her classes as well as the work ethic of our students compared to many other places she has taught.

I followed up by asking about Ms. Connelly’s personal life and time when she is outside of Delbarton and her coaching responsibilities. In terms of pets, something many of us can connect to in our lives at home, Ms. Connelly said she currently has none but wants a very specific pet in the future: a berna-doodle named Millie. In terms of her hobbies and what she enjoys, Ms. Connelly loves dystopian teen fiction, cooking, watching the Food Network, and watches a lot of football and basketball with her husband who works as a sports marketing consultant. At the conclusion of our interview, Ms. Connelly revealed an interesting fact; she, after high school, considered applying to West Point and the Citadel with the intention of becoming a JAG officer (lawyer for the army), a career path that clearly would have differed greatly from her teaching career.

If you haven’t done so yet, I would strongly encourage you to start a conversation with Ms. Connelly, as she is definitely one of the most open and interesting teachers to whom I have spoken. I would also like to thank Ms. Connelly for being so cooperative and allowing me interview her, I really enjoyed getting to know her better!