In the fall of 2016, psychology teacher Jade Bennett was living in a three bedroom apartment with her friend at MSU. The year prior, the two were the only ones in the apartment. But that year, they received news that the empty room was going to be filled. Initially, Bennett wasn’t thrilled to have another roommate, but that was before she met Allie Stephens. 

“But then we talked to her on Facebook before she moved in and we were like ‘Oh. We’re gonna be fine,’” Bennett said.

The day Stephens moved in, they went to a party that night and instantly became best friends.

“We just immediately

clicked,” Stephens said.

One of the things that really stood out about one another was how they shared the same sense of humor.

“When I first met her I just thought she was much older and more mature than me,” Stephens said. “But I thought she was funny. I remember when we were signing my lease, I was there with my mom and grandma and I was kind of cracking jokes with them and I noticed she was the one who would always laugh at them and I appreciated that.”

To Bennett, Stephens is “the funniest person I’ve ever met.”

“She’s very quick-witted and I’m envious of her because I wish things would come to me as quickly as they come to her,” Bennett said.

For Bennett and Stephens, a sense of humor isn’t where the similarities ended.

“We’re also just very similar in that she’s sentimental in the same way I am and she appreciates the same things I do,” Bennett said. “I don’t have a lot of friends that are like that.”

When Bennett first applied to work at East Lansing, she didn’t get the original job she wanted. After that, Stephens and their friend group rallied around her to cheer her up.

“She took it really hard. But we were trying to cheer her up and we were like ‘you know, everything happens for a reason and it will all work itself out’. And then eventually the psychology position opened up here, and she got it.”

Stephens and Bennett had always joked about one day working at the same school, but they never really thought it would actually happen. After Bennett was hired as a psychology teacher, Stephens was brought in as a building substitute last year and has continued on as a consistent sub for teachers throughout this year.

 “ It was just really special to watch it all happen from the beginning,” Stephens said. “To be in college with her and talk about these things, to then see her get this position. And then on top of all that, for me to come here and get to work with her- it’s just extra special.”