Pressure? What Pressure?

A Teacher of the Year award gave an extra boost to Regan Jones (BS ’22) in her fourth year facing the many challenges of being a third grade teacher.

By Reggie Hayes
Photography by Jeffrey Crane (BA ’98)

Regan (Peppler) Jones graduated from Saint Francis, went searching for her first teaching job and found all sorts of openings for third grade. The insiders knew why: Third grade is a big testing year in Indiana with students taking the Indiana Reading Evaluation and Determination (IREAD) exam.

The pressure to produce successful readers weighs heavily on the teachers, who are judged in part by how many of their students pass IREAD.

You need a certain type of personality to teach third grade. Jones has it.

“I like the pressure,” she said. “That’s something I got from playing sports. The pressure keeps me making sure that I’m showing up every day, ready to go and prepared—because every single day is going to matter when it comes to the state test.”

Jones likes pressure. And she delivers. In May, she was honored as Fort Wayne Community Schools’ Elementary Teacher of the Year for her work in third grade at Bloomingdale Elementary School. “I was really, really shocked,” she said. “I was shocked to even be named my school’s Teacher of the Year because Bloomingdale has so many awesome educators.”

Jones’ interest in teaching dates to her childhood when she and her two sisters used to play school in the basement of their family home in Angola, Indiana. Later, as a high school athlete, her basketball coach, Brandon Appleton, asked her if she’d ever thought about becoming a teacher after watching her help instruct young players at summer basketball camp.

A softball player at Saint Francis, Jones entered the Elementary Education program and earned that degree along with a history degree. Her initial plans to teach at the high school level waned after she visited her older sister Riley’s class at Westfield High School. She’s been a third grade teacher ever since.

“At church, we talk a lot about knowing your path and what God’s calling you to do,” Jones said. “Me and my husband always have conversations that if you’re on the correct path, you’re going to feel super fulfilled. And I do say I leave school every single day feeling fulfilled. Teaching is by no means easy, but teaching is the first thing that I feel came super naturally to me.”

Jones met her husband Dekahri (BS ’23) in a history class about genocide when she was a sophomore and he was a freshman. “He’s not a history guy and all the rest of us were history majors,” she said. “Who signs up for a night class from 4 to 7 p.m. to learn about genocide? I found out he needed a social justice credit. After that, we became part of the same friend group.”

They began dating the next year and the two were married in March 2025. Dekahri uses his degree in computer science at Sweetwater, and the couple lives in Fort Wayne with their two English bulldogs, Chuck and Norman.

Regan laughs now when remembering how Dekahri tried to get her to wear a nice dress on the day she received the teaching award (he knew what was coming; she didn’t). “I was low-key annoyed with him. ‘Why are you telling me what to wear?’” she said. “I should have listened to my husband this one time.”

Regan was overcome with emotions that day. “All teachers need to feel some love, but it’s nice when you can get a little extra,” she said.

Most of her daily joy comes from working with the third graders. “They’re fun,” she said. “They are starting to develop their own personalities. They still respect adults and love being in school, but they can be more independent than in years past.”

There are the expected challenges. Digital technology has shortened attention spans. Students can be less adept at problem-solving because answers are an internet prompt away. Their reading skills are often less than optimal.

But Jones’ favorite subject to teach is reading. It comes at the beginning of her day, and it’s when her students are most focused and she can thrive at what she does best.

“As a college athlete, I was never naturally athletic; I had to work really, really hard to be able to play,” she said. “With teaching, I feel like this is my niche. It’s the thing I’m good at, and it comes naturally. That’s been a good feeling.”