Alumni Share Their #UCFLoveStory2022

Our journey didn’t start at UCF, but after we both graduated. Our passion for UCF brought us together in 2016 in our hometown of West Palm Beach, and we have been together ever since. We have established ourselves here in West Palm and have three cute fur babies. We’re both part of the UCF Palm Beach Alumni Chapter and cheer on our Knights at every football watch party. We have had the opportunity to attend numerous games since we got together, and even attended five out of the last six bowl games, just missing the 2019 Gasparilla Bowl. Our love story is only growing!

We met in the Marching Knights, Fall ’96. We started dating Spring ’98, and we married December ’01. Our oldest son is 18 and is now also a Marching Knight!

We met at UCF in 2014 and have been together going on eight years now. We always laughed because we had been passing each other all semester and didn’t even know it. We had class right after one another in Room 108 of the Psychology Building. We just got married June 5, 2021! We’ll always have fond memories of our time at UCF and will always be Knights.

We met at UCF through some mutual friends. We sat next to each other at graduation in May of 2018 and grew much closer. We started dating in January 2019, although our relationship was long distance, and got married in December of 2021. If it weren’t for UCF, we would have never met. The rest is history! We couldn’t be happier.

We met the summer of 2013 through Cru at UCF. We quickly made the same friends and realized we both loved football. In our time together as students, we attended all the home football games and many other events. Since graduating in 2017, we have been football season ticket holders twice and traveled to several bowl games. We got married in July of 2020 and continue to make memories through our love of UCF.

We met through mutual friends. Our final years at UCF wouldn’t have been the same if we didn’t have each other. As crazy as our schedules were, we would make UCF the place to spend time together—in between classes or studying all week at the library. UCF has had such a profound impact on our relationship. Now nine years later and four years married, we make sure to always remember what UCF gave us.

In 2012, Diana and Miguel met while working at Tilly’s at the Florida Mall. They both lived in St. Cloud but had never met before. After knowing each other for about a year, they began dating in 2013, Miguel’s freshman year at UCF, where he began to pursue a bachelor’s degree in biomedical sciences. Diana joined the Knights in 2014, also majoring in biomedical sciences. Miguel and Diana continued their relationship and enjoyed many tailgates and late night study sessions together during undergrad. They even worked as lab partners in a path micro lab. In 2019, the couple moved to St. Petersburg, where Miguel worked as a research assistant at John’s Hopkins All Children’s Hospital and Diana studied for her master’s in medical science at USF. Today, Miguel and Diana have been together for more than eight years. Miguel is pursuing his PhD at the University of Florida, and Diana was just accepted to medical school! Miguel and Diana are not only committed to one another, they are also committed to supporting each other to achieve their dreams. They have a seven-year-old hound named Daisy and a 15-year-old cat named Apuchula.

We met in February of 2020 on Bumble. We discovered we both attended UCF and were going to be seniors. We started dates right before lockdown. Parker worked for UCF Football, and I attended almost every football game in college. We had both been in the same place at the same time for two years, including the Fiesta Bowl in Arizona! We are now UCF alumni and have been together for two years. We both share a love of UCF and football, and we could not be more thankful for this love we share!

After meeting at a party in 2009, Jaquelyn and David decided to meet up for happy hour drinks and pizza at a local UCF spot long since gone. 2010 saw them moving in together and finishing up school! These Knights then moved away and added a baby Knight, Elise, to their family. They got married, and then added a final member to their family, naming him Benjamin Knight in honor of their alma mater. It took a few years of figuring things out and establishing careers, but now as season ticket holders, they make the drive for football games and enjoy UCF as a family. 2023 will be 10 years married, and it all began at UCF.

We met during our first semester in honors English class, fall 1999. We weren’t apart for long and took classes together when we could, even though our majors were completely opposite. Sean proposed at Lake Claire, and we were married a year later in 2004. Today we’ve been married for 18 years, have three beautiful daughters, and still live close to UCF. We’re proud supporters of UCF and football season ticket holders for over a decade. Without UCF, we wouldn’t have met!

Ryan and I met at the UCF Homecoming cubicle in the Union in April 2016. We attended KnightThon, football games, and many UCF events for a whole year before I got the courage to ask him out. Our first date was at Starbucks at the end of Memory Mall during the spring of my junior year and his senior year. We started to date knowing he could be leaving that May. By the end of the semester, he shared the exciting news that he was going to be attending UCF for graduate school the following year. I was so excited we would have another year together at UCF! During that year, we created so many memories! I was crowned UCF homecoming queen, Ryan graduated with his master’s, my brother also graduated from UCF, my little sister got into UCF, and many more amazing things. Looking back on the last five years, UCF has been a big part of our family. We love going to UCF football games and cherishing all the memories we made while there. On the way to the game, we always pass that Starbucks and think about our very first date. Thank you, UCF, for bringing us together!

We met in the UCF Marching Knights in 1997, during band camp. We graduated in Summer 1999 and Fall 1999, married a year later in November 2000, and now have two kids. We are season ticket holders to attend all home football games.

We fell in love my freshman year at UCF at a fraternity/sorority event and have been inseparable ever since! We got married the year after we graduated (2019) and are celebrating our 3-year wedding anniversary this year. Some of our best memories are at UCF, and especially at the football games. Go Knights!

We first met in 2010 during homecoming when our fraternity and sorority were paired together. It took a few years, but we finally went on a first date in 2014. We got married in 2017 and had Knightro there!

Greg and I met on the second floor of the Physical Science Building in July of 2016. I was a year into my PhD in chemistry, and he was just starting his graduate degree in chemistry. He was looking for the president of the Uknighted Chemistry Graduate Student Association, which happened to be me. But I had just finished a very early morning in the lab, was really hungry, and wasn’t looking to get into a long conversation with someone. Finally, I told him who I was and that the first meeting was in August, and I gave him my number. We didn’t talk again until the start of the semester but realized quickly that we liked each other. After one date, we made it official. We had countless study and Disney dates before he proposed in February 2018, and we married in July 2019.

We went to the same high school but met officially at UCF—16 years and two kids later, we are still going strong!

We met through friends at UCF and are now dating long distance. Zach is in the Army and making me so proud!

We met while working at the Earl’s at Millenia Mall. We found out we both went to UCF and were both in Greek life. It’s been a love story ever since.

Griffin and I met at UCF Rosen College, when we completed a group project together in Peder Hagglund’s class. He graduated one semester before me in 2011, right before we started dating. Our relationship continued after graduation, and we eventually moved in together while I was working on my master’s degree at Rosen College and we both were working in the hospitality industry. In 2016 we got engaged, and then married. We welcomed our first son, Benjamin, in 2017. Now, we have three beautiful children together (and two golden retrievers)!

We met in the spring of 2016 when we were put into the same Physics II group and instantly became friends. We were originally supposed to switch groups every couple of weeks, but the professor could not get the software to work, so we ended up with the same group all year. We started off as good friends and eventually grew into something much more. We started dating in August of 2017 and have since graduated UCF, adopted our dog, moved to Washington DC, and will be getting married on April 24th, 2022! We would not have found each other if it were not for UCF! Go Knights, Charge On!

We met on my second day of school at a Sigma Chi rush party in August 1982. We dated all through college and graduate school and married in 1988. Our life and love have been a grand adventure. Our daughter, Kate, is UCF class of 2024! GKCO!

I met Brianna through her roommate, Christina, who was a mutual friend. I was going through a tough time in my life in November 2017, and Christina invited me over to their dorm at Lake Claire to hang out and take my mind off things. Brianna was cooking dinner, and I brought an unhealthy amount of raw cookie dough to bake for dessert. After we finished dinner, the three of us went to Light Up UCF, where Brianna learned very quickly about my tendency to make dad jokes and puns. A few days later, Brianna anxiously texted me and asked if I wanted to study for fall final exams with her at Dunkin Donuts. I was an engineering major, and she was in finance/accounting, so we had no classes that we could study for together. I accepted her invite but was unsure of what I was agreeing to—a study session, friendly hangout, or a date? Fortunately, I did not bring anything more than a single folder of study materials, because this study session became more of a social hour. Weeks later, I visited Brianna over winter break, and we went to Hollywood Boardwalk, where we sat on a bench and ate pizza. Evidently, our respective families did not scare each other off, because we got engaged on December 31, 2019, and eventually married on March 13, 2021. Christina, our mutual friend who introduced us, was our maid of honor. Now, we frequent the Bounce House as UCF Football fans, and have also adopted a caliby kitten with a black-and-gold fur coat, whom we named Claire (after the place where we first met).

We met the first day I moved to Orlando, when he helped me move into my apartment. We got engaged after dating for a year and got married one month after graduation in 2003. We have been together for 22 years.

During my senior year, my roommate was dating a student in the ROTC program. I went with her to a ROTC birthday party and met my new best friend! Our love grew as we attended UCF football tailgates and games. We would tag team early morning tailgate set-ups. I pulled his truck up to Memory Mall, and he’d jump out and run to get the perfect spot for all the ROTC students to set up. Fast forward to the end of the year, it was time for him to go to Fort Benning to start his journey as an Army officer. Our last weekend spent together was attending the UCF bowl game in Tampa. Shortly after he left, I followed my heart and moved to Georgia to be near him. We’ve now been married for almost six years with two beautiful children. He is currently stationed in Germany, but we make sure we don’t miss any games, even if it means staying up all night like we did in college!

We met playing intramural sports, had analytical chemistry lab together, then actual chemistry together, got married, and are now expecting a daughter in June!

Kyle and I met by chance during our freshman year of college when I went to visit a mutual friend one weekend. We met that weekend and quickly started texting and calling each other nearly every day. At the time he went to USF, and I went to UCF, but we decided to brave I-4 and start dating. We dated long distance for nearly two years. At the start of each semester, we would accompany each other to our first day of class. It was nice to explore the best of Tampa and Orlando, but we had the most fun at the UCF games. Finally, Kyle transferred to UCF in 2018. 5 years, 2 apartments, and one dog later, we are still together and have both graduated with our bachelor’s degrees from UCF. I will graduate again Spring 2022 with my master’s degree. Kyle has been an amazing support system. The two of us still love to be involved in Knight Nation. We have been football season ticket holders for three years, and just this year became basketball season ticket holders. We both love our UCF community and have agreed that even if we were to leave Orlando, we would still try to attend games and alumni events.

We met on campus in 2016 when I was exploring campus before my freshman year started. I asked him for directions back to Garage A because I was turned around, and he decided to walk me back so I didn’t get lost. We talked for a bit, exchanged numbers and ended up going on a date to Cold Stone Creamery on University. We’ve gone on many adventures, moved cities and adopted pups since then, and I couldn’t imagine having anyone else by my side!

We met at UCF in 2015. The sorority girl fell for the football player…. Or did the football player fall for the sorority girl? Either way, we were inseparable from the day we met. On February 3, 2023, we will become husband and wife!

I was a psychology undergraduate student looking for a research assistant position to help for when I applied to graduate school. Found a position in an IO psych lab. When that lab was over, the researcher shared that if I wanted to be in another lab, she could set me up with another graduate student. I said yes. She split her RAs and passed us down to two different graduate students getting their PhDs. I happened to become my now husband’s research assistant, and that’s how we met. In the ten years since then, we got married, traveled the world (pre-pandemic), both finished graduate degrees from UCF, moved to Texas, and now have an amazing son. We just took him to the UCF campus to show him around for the first time during Christmas break!

I was at work, and I was introduced to Carol. I was totally smitten at first sight. Little did I know, it was already mutual—she agreed. 20 plus years and 2 daughters later—the youngest is a UCF student—and I’m still just as smitten!

I transferred to UCF in 2014 and met Grant online while looking for class and professor recommendations for the accounting program. We met in person for the first time at the communications building near his dorm to study, and from there we basically hung out every day as friends and study buddies. After about a year, he left for a family trip, and while he was gone, I realized I missed him and wanted to date him. He came back and the rest was history! We continued through the accounting program and graduated together in December 2016. We were married in November 2018, and we welcomed our son in September 2020!

While we both attended UCF, we didn’t meet until after we had graduated. Adam and I met at a bar while I was out with a friend. Adam asked me for my number, and we’ve been inseparable ever since. Last year, we welcomed our future Knight, Charlotte.

We met while working together at Blockbuster off Alafaya and Colonial. We worked at Blockbuster until we both graduated from UCF and moved on in our careers. We have been married 11 years now, with two beautiful daughters. Thank you, UCF (and Blockbuster), as well as the wonderful lifelong friends we met during our time at UCF.

Charles and Lourdes met in thermodynamics class when they were both studying mechanical engineering. They started talking about their latest test and found out they had more classes in common. After a semester, they had a mutual friend and study partner who had a hunch there may be more going on. Seven years later, he wasn’t wrong. Thanks, Chris!

While we met in high school, we dated and fell in love the entire course of our UCF careers! In fact, we love UCF so much we got engaged at the 2011 Boston College vs. UCF game. We have a brick commemorating the day!

Aaron and I met through Cru, a UCF campus ministry. We hit it off almost immediately , quickly became friends, and started dating shortly after. Many of our dates included UCF sporting events and local food favorites, like Lazy Moon! We got married in January of 2019 and are coming up on our third year of marriage. One room in our home is dedicated to UCF—posters, Knightro bobble heads, flags, you name it! We still catch every football game either in person or on TV and love seeing UCF excel in both sports and academics. Both of our younger siblings are Knights as well, so it’s a family affair. Thanks to UCF, I have the love of my life forever! GKCO!

The years we were at UCF, the motto was, “UCF stands for opportunity,” and it sure did deliver. Not only did I gain an education, but I also found myself, my love, and my future within its walls. I met my spouse the second semester of freshman year. At the time, we wanted absolutely nothing to do with each other, but destiny had other plans. By the start of our sophomore year, our paths had crossed too many times (on a campus of at least 50,000 students) to feel like a coincidence. Nine years, three children, and countless memories later, we have UCF to thank for our love story. We are grateful to still live by campus, to have weekends to explore the grounds, and for season football tickets to share with our potential future Knights!

We met in class and socialized with our electrical engineering buddies. He proposed while we were building our senior design project with a lab-created wire ring that was mounted with a beautiful red diode light.

Stockton and I met as Marching Knights! What started as a friendship has turned into an amazing 25-year (and still going strong) marriage. We have two awesome boys and still stay in touch with many close friends who were also MKs! Although we’re no longer living in Orlando, we make a point to stop by campus whenever we are in town to visit the place where our family started!

We met freshman year (2002) in calculus. We dated until I finished grad school and were married in 2010. We now have two little boys (3 and 6) who love cheering for the Knights! Our six-year-old’s middle name is Knight.

Lindsay and Josh met while each was a student-athlete on the women’s and men’s rowing teams at UCF in 1999. They dated and eventually moved in together before finishing their UCF careers in 2001. In the more than two decades that have passed since they met, Lindsay has worked in an allied health field while Josh has worked in public safety. They also owned a CrossFit gym for several years before selling it to free up more time for travel, much of which has included following UCF Football to as many away games as possible. They also haven’t missed a home game in years, despite the more than three-hour drive from their home to the Bounce House. They have enjoyed the company of their various rescue dogs since shortly after graduating from UCF. They plan to retire in a few years and search for cooler weather, though proximity to home games at the Bounce House is always a consideration in choosing a destination!

Chris and I met when I was a freshman and he was a junior. Right away, we knew it was the real deal, and we have been together ever since. We loved our time at UCF and were even co-ed rec league volleyball champs! We got married in 2009, and since then we have traveled to many countries and lived in Australia and the United Arab Emirates.

In May 2015, I met Doug in two of my sociology courses. He was a master’s student and I had just started my PhD. We started dating in August and continued through our programs together. Doug graduated with his master’s and went on to join me in the PhD program. After many years of working on our dissertations together, supporting each other through the struggles and all the times we each wanted to give up, we finally graduated together in Spring 2020. In August 2021, exactly six years after our first date, we got engaged. In November 2021, we finally got to walk in our graduation ceremony. I would not have made it through without his support, and I’m so grateful that UCF brought us together.

James and I met at the Students for the Exploration and Development of Space Chapter at UCF (SEDS-UCF). We bonded over swing dancing with the Swing Knights. After studying together for some exams, he asked me “to pursue a relationship with him” in Garage C as we were headed to our cars. We had our first date in the Arboretum in October 2019, and he asked me to marry him a year later. We got married in July 2020!

I lived at Collegiate Village Inn when I started at UCF in 1991. I was calling my family on the pay phone (no cell phones back in the day) to tell them I was settling in and loving everything. Across the courtyard, two guys approached. We made some small talk, but it wasn’t anything more than meeting new friends.
Barry and I instantly became close as friends, but one day he mentioned that his fraternity was going to be attending a comedy show at the student auditorium. Barry asked me if I wanted to go to dinner at Wild Pizza and attend the Jeff Dunham show with him. I happily accepted.
From that moment on, things felt different. We spent each day exploring everything UCF had to offer. Studying, relaxing, or “Movie Knight” by the fountain, attending classes with outstanding professors, cheering on our sports teams, getting social with Greek life or supporting philanthropic events…I could go on and on! 31 years later, our kingdom is thriving! We have two incredible children, successful careers, and continue our lifelong friendships with our fellow AlumKnights. Every homecoming, we return to UCF, reminisce, and reaffirm that it was all “love at first Knight!”

Rob and I met briefly in the fall of 2002, but again at his fraternity’s Super Bowl party in January 2003. We talked a lot that night and soon become friends. We didn’t begin to date until May 2003, as we were afraid our friendship would be impacted if dating didn’t work out. Lo and behold, our friendship and romance blossomed. Rob proposed to me in May of 2008 just after I completed my MSW, and we married in June 2009. We’ve stayed local as our families are also FTU/UCF alumni. I continue to work as a social worker and Rob continues to work as an accountant. Three years ago, he was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, which has completely rocked our world between failed medications, countless hospitalizations, surgery, procedures and some of the rarest and most painful of side effects…it’s been life changing. No matter what, we’re still “Better Together” (our first dance) and we won’t stop #chargingon.

My husband and I both marched in the Marching Knights together in the 80s. But we didn’t start dating until 12 years later in 1998, when we met up again during alumni band for UCF Homecoming. We have been married since 2000 and have a 14-year-old son.

I was a theatre major, and Emily was a music major. Naturally, we met when Emily auditioned for a role in a play I was directing. She got the part, and eventually a husband. We were married in 2016 surrounded by family and UCF alumni. We have since moved to Arizona and have a baby boy named Atreyu who keeps us busy. We may be 2000 miles away from campus, but we will always bleed black and gold and will always be grateful for UCF bringing us together.

We met on a dating app after she commented on my profile, “I’m a Knight too.” Our first date was on February 28, 2019, and within days we were inseparable. One of our early dates was a UCF watch party for March Madness. We went to our first UCF football game (vs. Stanford) as a couple in 2019. Now we plan our fall around attending UCF football games. We were married on December 12, 2021, and she made me the happiest man in the world. We also have a French bulldog named Bocci!

James and I met at UCF our first semester and began dating soon after. We spent every free moment at UCF sporting events (even joining Knightmare Society), playing IM sports together, and hanging out on campus together. In January of 2020, James proposed.
The way we met is even more special because James’ family are longtime UCF fans. His parents Sharlene (Wendel) Martin ’86 and Steve Martin ’87 met at UCF as well. His little brother Stephen Martin is on the football team. We got married on January 8th of this year (2022) and will be starting our new life together in New Hampshire. No matter where we end up, we have two rules for our family: Always support our Knights and NEVER let a kid go to USF.

We started dating on our first day in college in 2013, and Justin spent the night watching TV with me in my dorm common area. We haven’t left each other’s sides since! We have been together since 2013 and got married December 11, 2021. We went to football games, UCF events, homecoming and many more UCF activities together. We love UCF because it’s where we found each other and fell in love.

Todd and I met at FUBAR in the old plaza across from UCF campus one night in February 2011. It was one of his fraternity brother’s birthdays. We both were studying event management at Rosen, but we never had any classes together. A few months after meeting, I reached out to Todd, who was a GM at Blue Moon Nightclub in Waterford Plaza, and he hired me on the spot to be a bartender. Boss turned into boyfriend and is now my husband of almost seven years. We have two daughters (nine months and three years old). Our older daughter thinks every football team is UCF and cheers, “GO KNIGHTS!” It truly melts our hearts. We are so thankful UCF brought us together, and we love raising our future Knights!

Rene and I were both part of Greek life. He was a Sigma Chi, and I was a Zeta Tau Alpha. We knew each other in passing, saw each other at events and through mutual friends. It wasn’t until a semi-formal that I attended with a friend that we started talking. It was right before Christmas break and I didn’t think anything would come of it, but we talked via instant messenger (dating myself I know) or on the phone throughout the break. Made it “official” and started dating in 2006 and have now been married since 2009. Our wedding was like a social, and our wedding party was made up of all EX and ZTA friends. After graduating and spending 10 years in Dallas, we now call Orlando home and couldn’t be happier to be raising our little girl here, hoping she’ll decide to be a Knight as well!

Kailyn and Chuck met working at the Student Union in the event services department! From the heart of campus, to stealing each other’s hearts, they knew it was meant to be. They had their first date at Lazy Moon, and because they loved each other and UCF so much, they even graduated together in 2019. After what probably felt like forever, Chuck proposed on top of Half Dome in Yosemite National Park in August of 2021. Both are now excited to plan their wedding, which will of course be full of their UCF friends and family.

Ashley and I met while both members of the Habitat for Humanity UCF Campus Chapter in 2013. I met her for the first time at a Habitat event called “Shack-a-Thon,” hosted on Memory Mall. After being friends for a year, we finally started dating in 2014. We’ve been together now for over 8 years, and I asked her to be my wife in 2019. We adopted two dogs together, Harper and Kai, and have lived together in Florida, Colorado, and Connecticut. It all started at UCF!

Mike Kilbride (current chief of staff to UCF president) was good friends with me and Brian Peterson. Brian had just won SGA president in 2010 and had an amazing year ahead – but Mike knew he was looking for love and thought his friend from O Team 2008 (me!) would be a great match. We had our first date on January 24, 2010, and the rest is history. We got engaged May 2012, married January 2014, and have two kids. We currently live in Boynton Beach and make it a point to attend as many UCF events as we can! Go Knights!

We met at an intramural soccer game through a friend in common. We started talking, and shortly after that we started hanging out. A few dates later, we started officially dating. We have been married since 2020.

We met in 2005 in marketing class, had a study date at the library, and the rest is history. We got married in 2009 and had our reception in the Student Union. We loved it. 13 years and three kids later, we’re all huge UCF fans!

Phil and I met our freshman year (2012) at a party, where we also ended up meeting our whole friend group. Over the years, we became very close friends. We started dating in 2014 during our junior year. In 2016, we graduated from UCF, and in 2020 we got married. We owe our whole relationship to UCF.

We met in 2012 through Cru, a campus ministry at UCF. We originally met on a Cru spring break trip to Haiti and then ended up both having summer classes together. We met up at the UCF library to study for most of July. In the fall of 2012, we started dating. We dated all throughout undergrad and into Ryan’s master’s program at UCF and got engaged in 2016. He graduated with his master’s the same month we got married, then started his PhD at UCF in August because he just couldn’t get enough. I started my master’s at UCF in fall of 2018. Since we were both students, we could go to all the football games for free. Once we both graduated in 2020, we became season ticket holders. We do our best to go to every home game and one away game. We love to travel and try to represent UCF in all the states and countries we go to. We even saw fellow UCF Knights in Iceland in 2018 when we went on an anniversary trip. We love UCF, first because of the community it brought us in our marriage and in bringing us some of our closest friends. Secondly, UCF truly gave us an abundance of opportunity in academics and beyond. For that, we are so thankful. Go Knights, Charge On.

We met right after our orientation for grad school in the Student Union, and there were sparks between us right away—so much so that our friends noticed and decided to try and get us together. And it worked! We would take the shuttle together to UCF, and we slowly started to fall for each other. We loved getting coffees at Einstein, walking on the boardwalk holding hands, and skating at Light Up UCF. Through our two years there, we not only realized how much we loved each other, but also that we were best friends. We graduated together and started our lives. He proposed in 2017 and we got married in 2018. Now we have jobs in the same company in NYC and live with our fur baby. I owe my family and our happy lives to UCF; otherwise, we would’ve never met or had the chance to grow up together.

Bailey and I were both in Greek life at UCF and met through a mutual friend in 2012. We dated all throughout college and have some of the sweetest memories from it. We have been together almost 10 years and married for two of those years. UCF will always hold a special place in our hearts, and we can’t wait to raise our future kids to bleed black and gold!

We met fall of my freshman year and her junior year through on-campus Christian organizations. We didn’t talk much or become friends until the summer semester of 2017. We had both gotten invited by mutual friends to go bowling. We ended up talking for a while. Later that night she bought me dinner because I was just a broke college student, and that’s when I knew that she was amazing. We got to know each other better over the course of the summer and finally, in September of 2017, I asked her out. Because of Hurricane Irma, we had to wait until homecoming week to have our first date. It was worth the wait. We went to Comedy Knight, dinner, and talked for 12 hours afterwards. We knew pretty quickly we were each other’s people, and this year we finally got engaged! UCF wedding coming up fall of next year, six years after I first asked her out!

We met through Greek life, became best friends and quickly realized we never wanted to be without each other. Now we have a beautiful baby boy and an adorable pup. We always say how everything led us to meeting at UCF, like it was meant to be.

Kacie and I met during undergrad in the summer of 2011. We were both working for UCF Dining Services as Dining Knights. We spent the entire summer together selling meal plans and getting to know each other in the Student Union. We celebrated 10 years of being together last year, and six wonderful years of marriage last December as well.
We have been football season ticket holders for over five years and love going to games and supporting our Knights. We have traveled all over the state (and to Arizona!) to cheer on our Knights at bowl games. We try to stay as involved with our alma mater as we can.
We are proud alumni and are so grateful to UCF for giving us the chance to meet and fall in love. UCF not only gave us each other, but it also gave us our careers and our best friends in the world. We will always bleed black and gold! Go Knights, Charge On!

Joshua’s friend Luis came up from Nova Southeastern to visit, and they decided to hang out one night with Luis’ girlfriend and her roommates, one of whom was Alicia. They met at Natura Cafe right outside campus. Alicia was in her first year; Joshua was in his third. The attraction was immediate. They just celebrated their eleventh wedding anniversary last month!

Our 20 years of love and laughter doesn’t happen without UCF and the 2002 Atlantic Sun Men’s Basketball Championship.
Jessica and I were both interning for the UCF Athletics Communications Office but had never met before working at the basketball championship, which was hosted on campus at the old arena. The Knights lost in the semifinals, and FAU eventually took the championship title, but I was the real winner at the event.
During a postgame press conference, I was introduced to Jessica. We shared a love of sports, and so much more. We were – and still are – a perfect match. We’ve been married for 16 years and have two wonderful kids, and a great dog.
I worked for UCF Athletics for nine years and the university remains an important part of our lives. Our children have grown up attending basketball and football games, and Jessica received her master’s degree from UCF in 2020. We are proud to be part of the UCF community and will always be grateful for the opportunities that the school has provided for us, none more important than connecting us during a basketball tournament on March 1, 2002.

We met in our first class for the radio/television production major in January 2008. We both began working on Knightly News and quickly became friends. Fast forward a few months (and a few bad relationships) and the realization hit us, friends wasn’t enough.
In December 2009, I got a job offer in California. We decided to drive cross country and make an experience out of it! After stopping in New Orleans, Sedona, The Grand Canyon, and Las Vegas, we arrived in Santa Cruz, CA and Donald flew back home to begin our bicoastal relationship. It didn’t last long. Donald decided to move less than 3 months later.
He proposed and we got married in 2016. We’re still living a great life on the West Coast, and we owe it all to our days on Knightly News (and happy hour at The Library).

We met in 2009 through a mutual friend, who was also a fellow UCF student. We dated through the remaining time we were UCF students, even taking a class together. We were married in 2014. We’ve happily been together for almost 13 years!

Daren and I met at North Gate Lakes student housing in 2017 after waving to each other from our balconies. We began hanging out and soon enough started dating. This past October, we celebrated our four-year anniversary and adopted a cat together named Kiwi. We’re so thankful we met each other during such a fun point in our lives, as we had the chance to attend UCF football games together (including the Natty Champs), figure out adulting together, and best of all watch each other walk the stage at graduation.

Kyle and I met at Shepherd’s Hope, where I was interning for events with Rosen College. Kyle was studying biology at UCF to apply to medical school. We both lived at Knight’s Circle for two years in the building next to each other without ever knowing. UCF will always have a special place in our hearts because it’s where our love story began!

We met as sophomores living off campus at Alafaya Club apartments. The girls lived upstairs from the boys and decided to leave a magnet message on the door during move-in week, “Come Say Hi -303”. Everyone happened to be from South Florida! The groups merged and spent many fun weekends together, and Phil and I hit it off. We started meeting at the Tech Commons in between classes to study. We graduated together, moved in together back home, got married, and just welcomed our baby Knight a few months ago. We know UCF sealed our fate almost 10 years ago and have been Charging On ever since!

Although we went to middle and high school together, Nick and I didn’t connect and start dating until our first year at UCF. Both of us were political science majors, and for our three years at UCF we met at Dunkin Donuts by Towers almost every day. We enjoyed watching the National Champs play whenever UCF football had a home game. When we graduated in 2020, we headed to Milwaukee for law school. We got engaged after our first year and are in the process of planning our wedding. Milwaukee is our new home, but UCF will always be in our hearts. GKCO!

I had moved to San Jose, CA in February of 2018. After a few months of living in my new home, I matched with a guy on a dating app. After a few weeks of chatting, we decided to finally meet in person. Our first date ended up being a UCF watch party with the UCF alumni of Silicon Valley. We both were new to the area and consistently went to watch parties after that date and formed some great friendships with other alumni. Fast forward almost four years later, my now fiancé and I have attended games all over the U.S. as well as watch parties, and we are still representing the black and gold in our new home, Phoenix, AZ. UCF watch party- GREAT first date idea!

Deanna and I met during the Fall 2019 semester. It was at the first meeting of the semester at Chi Alpha, a Christian student ministry. I was already part of the club and leading a discussion group, while Deanna was attending for the first time. We shared a fun discussion and learned some ways that we were similar, like how we were both English majors. We also lived in neighboring communities on campus (me at Hercules and her at Nike), so we would often walk back home together after meetings. The more we talked, the more we got to know each other, and eventually she invited me to her church, which led to even more time together. Our conversations were always fun, chill, and left me with a smile on my face. By the time winter came, we were practically best friends! We even had favorite spots to hang out, like at the lake by Neptune, and sometimes we’d wake up early and catch the sunrise there. By that point I knew that we were both feeling more than friendship. To make sure I wasn’t going crazy, though, I brought it all up to my best friend Josh, and he encouraged me to go for it. On January 26, 2020, I let Deanna know how I felt about her, and she felt the same way. We wanted to be together. We recently celebrated our two-year anniversary, and we have made many incredible memories. There’s no doubt in my mind that there will be many more!

Trent and I met through our friend Michael at a UCF baseball game on Dollar Dog Night back in 2014. Once I met him, I just knew he would be the one. When Trent proposed, he took me on a scavenger hunt to some of our most special spots before saying the words, “Will you…” A walk through the baseball stadium was our first stop, followed by a walk around Lake Eola, where we had our first date. We married in 2018 and now have a son named Eli, who we are hoping is a future Knight. Go Knights!

I was playing indoor volleyball with a group of friends at the UCF gym when suddenly, I saw the most gorgeous man I’ve ever laid my eyes on casually walk onto the court. I was at a loss for words. He asked to play with us and thankfully my friends answered because I still couldn’t even form a syllable. After many attempts to start a conversation with this man, I finally got the guts to speak, and all that came out was, “I like your shoes.” I called my mom and jokingly told her I met the man that was going to have my babies. Long story short, we found each other on Facebook, chatted for a week virtually, met up to play beach volleyball at UCF … and we have been together for over 10 years, are about to celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary, and welcomed our first daughter, Lily, to the world in 2021 … I guess I wasn’t joking when I told my mother this man was going to father my children!

We met playing Ultimate Frisbee. We were both members of our respective club Ultimate teams. After about a year of hanging out in the same circle of friends, we became closer. I posted in our friend group about a concert to see Bon Iver, and Mieshko was the only one who could go. We ended up spending the evening together and had a great time. In the coming weeks, I left for a study abroad opportunity and we spent the summer apart, but we spoke over Skype whenever we could. When I got back before the fall semester, we started dating! Within a year we were engaged, but we waited to get married until after we both graduated from UCF. We’ve now been married for almost six years and have even played on the same Ultimate team a few times. We bought our first house in Orlando within a few miles of the university and have two kitties that we spoil to no end. So grateful to have met my best friend, Frisbee partner, and love of my life at UCF.

My dorm room was directly above his. One day, his roommate knocked on our door to ask us to be quieter. He stayed, and eventually we went down to his room, where I met my husband. We will be celebrating fifteen years this February.

Gary and I met in 2009 through a mutual friend at the UCF Bookstore the first week of classes. We became friends, and over the course of two years of attending Late Knights, UCF sporting events, Qdoba lunch dates and a few 2 a.m. Study Union sessions, we realized our friendship had grown into something more. Orlando and UCF will always hold a special place in our hearts. Although we’d moved, Gary proposed during a trip to Disney, and we were married in Orlando in 2016. We are huge UCF football fans and look forward to attending homecoming with our children each year!

Leave it to a Diversity and Inclusion Social Mobility class presented by Dr. Edwanna Andrews to change our lives forever. This class really had all of us opening up during a particularly difficult time in my life, and when I arrived back to my office there was the sweetest email from someone who, at the time, I did not know: “Hi There! I was in the Unpacking Social Identity class with you this morning. It sounded like you’ve been going through a rough patch, so I wanted to tell you that you seemed like a genuinely nice person, and I hope you have a great rest of your day 🙂 Jenna.” Two weeks later we went on our first date, two years later I asked her to marry me surrounded by roses, perennials, and other beautiful flowers at scenic Hershey Gardens in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and in less than 300 days we will be married. One of the most amazing and unexpected chance meetings in my lifetime. Cannot wait for our wedding day! #KnightConnection

Taylor and I met over a plate of fried zucchini. Literally. It was our freshman year, and we both lived in Lake Claire. Someone left a plate of fried zucchini outside their door, and I thought it was pretty funny. Later that night, Taylor was asking anyone who walked by the building if they had any information on who left it, and I mentioned that I saw it a few hours prior. We ended up seeing each other around campus and Lake Claire, and we were dating within a month. Over four years later, we’re still together and just adopted a cat named Mau! To this day, Taylor still swears that I must be responsible for that plate of fried zucchini.

I am submitting this about my parents! My dad, Kurt, was a kicker on the UCF football team and a member of the Pike fraternity. My mom, Teresa, was a ZTA. They had mutual friends and met at a UCF football game tailgate after my dad graduated from the team. Since then, they got married in 1992 and have been the biggest UCF fans! They had my brother and I a few years after they got married and have raised us to be Knights since the beginning. They have been season ticket holders since the nineties and have gone to every home game in the Citrus Bowl and the Bounce House. They have a room completely covered in UCF memorabilia from the over 30 years they have been Knights, including my dad’s kicking shoe, bowl game newspaper articles, the very first UCF Division I game tickets, and pictures of them each walking across the stage. Kurt and Teresa stayed in Orlando to stay close to UCF. Growing up, I knew that every Saturday was for the Knights. Because of their love for their school, I grew up wanting what they had. I just graduated from UCF in 2020! Kurt and Teresa love to support UCF any way they can. They bring friends to every game and host watch parties for any away games they can’t make it to. They are amazing parents, spouses and Knights!

Angie and Bruno met in June 2013 while attending their freshman college orientation at UCF. The morning of the first day of orientation, they were assigned to the same orientation group and paired up as orientation buddies. As the day went on, Bruno and Angie got to know one another. But once the first day of orientation was complete, they went their separate ways.
Fate brought the two together again the first week of the Summer B semester when they met up at a “Welcome to UCF” pool party. Angie and Bruno spent more time getting to know one another. The following fall semester, Bruno asked Angie on their first date, and the rest is history. After eight years together, Bruno and Angie are engaged and will be getting married in December of this year.

We met in a College of Business registration line going into the second semester of sophomore year. This was back when students were assigned a PIN number and time to go to the college of your major and register in-person for classes. I decided to show up over an hour early to get in line, hopeful that I could just register for my classes when I got there. To my disappointment, I had to stand in the line for well over an hour and continually tell the person behind me to go ahead. Eventually, the very last person I was going to have to tell to go around me was Craig. We began to chat for a minute, and he was so kind, explaining that a few of the classes I might want to register for were closed, but giving me suggestions for those that were still available. I distinctly remember having the thought pop into my head, “What if you marry this guy?” It sounds crazy, and at the time I couldn’t believe I even thought to ask myself that! But I thanked him for the help, and then we went our separate ways.
Until that semester began… I walked into one of my business classes, and guess who was there? Craig. The rest, as they say, is history. We quickly fell in love and truly believe we were destined to meet in the registration line that day. We feel like we share a love that storybooks and songs are written about, and it all started at UCF. We will be married 24 years in November and have two children, one of which is now a Knight! UCF changed our lives forever and will always have an extra special place in our hearts.

We met when we were both pre-health students. I worked at the UCF Dental Center all of undergrad and he came in and was my patient. We talked throughout the appointment and hit it off. We didn’t talk much after that, but I was very interested in him. Six months later he came in for a follow-up appointment, and I offered to help him plan his classes since we were both studying biomedical sciences. That next summer, I was taking microbiology and he was a T.A. for the class, so I would always reach out for help. Eventually, he got the hint that I was into him, and the rest is history! Now we are both at the University of Pittsburgh, him at the School of Medicine and me at the School of Dental Medicine.