Christina Vazquez ’20 and Carlos Santiago Bañón ’21 ’22MS

Carlos and I met at the Catholic Campus Ministry RSO at UCF in 2018 at an event at Northview. Both nerds, we bonded through our shared love for New Wave, Star Wars and our faith. We became fast friends and grew closer over tons of study sessions at the Student Union. When the pandemic hit, Carlos was there to cheer me on as I walked across my living room to graduate with my degree in English and Political Science. I’ve also rooted for him as he progressed through his BS-to-MS Computer Science program. In 2022, Carlos took me by surprise on my birthday by popping the question, and we got married on September 23, 2023, in the City Beautiful — at St. James Cathedral. Our UCF campus minister, Rev. Josh Swallows, officiated our wedding Mass, and we absolutely partied to Zombie Nation at our reception!