Jess Martinez ’21 and Jeremiah Benjamin ’21

Our story goes back quite a few years as we initially knew each other from middle school! Fast forward to starting college, we went to the same state college for our AA degree and had small interactions while working in financial aid as work-study student workers. After completing our AA, we independently chose which universities to continue our studies and happened to both end up at UCF starting Fall 2019. Even though it’s a large campus, we didn’t have the same majors, or live on campus, we bumped into each other all the time walking around campus! We ended up having our first date at Gringos Locos on campus and then continued to hang out occasionally. When spring semester came around, the pandemic hit, so I (Jess) decided to go stay with my parents in our hometown. But before I left, I went to Jeremiah’s apartment to say goodbye because I wasn’t sure when we’d see each other again; and while I was walking down the stairs leaving, he ran out of his apartment, shouted “wait” and came over to pick me up and kiss me. The rest is history! 🙂