Monique Samblanet Eyal ’96 and Omer Remo Eyal ’95

I had seen him around the fraternity house when I was there and now my sorority was having a bus ride with his fraternity to the UCF football game and HE was on the bus! Bus rides to the football games back then were so much fun! There was a keg on the bus and lots of cheering and singing on the way to and from the game. It’s funny, but I don’t remember much of the game (not because I was drinking) but I do remember catching Remo looking at me a few times on the bus and flirting. My car was parked at the fraternity house so when the bus stopped there, we both ended up getting off the bus. It had been raining that day, so the parking lot and grass were very muddy. I wasn’t really worried about the rain messing up my hair or makeup. Heck the Florida heat and humidity had taken care of that. But I definitely did not intend to get mud on me. Remo had another idea. He thought this would be the perfect time to throw the girl he had his eye on all day into the mud to get her attention. Well, lucky for him, it worked! And little did he know, he had already caught my attention anyway. We continued to date, sharing experiences at UCF in Greek life, watching sporting events, and even participating in Student Government.

We got married, graduated from UCF, and moved to Washington, DC where Remo went to Georgetown Law School, and I worked with my UCF degree as an early childhood educator. We lived there a few more years after Law school graduation during which we had our first child and he practiced as an attorney in DC. Once we found out we were having twins, we decided to back to the Orlando area where we would have warmer weather and be closer to family. After moving back, we raised our three wonderful children here. We have had some really tough times in life and in the relationship, but we never gave up on each other and always put in the hard work. We opened a business almost a year ago where we both work long hours together and love each other more than ever! We wanted our business to give back in many ways and one way is giving back to the place where our love first started, UCF. We try to support UCF by doing things like attending alumni events, hiring students part time from Handshake and volunteering to be a business for the UCF Knight Shadow opportunity. We are honored and both proud to tell people we are UCF graduates and the friends and memories we have are treasured still today! UCF will always hold a special place in my heart for me and I will be forever grateful for meeting my amazing husband there! Now we hold on to the hope that our daughter will attend medical school at UCF and meet the love of her life too!!!