Nora and Neal Surrena

Nora and I met (obviously) at UCF during her last semester. She was taking her final classes from Rosen when I met her through some friends. I was in the middle of my core marketing classes at the College of Business. We kicked it off immediately and soon enough found our favorite date spot: UCF. Whether it was in the spring watching UCF baseball from the outfield or fall watching UCF football from our season ticket seats in section 133. While we were dating, some of our favorite road trips included the Michigan game when we drove a van 18 hours to the game, the Peach Bowl when we brought home the hardware and the NIT Tournament when we frolicked around New York City in our black-and-gold overalls. My favorite UCF memory was September 30, 2018: UCF vs. Memphis. I planned a huge tailgate before that monstrous game, which wasn’t out of the norm. We’ve created a memorable tailgating culture outside of Garage C called The MOAT — but that is beside the point. Before this particular game, I had something bigger in mind. While we were walking up IOA Plaza, I stopped in front of the Charging Knight and proposed to my dear Nora with all of our friends & family around. She said yes, and UCF went on to route Memphis 40-13. Our wedding was slated for November 16, 2019 — yes, a Saturday in the Fall. We picked this date out earlier in the year, so I had no clue if there was going to be a UCF game that day or not. What I call divine intervention (or multiple letters to Danny White…) UCF had a bye week that week. What are the odds? We had an amazing wedding, highlighted by a guest appearance by Knightro. It was the perfect knight. We are now Mr. and Mrs. Surrena, proud alumni of the University of Central Florida.