Valerie and Jay Martin

My husband would say he joined the UCF rowing team because he heard it was coed. Jay and I met at UCF while going to school there. I even sat in on one of his classes to take notes for him. We met on the UCF rowing team while traveling to Philadelphia for a crew championship. He won the Dad Vail, and I was so excited for him. He asked me to come to a swimming pool party, which ended up being a kiddie pool. And from there we started dating and had so much fun going to school together at UCF. We would sit by the Reflecting Pond at lunch. These were the days when you could walk out to the dirt parking lot and visit the local Townhouse restaurant in Oviedo for a $2.50 breakfast. Jay graduated in 1988 with a bachelor’s degree in engineering technology, and I graduated a year later with my bachelor’s in nursing. Since then, we have had four children, and this year will mark our 30th wedding anniversary. Two of our children so far have graduated from UCF, and my youngest is also looking to be a UCF Knight. Our oldest has gone back and has now graduated with his master’s degree from UCF. We are proud tailgating parents and will do anything to watch the UCF Knights football team play. Three years ago I was diagnosed with breast cancer and my husband planned a trip to take me back to all our UCF stomping grounds, including the Reflecting Pond. He planned ahead of time for the UCF women’s rowing coach to take me and him out in their boat to watch the girls row. I felt as if I was back in time reliving all our great experiences. A lot has changed there, including a state-of-the-art rowing facility, equipped with all the latest technology. Back in the ’80s it was an orange grove and we ran along a dirt road and there was one press bench made out of wood for all of us to use. The men’s Central Florida Rowing team ,where my son Jordan was rowing at UCF even made up shirts for me with the logo “pulling for Mrs. Martin” with the breast cancer ribbon being the boat. They surprised me at one of their races with all the CFR team wearing the shirts. I have so many fond memories of UCF as does my husband and loved going to both of our sons’ UCF graduations. It was a feeling of deja vu and knowing just how far we’ve come in 30 years always looking to see what UCF has in store for us. We wear our UCF Knights clothing proudly and always charging on through thick and thin.