Celebrating Valentine's Day: Love Stories from Campus Sunday, February 14, 2016
In celebration of Valentine's Day, alumni across the country shared their stories of how they met and fell in love at Point Park University. Their stories are below. To share your own story, email alumni@pointpark.edu.
Sarah Clark '11 & Dave Clark '11
By Sarah Clark '11: I met my husband Dave in August 2007 when we were attending freshman orientation. Our first date was about a month after orientation, and we went to the Hard Rock Cafe and then watched Mean Girls in my dorm room. We were inseparable from then on and both graduated in 2011 with bachelor's degrees in business. We got engaged in December 2013 and were married this past October.
Melissa Ferraro '11,'13 & John Ferraro '02
By Melissa Ferraro '11,'13: My husband and I met in a class at Point Park. We were both in the behavioral science program. We used to talk at the bus stop after class. One night he told me it was his birthday and I asked him out. The rest is history. We have been married for 11 years.
Kelly Grant '07 & Dale Grant '07
By Dale Grant '07: My wife, Kelly, and I met at Point Park University in science class during our senior year in March 2007. Our first date was to the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra to fulfill a requirement for my arts appreciation class. Despite the fact that we both lived off campus, we met up for the date in the lobby of Academic Hall. We are expecting twin boys in March, approximately nine years after our first date.
Heather (Pegg) Guthrie '09 & Josh Guthrie
By Heather (Pegg) Guthrie '09: Ten years ago this month, my now husband and I met in Composition 151. It was my second semester at Point Park and it was a decision-changing semester for me. I really missed home, and at the time my roommates and I were not getting along. This boy in my composition class kept staring at me in class one day and I just turned around and said, "What are you staring at?" And that was all it took. Our first date was at the Cold Stone Creamery in Squirrel Hill. A couple years later he knew that he wanted to be with me forever. He proposed to me after graduation at the PPG Place Skating Rink on Dec. 14, 2009 with my family and college friends all around.
Now 10 years later, with a house and a yellow lab, we are still just as happy as when we first met. Whenever we travel to Pittsburgh we always stop at Point Park and look at the new additions and think what a beautiful campus it is turning into. It is awesome to see the athletics programs receiving more recognition. I played volleyball there for four years and my husband played baseball there for two years.
Missy Haught '09 & John Finnell '10
By Missy Haught '09: I met John at Point Park sometime around my sophomore year, his freshman year. We were both in the cinema arts program. John was studying directing and I was studying producing.
After I graduated, I spent a lot of my time hanging out Downtown and around campus. John and his roommates invited me one night. I remember it clearly because it was Sept. 11, 2009. That night two things happened. Our friends Jason Elrod '09 and Sarah (Phillips) Elrod '10 found each other and John and I found each other. I didn't expect it to happen, but we clicked that night. After a conversation that lasted until 6 a.m., John and I decided to "see where it goes."
Now, nearly seven years later it has led to a wedding, an apartment, two film careers, a dog and a million memories neither of us would trade for a billion dollars. John and I will be getting married Oct. 22, 2016. Had it not been for Point Park, we would never have found each other. I'm so happy we did.
Stephanie Hedglin '11 & Joshua Hedglin '11
By Joshua Hedglin '11: Stephanie was the first person I met as a freshman living on the 17th floor of Lawrence Hall. She lived across the hall from me. We've been friends ever since and now happily married.
Kristy Johnson '12 & Ryan Streno '09, '12
By Kristy Johnson '12: I met my fiancé Ryan as a student at Point Park. Ryan played baseball while pursuing his bachelor's degree in sports, arts and entertainment management. He continued his education to pursue a master's degree in adult education while working as an assistant baseball coach. While he was coaching, I started at Point Park to get my bachelor's degree in public relations and advertising. I met Ryan while cheerleading, as well as at my work-study job for the Physical Plant, where they would sign out the vans to the baseball team. We started dating in 2010 and are getting married in July 2016.
Amanda King '12 & Josh Finkenbinder '12
By Amanda King '12: As soon as I laid eyes on him, I knew he was the one. Josh and I were introduced to each other in 2010 at the campus TV station/camera rental office. He worked on the camera rental side and I worked on the TV studio side. We had a hallway between us, but that didn't keep us apart. I moved away after graduation to pursue a career in broadcast journalism, so we didn't initially start dating. I eventually moved back to Pittsburgh and six months later, I asked him out. We've been together ever since. I can't imagine life without my best friend, Josh, and I can't help but think the universe kept pushing us towards each other. If it weren't for Point Park, we would have never met. And, for that, I am grateful.
Jessica Lucas '03 & Chris Lucas '04
By Jessica Lucas '03: I am originally from Lancaster, Pa. If you would have told me my freshman year that I would eventually be a Pittsburgh resident, I would have said you were nuts. My husband Chris and I met in an English class on the eighth floor of Lawrence Hall. I was planning on transferring to a different school after that semester, but I'm so glad I decided not to. We have been married for 12 years and have a 4-year-old son.
Abby Mathieu '14 & Michael Swalga '13
By Abby Mathieu '14: My boyfriend Michael and I met when we were both orientation leaders in 2011. Before every orientation we'd have to give an interesting fact to introduce ourselves to the new students and parents. One orientation, Mike decided to stage a fake proposal to me as his interesting fact. I said no, thinking everyone would know it was a joke. Turns out, the parents and students thought it was serious and felt bad for Mike all day. A year and five fake proposals later he won me over, and we've been dating ever since.
Joelisa McDonald '12 & Max Dennison '12
By Joelisa McDonald '12: Max and I met in the computer lab on the second floor in Academic Hall in 2010. I introduced him to the Black Student Union and he ended up becoming the vice president before me. We are still together, traveling, having fun living life and both now in graduate programs at Duquesne University.
Mollie Mock '06 & Craig Kaufman '05
By Craig Kaufman '05: My sophomore year, as I was moving into my dorm at Lawrence Hall, I was greeted by a lovely freshman, Mollie. We had met previously at a summer dance intensive, but recently found out that she too was attending Point Park. I was hoping the whole move-in day that I would run into her. My heart jumped into my throat and was of course embarrassed to be caught off guard with my parents moving me in. I attempted to make some awkward small talk, and off we went to our separate floors for move in; I do remember she started out on the 14th and I was on the ninth.
I was never in love with ballet, but I knew Mollie would be taking the Pas de Deux (ballet partnering) class, so I enrolled. I schemed it out that we would be partners most of the time. Soon after the year started we started dating, but like most young couples, we had our ups and downs. We were broken up for some time, but then got cast together as a featured duet for a piece by the great Doug Bentz. We reconnected and started our romance again. I graduated and moved to Chicago to pursue dance, all the while hoping she too would eventually move there as well. We broke up because of the distance, but low and behold, Mollie moved to Chicago after she graduated. We reconnected yet again and picked up where we left off. A few years of us dating again, I had to ask myself, why am I wasting any more time? It was at that moment I asked her to marry me, and she said yes. We have been married now a little over four years, and I couldn't imagine spending my life without her. We have supported each other on stage dozens of times in our professional dance careers and lives. Our stage time is now few and far between, but we continue to support each other on life's stage. Point Park will always hold a special place in our heart.
Jessica (Chapman) Ruggery '10 & Donald Ruggery III '11
By Jessica (Chapman) Ruggery '10: In 2009, we met at a Valentine's Day dance that was hosted by the LGBT group on campus. Two weeks later, we went on our first date: a coffee date at the Starbucks on campus connected to Conestoga Hall, where we both resided at that time. As the old saying goes, the rest is history. In February 2011 we got engaged on Mt. Washington, and on Oct. 6, 2012 we were married in Hollidaysburg, Pa. We are currently expecting our first child, due in July of this year! Donnie is currently the operations manager of HazMat Safety and loss prevention at Lowes in Altoona. I am currently a document coding technician at NPC, Inc. in Roaring Spring (I work with U.S. patents). The entire beginning of our relationship revolves around Point Park, it's amazing that we were able to meet and grow up together. We owe more than just our education to Point Park because that's where we found each other.
Dave Viscusi, '05 & Vanessa Pagliuca Viscusi '06
By Dave Viscusi '05: My wife, Vanessa, and I met at Point Park University in August of 2002. I was a transfer student from Schenectady, N.Y. and began in January 2002 in the elementary education program and as a member of the baseball team. Vanessa is from Middletown, N.J. and entered the college in August 2002 as a dance student. The relationship began almost immediately as we met on her first day at Point Park and continued to date until I proposed to her a week before her graduation in April 2006. We married on June 14, 2008 in New Jersey.
Currently, we live in Ballston Spa, N.Y. and have been in our home since 2009. I currently work at Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in the Office of Admissions and she is an assistant director at Maple Leaf Child Care. We have two children, Lilian (my child from a previous relationship), 13 and Lainee who is 4-years-old.
We loved our experience at Point Park and in Pittsburgh, and hold both close to our hearts. We are very proud of the University that brought us together and we could not be more proud of how our story began on the 12th floor in Lawrence Hall.