And now, for the second half of today’s Retriever love stories…
Mitch Case ’11, media and communication studies, met Brian Brown ’13, biochemistry and molecular biology, on the STRiVE Leadership Retreat in the winter of 2010. They started dating soon after, and will have been together six years this March. Brian is currently enrolled in the M.D./Ph.D. program at the NYU School of Medicine, and after nearly three years in a long-distance relationship, Mitch recently moved to New York to be closer to Brian and to pursue his next opportunity. (Photo courtesy of Mitch Case.)
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Ana Schultz ’15, biochemistry and molecular biology, and Alex Lombardi ’15, information systems, dated all four of their years at UMBC. Says Ana: “[We] believe that being [Retrievers] together helped make [our] relationship as strong as it is today.” They will celebrate their seventh anniversary this fall. (Photo courtesy of Ana Schultz.)
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Joseph Eassa ’11, history, and Alison D’Ottavio ’12, modern languages and linguistics, had an education class together and were partners for a project. They became close friends for a year before Alison went to Spain to study abroad, and when she came back, they became a couple. They have been living in New York City for almost three years, and celebrated their five-year anniversary on Thursday, February 11. They got engaged on a trip to Panama in December, with a wedding date to be determined. (Photo courtesy of Alison D’Ottavio.)
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On the night of their microeconomics midterm in the spring of 2013, Kiara Berg ’15, business technology administration, and Justin Mahaney ’15, business technology administration, struck up a conversation, but Justin couldn’t quite place Kiara’s accent. She says that when she told him she was from Sweden, “he was hooked from then on.”
She had forgotten her pencil, so he lent her one. After the midterm, she hung around outside so they could talk more. He asked her if she wanted to start a study group together, which, Kiara later found, was “the college way of asking someone out.” They have been a couple since May 2013, and moved in together last summer. (Photo courtesy of Kiara Berg.)
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As UMBC lacrosse players, Jen Dragoni Muston ’04, American studies, and Pat Muston ’04, psychology, ran in a lot of the same social circles. “Soon after freshman move-in, we became best friends,” Jen writes. “We hung out in between classes on campus and attended each other’s games.” By 2002, they had begun dating, and Jen says they’ve been inseparable ever since.
They got married in Cape May, New Jersey, on August 28, 2010, with about 25 of their closest friends and fellow Retrievers in attendance. When Pat was scouting out proposal spots, he picked the back steps leading up to Potomac Hall, where he says he first saw her leaving for lacrosse practice in 2000.
“He says that day, he knew there was something special,” says Jen. (Photo courtesy of Jen Muston.)
Read about all the couples we’ve featured this year here!
Tags: Ana Schultz, Brian Brown, Jen Muston, Justin Mahaney, Kiara Berg, Mitch Case, Pat Muston
