Newsroom

Connor ‘24 and Rachel ‘24

Everything happens for a reason

Rachel and I first crossed paths while attending rival high schools in Richmond. Although we were aware of each other through mutual friends, we were merely acquaintances at the time. It wasn't until senior year when the buzz of college acceptances flooded Instagram that I noticed Rachel's acceptance to CNU. Taking the opportunity to extend my congratulations, I connected with her on social media, but our interaction didn't progress beyond that initial exchange.

Our paths converged again during our freshman year at CNU when we both became involved with the Campus Activities Board. We found ourselves among a committee of 25 freshmen tasked with planning movie nights, haunted houses, and various other enjoyable events. It was during this time that I began to develop feelings for her, though the timing never seemed quite right. Despite this, we maintained a friendship that endured until the homecoming of my junior year.

Following a casual outing to Sweet Frog with some CAB friends, Rachel kindly offered to drive me back to my apartment. In passing, I mentioned tentative plans to attend the football game and impulsively extended an invitation to her. To my surprise, she called me just before the game began, inquiring about my whereabouts. Her unexpected presence added an element of joy to the game, and afterward, we made plans to play board games at my apartment. Looking back, that impromptu invitation marked the beginning of our romantic journey.

We both believe in the adage that everything happens for a reason, and our experience is a testament to this belief. Since that serendipitous moment, Rachel and I have been inseparable, cherishing each day together as a testament to the unexpected twists of fate.

Maya ‘23 and Andrew ‘23

Day Ones

Maya Nicolaus (maiden name: Turner) and I connected through Instagram the summer before entering our first semester at CNU in 2019. On freshman move-in day (August 17th, 2019) I saw Maya across the great lawn wearing a Young Life shirt, and went up to her to introduce myself in person. From there, we hit it off as best friends, and got super close that fall semester as we navigated the ins and outs of college.

Then, come our spring semester, we continued to get even closer (at this point, I had a massive crush on Maya) and she ended up staying in my hometown for spring break. We ended up sharing a kiss that break, which then led to conversations of our mutual feelings for each other. Unfortunately, though, this was right when COVID hit CNU and we were sent home (Maya went to Florida, and I went to Maryland), where we were apart the rest of the semester and during the summer. During this time we shared endless FaceTime calls, and I even flew down to Florida to visit her.

For many people, the summer of 2020 can be remembered as the worst summer ever, but for me, I remember it as the summer when I fell in love with my best friend. After the summer, we entered our sophomore year at CNU, and ended up making our relationship "official" on September 4, 2020. It was literally the start of forever! Throughout our relationship at CNU, Maya and I were both involved in Young Life, CAB, Residence Life, and were in many of the same COMM classes together. We dated all of Sophomore year, all of Junior year, and then come Senior year, I proposed to Maya in her hometown on September 16, 2022.

Besides working on our Senior Sem project together, we spent all of Senior year wedding planning and creating roots for our future life together. After graduating in May of 2023, we had another long distance summer, but then we officially tied the knot and got married on September 9, 2023 with our best friends standing by our side (who were also CNU alum).

I always hoped that I would meet my wife in college, but I did not expect her to show up on my first day there. Everyone knows CNU for its welcoming, close-knit community, and I can attest- it is true! CNU literally introduced me to my wife on day 1, and welcomed us both into the community with open arms. To say that our time spent together in college was a dream is an understatement. Our time at CNU was the biggest blessing of our lives, and flourished a lifetime of love and joy.

Brittany ‘14 and Ron ‘14

Dinner at Regatta's

My husband, Ron, and I met on Valentine’s Day 2012 at dinner in Regatta’s. We were sitting with a group of mutual friends bemoaning the fact that we were all single. He told me that he was sure my other Valentine’s Days would be better after that one and he was right! We both graduated in 2014, and then returned to CNU in 2017, where he proposed at the bell tower! We were married in the library in 2018 surrounded by our family and friends. We have a daughter, born 10 years after we first met, and we hope that one day she’ll go to CNU like Mama and Dada!

Rick ‘95 and Lara ‘94

Intro to Theatre (and so much more)

In the spring of 1992, I was a junior History major at CNU and a member of the baseball team. My sophomore year I had to take an Intro to Theatre class to fulfill a humanities requirement or something and David Balthrop, the professor of the class, made us go see all the productions the theatre department was putting on. The first one I saw was the musical The King and I. I had grown up as a jock and had never seen any theatre before but when the woman playing Anna (the and I part) came onstage, I was immediately smitten. Her name was Lara Brier and she was a beautiful, talented ingenue who could sing and act and I knew I had to find a way to meet her.

That spring Professor Balthrop was teaching a Makeup for Theatre class. I assumed if we had to see the plays in an Intro class, in a makeup class we would have to actually work on the plays. I knew so little about theatre I figured every actor had their own personal makeup artist! So I talked another baseball player (Jeff Olsavicky) into taking the class with me and when we first arrived we were like strangers in a strange land. BUT it turns out Lara was in the class too! So I started pursuing her and she rebuffed me repeatedly until near the end of the semester.

On April 8, 1992 we had our first date. We got married on January 4, 1997 and we were together through good and bad, from then until September 20, 2015 when I lost her to breast cancer. To say she changed my life is beyond an understatement. I ended up double majoring in History and Theatre and have maintained a career in professional and academic theatre for more than 25 years now. I was actually an adjunct at CNU in the fall of 2022. She had an amazing career as a teacher/vocal coach and actor and there is a memorial plaque to her in the Arts Garden at the Ferguson Center.

One final part to the story, our son Aidan is currently a freshman music major at CNU and I am so proud and thrilled that he followed in our footsteps.

Sally ‘14 and Julia ‘15

It all started at Einstein's

Sally and I met at CNU in 2013. Our first meeting was on a late study night in Einstein’s, and then we followed up the next day with lunch at Commons. We have been inseparable since that day! Sally graduated in 2014, and I graduated the following year in 2015. We have lived in three states, from Virginia to Alaska, and now are in our greatest adventure, parenting our beautiful daughter together. CNU will also have a special place in our hearts

Matt ‘18 and Cynthia ‘18

Admitted Freshman Day

April 5, 2014. Admitted freshman day! We were introduced through a mutual friend and it was almost as if it were love at first sight. We spent a lot of time together over the summer and leading up to band camp where I asked her to be my girlfriend. We spent some time together and apart over the years and finally reconnected and got married 9 years to the date from when we met at CNU. Attached are some wedding pictures, thank you CNU for the greatest gift I could have ever asked for.

Kimberly ‘22 and Jordan ‘22

Something in Common(s)

My boyfriend Jordan and I are celebrating our 3 year anniversary this weekend. We are both alumni of CNU and graduated in 2022. We originally met in Commons where we would both often eat lunch at the same time.

Caitlyn ‘23 and Zack ‘23

A global pandemic couldn't keep them apart

Zack and Caitlyn met freshman year at CNU through mutual friends, but they didn’t start dating until the Covid-19 pandemic sent them home to different states. After nearly 6 months of long distance dating, they happily returned to CNU and seeing eachother in person. Now, almost four years later, they live in Newport News with their two cats, Luffy and Simon.

Aidan ‘24 and Beverley ‘24

Parent (Facebook) Trap

We are seniors here and we have been together since first semester of Freshman year. We started dating September 27, 2020 and we are coming up on three and a half years in March. When I first made it to CNU I had trouble making friends so my mom posted on the 2024 parent page that her daughter was driving her crazy with calling at breakfast, lunch, and dinner and eating by herself. Aidan's mom then commented under my mom's fb post and said basically that her son was the same was and to send me his way. After five attempts of trying to talk myself into knocking on the door, I finally did. When he opened the door he asking if I was there for his roommate and my reply was I'm actually here for an Aidan. We exchanged numbers that night and we then started eating meals together and hung out during our free time. After a little bit over a month of hanging out we were watching an episode of an anime we had started together and I grabbed his hand. He then responded "by the way you just grabbed my hand to hold it, I'm going to assume that you like me as well." A week later we had went to my hometown and on the way back I asked him to make it official. That's our love story, and we hope to continue to make more memories together for the unforeseeable future!

Shomari ‘17 and Leah ‘16, ‘17

Clear as day

My name is Leah Richardson and I met my significant other, Shomari Wright, at CNU in the Fall of 2013. He was on the football team and I was on the track team so we easily saw each other around at all of the athletic meetings. One day before track practice, I was leaving the athletic training room to get my knee taped. Shomari bumped into me and did not recognize me as we had previously had conversations on social media. Come to find out, his contacts fell out during practice so he was unable to see me clearly. Since that day, we’ve pretty much been inseparable. We are currently still together with our pet dog, Ghost, and both teaching in Newport News Public Schools.

Devon ‘11 and Matt ‘11

Crewmates turned soulmates

We first met at Setting Sail 2007 when we were assigned to the same crew. We remained friends through out the years, and spent hours together in the Library studying for Astrology. Note: the class is not just about constellations and was much harder than we both anticipated.

One fateful Cinco de Mayo in 2010, Devon texted Matt to join a group of friends at a bar, and the next month we started dating. Almost 14 years later, we’ve been married for 10.5 years, have two beautiful children and have settled down in Wake Forest, North Carolina.

Nick ‘23 and Malory ‘23

We're sensing a theme (unit) here...

We met in James River Hall during COVID in the Fall of 2020. We were randomly placed in the theme unit, and became close friends with each other throughout the school year. We would hang out with our other suitemates almost every night because during COVID, if you didn’t talk to your roommates, you couldn’t talk to anyone!

We actually got married in Pope Chapel at CNU and had our reception in the DSU Ballroom! It was the most perfect day ever. I will always be grateful to CNU not only for my education, but because I met my soul mate there too!

Jay ‘26 and Molly ‘26

A band camp kind of love

When I came to CNU in August of 2022, I had the pleasure of meeting my now-girlfriend, Molly Brittle. We met at band camp for the Marching Captain's that August, and got close fast. We began dating in November of 2022, and have been happily together ever since. We are looking forward to our second Valentine's Day together, and can't wait to celebrate it at CNU again!

Erin ‘24 and Morgan ‘24

When random roommates work out

Erin and I met our Freshman year as random roommates (not totally random, we met through the CNU '24 Facebook page and decided to be roommates, but we did not know each other at all before then and did not meet until we moved in)! We lived in Santoro and instantly became best friends, absolutely attached at the hip! We were roommates and best friends our Freshman and Sophomore year, then the summer before Junior year we made it official. We are still roommates to this day and this June we will have been together 2 years! Upon graduation we plan to move to Atlanta together, begin our careers, and start our life together!

Norah ‘26 and Jackson ‘26

"Hey I like your sweater."

Our first interaction happened just over a year ago. I was in Regattas and she passed by me and complimented my sweater. I did not think much of it at the time, but looking back on it it's funny that our first interaction was then. A few months later I had posted an instagram story of myself in a nice outfit. She reached out and said I looked like I would be a psychology professor. From there we communicated over winter break until we were finally able to meet one another in the spring semester. Once we met each other, we became inseparable and we just celebrated our one year anniversary on February 4th.

Juliana ‘12 and Nick ‘11

Everything happens at CNU

Juliana and Nick met while attending CNU, got engaged at CNU, got married in the Pope Chapel ten years ago and have two future Captains: Felicity and Zoey.

Beth ‘93 and Greg ‘92

Cheers to 30 years!

Beth and Greg celebrated their 30th anniversary this past December.

Danielle ‘01 and Aaron ‘01

It all started at the Ferg

Me and my husband met in a government class in Ferguson in 1999, as we both were criminal justice/governmental administration majors. I graduated as Danielle Cartenuto in May 2001 and my husband is Aaron Barnhart, graduated Dec 2001. Friends turned into husband and wife in 2004, and we are about to celebrate 20 years of marriage in April! We have 3 sons, Noah (senior in HS), Eli (junior in HS) and Jacob (a freshman in HS). Today, Aaron is a Deputy Chief for the State of Connecticut Judicial Marshalls and Danielle is a small business owner. That’s our story! Thanks for being the beginning of it, CNU!

Andy ‘12 and Emilee ‘13

"Hey I'm your future husband."

This is Emilee (Nystrom) Stevens, class of 2013. I met my husband Andy Stevens, class of 2012 at CNU homecoming in 2012.

We’d crossed paths previously but hadn’t ever met until mutual friends introduced us at the homecoming tailgate. Andy had graduated the previous spring and came down on the weekend after work. Dressed in his business casual, he met friends on Friday night at a Halloween party. Since he wasn’t dressed up, he told people his business casual work attire was a costume - the costume was “your future husband.”

Even though I wasn’t in on the joke, that’s how he was introduced to me - Emilee, meet Andy, your future husband. In May 2015 that became true. We now are a family of 4 along with our 3 month old daughter Ruth Anne Stevens and dog Turner Classic Movies Stevens.

Seth ‘17 and Kara ‘17

Swipe right success

Seth Bishop and I (Kara Bishop) met at the beginning of our senior year in August of 2016. We both “swiped right” on Tinder and it turned out to be a perfect match! Seth proposed in August of 2020 and we were married March 12, 2022 in Hampton, VA!

CNU is where our love story began so we made sure to take our engagement photos on campus!

Photo credit: Ryann Winn Photography

Victoria ‘16 and Jacob ‘17

Next door neighbors

Jacob and I (Victoria) met in August of 2012 when we were both assigned to the fourth floor of Potomac North as next door neighbors. We became friends and remained so throughout our freshman year. We had a lot in common, and even realized our birthdays were only a day apart.

We started dating our sophomore year (October 25th, 2013-remember this date, it’s important later). I graduated in 2016, and Jacob graduated a year later. We were married March 9, 2019.

On February 24, 2021, we welcomed our first child, a boy named Declan. Just a few months ago, on October 24, 2023, welcomed our second child: a little girl named Birdie. A day after Birdie was born, Jacob and I celebrated an entire decade together. Next month, we will be married for 5 years.

I can’t think of a better life than the one I have now. So a special shout out to the housing office of CNU for their A+ work!

Eric ‘07 and Caitrin ‘08

It's all Greek (Life) to them

Eric and I met at CNU during my junior year in January 2007. I was in Alpha Sigma Alpha and he was in Kappa Delta Rho. My little sister in my sorority was dating Eric’s fraternity brother and said she had the perfect guy for me. Sure enough, she was right! I felt home as soon as I met him. We’ve now been married for 15 years with 2 beautiful children ages 13 and 9. I’m so incredibly grateful for the four years I spent at CNU and even more grateful that I met my soulmate there.

Cait ‘12, ‘13 and Phil ‘12

🎶 It's a love story, baby just say yes 🎶

(Phil actually did have a Taylor Swift poster in his PoNo dorm room circa 2008)

We’re Cait & Phil Cedor. We met at PLP Week in Summer 2008, got married at CNU in 2014, and are celebrating our 10 year anniversary this year.

Cait was an Alpha Phi and Phil was a rugby player. Cait was a history major (‘12) and MAT graduate (‘13), while Phil graduated with an accounting degree from the business school (‘12). Dr. Heuvel was their favorite professor, and they are still close with many of their CNU friends.

When Phil proposed in 2013, they knew their wedding needed to be at CNU where their love story began. Cait and Phil were one of the first couples to get married at the Chapel, and the party continued in the DSU Ballroom for their reception. They even got special permission to take their “first look” pictures in P.Trib’s back yard!

Today they live in Richmond with their 3 daughters. Cait is a history teacher and Phil works for Capital One. They are hoping that at least one of their girls ends up at CNU.

Bill ‘94 and Sya ‘97

Opening a door to love

I met my wife in 1992 while attending CNU. I opened a door, and she was there! I stuck my hand out, introduced myself....the rest is history! She has made me the luckiest guy in the world ever since.

We are the very proud parents of two sons and have been married for 28 years! Sya had just graduated from UVA, and I was still finishing my degree at CNU. She later went on to get a second degree from CNU, so even though we did not go to school together, we are both Captains.

I work for the Newport News Airport and think of the first time we met every time I look out from my office window. The door I opened when we met was from an apartment just outside of the airport fence. PHF will always be my favorite airport because of that memory.

Zack ‘09 and Melody ‘09

A (not so) random encounter

My wife, Melody, and I met at Setting Sail back in 2005. She was the beautiful theater major who played the lead in CNU's production of Urinetown, and I was the nerdy Communications Major working in the IT Department at Northrop Grumman. During my junior year, I had a photography class in the Ferguson Center for the Arts that happened to coincide with the dismissal of a dance class that Melody was taking. So, I would 'step out' of my photography class to 'randomly bump into Melody' as she was walking to her car. Don't worry, I still got an A in photography.

That same year, I took my sister, Joy (also a CNU alumna), to see Taylor Hicks at The Ferguson Center, a concert that Melody happened to be attending as well. My sister and I bumped into Melody (this time it was actually a random encounter), and after meeting Melody and seeing the chemistry between her and me, my sister stopped, looked at me, and said, "Are you stupid? Why haven't you asked her on a date?" So, a while later, I built up the courage and did just that. Melody and I started dating in the second half of our junior year, got engaged our senior year, and then were married two months after we graduated from CNU (Class of 2009).

Since then, we have both gone on to earn our master's degrees from Southeastern Theological Seminary and currently serve at LifeBrook Church in Houston, TX. Early in our marriage, we felt a calling to adopt, and after six years, that opportunity swiftly became reality. In a whirlwind of events, we went from hearing about the possibility to cradling our newborn son in just six weeks. As we were driving to Florida to meet our newborn son, Melody began feeling carsick. After a few days, she was still unwell, and we discovered that her 'carsickness' was actually 'morning sickness.' Seven months later, our daughter was born! Since then, we have welcomed one more child and today, as parents of three wonderful children, we find immense joy in both nurturing our family and shepherding our church community at LifeBrook Church.

Jennifer ‘17 and Connor ‘17

From freshman welcome week to eternity

Connor and I met the first weekend of freshman welcome week. Connor and I instantly clicked and began officially dating 6 days after meeting. Connor was a member of Kappa Sigma and the Rugby Team. I was a member of Alpha Phi, Orientation Team, Recruitment Counsellor, and participated in Dance Concert. We shared our love of community outreach and enjoyed working together at Mikey’s Camp each year. We just celebrated 10 wonderful years together in August. We had a beautiful wedding celebration on November 3,2023. We live in Northern Virginia and enjoy spending time with our family, friends, and two dogs (Cooper and Huntley). We are so grateful to have met at CNU!

Kathryn ‘18 and Ian

A couple of the Commonwealth

My husband, Ian, and I met at CNU! We met through a mutual friend (his DU brother) in September 2015, then started dating almost exactly a year later in September 2016. He proposed in December 2017 at Christmas Town Busch Gardens, and we got married at the Dominion Club in Richmond, VA in October 2018. We have since lived in Newport News, Culpeper, and are now in Richmond, VA! Recently we were reminiscing about CNU, and discovered that we were most likely in the same PSYC201 class with Dr. Gibbons in the spring 2015 semester. That was my freshman year and I just switched my interest to Psychology, and he was a transfer student who needed to fulfill some of the basic degree requirements. We talked about another mutual acquaintance and both said "I took a PSYC class with him," then worked backwards to discover that we were most likely in the same exact class! He sat in the front row and I sat in the third. We didn't officially meet during that class, but it was wild to find out that we sat in the same room together for months before actually meeting and dating. I'm so grateful that CNU brought us together!

Olga ‘15 and Adin ‘14

Not your typical love story

Tale as old as time: boy meets girl at Martial Arts Club, boy beats girl up, they fall in love. They've been together for over 10 years and live in Sterling, VA with their 4 furry children.

Michael ‘91 and Jennifer ‘92

He called it.

It was spring semester of my freshman year (1989) and I attended Physics class with my then-boyfriend at Gosnold Hall (George and Jane Webb were our professors). My now-husband sat 5 rows behind us and said when I walked into class (holding hands with my boyfriend) he told his friend “that is the girl I am going to marry”. He did not know my name at the time and referred to me as “The One” to his friends. Fast forward to the fall semester of my junior year (1990), I started to notice this guy always staring at me on campus. Eventually we were introduced by a mutual friend and had our first date that November and the rest is history! We have been together for 34 years (married 27 years), my son is a May 2023 CNU graduate and my daughter is in her freshman year at CNU! We are a family of “Captains for Life”!

Kristina ‘00 and Heath ‘02

The Santoro Curse doesn't apply

Heath Kearney and I met in Santoro Hall while visiting my Phi Mu little sister in the fall of 1998. We started dating in October of ‘98 and we were married in 2002. We welcomed our first daughter, Madison, in 2004. Megan was born in 2006 and Morgan arrived in 2008. We currently live in Hampton. Heath works as a Building Automation Application Enginner/Business Development for Chesapeake Controls, Inc. and I am a Kindergarten teacher for Hampton City Schools.

Matthew ‘19, ‘20 and Alexis ‘18, ‘20

All by (graphic) design

We met in Professor "Sir" Skees's Intro to Graphic Design class and became fast friends! A year later, he asked me to be his girlfriend in Wilson Dorm. We graduated with our Bachelors degrees in Fine Arts, then entered the MAT Professional Year together. Once we graduated with our Masters degrees, Matthew proposed in Aruba. We are now married with one fur baby!

Lizzy ‘05 and Nate ‘07

Service runs in the family

Nate and Lizzy Fontaine started dating their Junior year of High School at Chancellor High in Fredericksburg, VA. Upon graduation, Nate joined the Air National Guard and entered the Presidential Leadership Program as a Freshman at Christopher Newport University. Lizzy joined the Army National Guard and earned her Associate's Degree from a local community college before joining Nate at Christopher Newport University her Junior year. Lizzy earned her Bachelor's Degree in Sociology from CNU in 2005, and Nate and Lizzy were married in May of 2006. Nate earned his Bachelor's Degree in Information Systems from CNU in 2007 and earned his Master's Degree in Information Systems Security in 2009. Lizzy later earned her Master's of Business Administration in 2010. The Fontaines have been together for 24 years and currently reside in Lovettsville, VA where Nate served as the Town's Mayor for 4.5 years. Nate currently serves as the Deputy Chief Information Security Officer for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Lizzy serves as the Town Clerk for the Town of Lovettsville. Nate and Lizzy have two children, and Nate currently serves as the President of the Christopher Newport University Alumni Society Board of Directors. Go Captains!

Will and Victoria ‘23

No sophomore slump here

We are Will and Victoria, we have been dating for a little over 3 years now after we met our sophomore year at CNU. We lived next to each other in PoSo and first met the night of move-in day (August 28, 2020). We quickly became friends, hanging out nearly everyday, which was especially easy considering we mostly had online classes because of COVID. By November we were officially a couple.

After sophomore year, Will transferred to take a job offer with a tech company in DC while he finished school but we stayed together. Vic graduated May of 2023 with a B.S. in Neuroscience and matriculated into Eastern Virginia Medical School to become a physician. Will graduated from Marymount with a business degree.

The past three and a half years have been filled with so many fun memories and we have been able to travel to so many different places together - including a month-long cross country roadtrip (photo of the route in the gallery below) to celebrate us graduating!

Thanks CNU for bringing us together!

Grant ‘20 and Kristen ‘20

A love that goes the distance

I met my partner Kristen during our sophomore year at CNU when I joined the a cappella group Extreme Measures. Kristen had joined the group during her freshman year and was the music director of the group. Over the course of a year, we became friends and eventually started dating! We graduated in 2020 and over the years we've kept our relationship strong even while Kristen was living in Australia, and I still am falling in love with her more each and every day.

Hannah and Michael

A Captain's (Log) love story

At CNU we met while working for the school’s newspaper the Captain’s Log, and quickly became friends. Our Junior year we started dating and made some wonderful memories while together at school. From lunch dates in Regattas, working with Athletics together to film basketball and soccer games, and of course the Captain’s Ball our senior year, we had our fair share of adventures during our time at CNU. We got engaged two years after graduating and married in August of 2023. We still remember our time at CNU as some of the best in both of our lives and it helped us start our journey together perfectly.

Ben ‘18 and Kacy ‘18

100 Days until Graduation (and forever)

My husband, Ben Perkins (2018) and I met our senior year while at CNU! We met the night of 100 days Until Graduation celebration through a mutual friend, and have been together ever since. We had so many mutual friends, but we never crossed paths until that night. We got married in November of 2022, and are loving every minute of it!

Go Captains!