Featured Testimonial About Creighton University
As summer wedding bells ring out and new couples join together in holy matrimony, our popular Alumni Love Story series returns with six special examples of Creighton’s matchmaking potential.
They met in classrooms, reconnected outside of St. John’s Church and found one another on the Mall. They were Bluejay buddies until their love was impossible to ignore. And they have Creighton to thank.
(Want to be featured in a future article? Share your Creighton love story with jonnyatawa@creighton.edu.)
Chemistry in chemistry
Gabby Braden Sloup, BS’16, DDS’20, and Garrett Sloup, BS’16
Garrett spotted Gabby on the first day of their freshman chemistry class. He persuaded a classmate to switch seats just so he could introduce himself.
Garrett and Gabby were friends from that day forward. And lab partners. And study buddies. And, by the end of their freshmen year, they were a couple.
They dated through college, setting aside time for walks around campus, trips to Sonic for ice cream and meetups at Hixson-Lied to study.
But that first semester in chemistry will always stand out as special — when they married in 2022, they made sure to find their way back to the spot they met.
“At Creighton, I have built many invaluable relationships with my fellow peers, colleagues, and professors,” Gabby said. “I would not be where I am today without the people who have walked beside me, but the best relationship I have gained is the one with my husband.”
May I have this bench
Olivia Babe Rosol, BA’14, and Nate Rosol, BS’13, MS’14, MD’19
Nate knew Olivia’s first name, and that was about it. Nonetheless, he embarked on an extended Facebook expedition to find the girl who, while they were both volunteering at the Hope Center for Kids, had noticed the Creighton logo on his shorts and said hello.
His investigative skills were excellent. He did eventually find her. They reunited at Starbucks.
And they talked for hours.
Their conversation went on so long that Nate skipped his summer physics class. Olivia wasn’t even interested in starting a relationship — yet she recognized their strong connection right away.
Soon, there were lunch dates, study dates, and date parties.
Their most meaningful memories as a couple, perhaps, came during the quietest and most peaceful moments on campus. Well after they’d finish their classes, homework, and fraternity-sorority activities.
Nate and Olivia met most evenings on a bench in front of St. John’s Church. Sometimes, it’d be the only time they would see each other that day. They’d talk well past midnight.
Their connection deepened. All the way through graduation.
“It just kind of worked out, where we dated the whole time — we were college sweethearts,” Olivia said.
They’re celebrating their 10-year wedding anniversary this summer.
A match made in cleats
Jess Wakasugi Knight, BSBA’09, and Robbie Knight, BSBA'10
The joke that Jess and Robbie tell everyone is, they dated over the outfield fence.
Jess was a center fielder for the Creighton softball team. Robbie played the same position for the baseball squad. Creighton’s baseball practice field sits right next to the softball stadium, the Creighton Sports Complex.
“There was usually a sly smile or wave exchanged discretely,” Jess said.
Truth is, when the practice and game schedules matched up, they were doing their best to focus on helping their teams win. Their relationship really blossomed off the field.
They met as sophomores — Robbie’s roommate was one of Jess’ friends. A few months later, they exchanged numbers at a baseball-softball party. There was a Rascal Flatts concert and a run together around Bennington Lake. “The rest is history,” Jess said.
Jess was a first-team all-conference player who started every game of her career. Robbie set the NCAA’s single season hit-by-pitch record as a sophomore. They married in 2014.
Destined to be together
Susie Zimmerman Constantino, BA’99, MD’04, and Nick Constantino, BSBA’00
On Palm Sunday in 2004, Nick and Susie were outside St. John’s Church and did not recognize each other.
Seven years earlier, they’d lived one floor apart in Swanson Hall. And they surely shared an elevator at least once or twice back then. They probably interacted at some point on the stairs or in the study spaces. There was one day after a bad snowstorm in October 1997 when Susie spent 16 hours working Swanson’s front desk — and Nick definitely passed by the desk at some point during her shift.
But Nick can’t recall any Swanson memories with Susie. She doesn’t remember Nick, either.
Garland Jarmon, BS’98, MBA’12, didn’t know any of this.
He figured Susie and Nick knew each other well. They were all Swanson alums, after all.
So when Garland and Nick were ushering admitted students from St. John’s Church to the Skutt Student on Palm Sunday, Garland saw Susie walking outside. And instinctively he called her over.
“He goes, ‘You know Susie, you had to know Susie’ — and I’m like, ‘no,’” Nick said. “They started talking and I kind of just butted in on the conversation.”
He pestered Garland for Susie’s email. She soon gave Nick her number. And they were dating not too long after that. They got married in May 2006.
“We've looked at so many old pictures trying to see if we were in the background of each other’s photos — we would never find each other,” Nick said. “The likelihood that we crossed paths when we lived in Swanson is extremely high — but we just never connected before that Palm Sunday.”
Love on the syllabus
Heidi Becker Kruglet, BA’00, and Neil Kruglet, BS’00, DDS’04
Human Sexuality. That’s the class Heidi and Neil had together as seniors.
“It just sounds so ridiculous. But we both had to take it for our majors,” Heidi said. “We had that class together and that was how we started dating.”
They still laugh about it, even now, 20 years later. Did the subject matter somehow spark a romance?
Maybe. But even before then, Heidi and Neil seemed like a perfect match.
They’d shared the same friend group during the few months before that fall semester. They met a couple years earlier while living one floor apart in Swanson Hall.
Once they started talking, they were together all the time. Date parties and study dates. Lunches and hangouts with friends. Nights out at the Blue Jay and Banana Joe's. Neil’s job in the Jesuit kitchen gave him access to popsicles and ice cream treats — which he, of course, shared with Heidi.
Neil proposed on Valentine’s Day before he graduated from dental school. They married in October 2004.
Soulmates all along
Lindsey Fleming Audino, BSN’07, and Rory Audino, BA’04
Rory surely was interested in her. Lindsey’s friends kept telling her this. But the AOL instant messenger conversations weren’t giving away enough clues.
And even though Rory kept inviting Lindsey to date parties, she figured it was just because they were from the same hometown and their families were friends. After all, the first invite came after Rory randomly spotted Lindsey on the Mall and shouted her last name.
But eventually, the bond was too obvious to miss.
Lindsey and Rory both remember walking together by the Old Gym one cold day in January. After all those hangouts, the parties, the Creighton basketball games, the chats, that one time Lindsey gave Rory a ride back to Sioux City…
Are we officially dating?
The answer wasn’t up for debate. They were together from then on, marrying in 2008 and starting a family just down the road.
“We’re very thankful for Creighton,” Lindsey said. “Our experience and all our ties to Creighton really solidified why we want to raise our kids here, and it’s why we've created the roots we have here.”
Four of Rory’s siblings graduated from Creighton. Lindsey’s mom, sister and a few other close family members did, too.
“We get to share our love for Creighton in lots of ways,” Lindsey said.
