Alicia and Anthony met in RA training at CSU in 2010.

“Resident Assistant friendships grow quickly because you live and work together, so you’re nearly forced to bond,” Alicia said. “As a matter of fact, our staff attended the Northeast Ohio Housing Officers conference at Akron University during our first year and we, along with our friends, scoffed as an Akron Professional Staff member talked about how RA relationships are just…different.”

The staff member that they scoffed at mentioned lifelong friendships with his fellow RAs from his college years and even talked about RAs who had gotten married.

“We really all took his words for granted – but he was right on all accounts!” Alicia said.

As time went on, Alicia and Anthony could tell that they were no exception. They formed a tight knit group of friends within the staff but their friendship was something special.

“We began saying ‘I love you’ before we were even romantically involved because we cared for each other so much,” she said.

In the summer of 2011, the two stayed on as Summer RAs at Euclid Commons and spent all of their free time together. Not long after the start of their second year as RAs, they started dating and a resounding “FINALLY” echoed from all of their friends.

Anthony graduated in May of 2012. The couple continued to date and moved in together after Alicia left the Department of Residence Life in December of 2012. They got engaged – surrounded by other CSU alumni and friends – after Anthony survived the life-threatening growth of a brain tumor and a resulting removal surgery. They spent 20 months planning a great big wedding to celebrate their love and even paid homage to their roots by holding their wedding reception in the CSU Student Center Ballroom!

Now, Alicia and Anthony have been married for four years and couldn’t be happier.

In 2016, they both returned to CSU to pursue graduate degrees. Alicia enrolled in an MBA program, while Anthony studied at Cleveland Marshall College of Law.

“I think it goes without saying that CSU truly has made a difference in both of our lives. We got so much more than an education at CSU. We had opportunities to get involved and to learn about what we loved, inside the classroom and out. We made the connections that helped us to start our careers. We found an institution that we knew we would afford to AND would LOVE to return to, to further our educations,” Alicia said.