CONNECTIONS Lauren Parkinson Ganzer ’14
Jessie Tranel Backes ’07 — Matt ’09 and I met in the dining hall Glenview Commons in September of 2004. My friends group ended up being pretty good friends with his friends group through the fall semester of 2004. He asked me to be his girlfriend in October 2004. He proposed in the summer of 2009 after he graduated. We got married in 2010 and took our wedding pictures in various spots around campus. We currently live near Madison with our son Caden, 7, and daughter Joey, 5.
— My husband and I met at practice for Cheer and Stunt on Halloween 2011. We began officially dating on Leap Day 2012 after he asked me to be his girlfriend at the top of the M. We had our engagement photos taken on campus and wedding reception at Velzy Commons. We moved back to Platteville in December 2014. We can see the Homecoming fireworks from our backyard. We had our future Pioneer in April 2020. Blue and orange runs deep in our veins and we are so excited to raise our kids where it all began. UW-Platteville formed the very foundation of our family.
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Thank you for sharing!
“what I’m thankful for banner” in our wing’s shared bathroom was: “I’m thankful that the Bowling Alley Man finally asked Paula out so she’ll shut up about him.” I am thankful too. Kevin, AKA, “The Bowling Alley Man” and I celebrated our 26-year wedding Anniversary last May.
Paula Metz Unbehaun ’90 –
Bridget Klinkner Spraggon ’10 – John and I met in the fall of 2008 in the Metals Lab of Russell Hall. I was the only girl in the basic metals class of 15–20 boys. My husband John was a teacher’s helper. Word had got out that there was a girl in the class and he had to find out for himself. He also discovered I would go to the open labs on Monday night and had to make sure he would be there. From there I got to know him briefly and he found out when my birthday was. He then asked me to go on a date with him for my birthday. He arrived at my dorm with a bouquet of a dozen roses. We went out to eat and then to a movie which we didn’t even watch, we just talked the entire time. We were engaged in April of 2010 and married on April 30, 2011. We now have six beautiful children: Josephine, 9; Lillian, 7; Emmett, 5; Herman, 4; Henrietta, 2; and Marrialla, 6 months.
In February, we asked our alumni to share how they met their significant other on campus. We received an overwhelming number of responses, and you can see all of them on the UW-Platteville Alumni Facebook page.
Alyssa Szydel Grimsled ’17 — Cody and I met in Brockert Hall in the fall of 2013. Cody set up a scavenger hunt one snowy winter night in 2018 with all of our Platteville friends and the last task on the list was “take a picture by your freshman dorm.” When I pulled into the circle, Cody and all of our friends were already there and he was down on one knee asking me to spend forever with him in the same spot we met.
The 80s were a great time to be a young college student, especially at UW-Platteville. I was a sophomore, living in Dobson Hall—which was an all-girls dorm at the time. Needing a job, work study came to my rescue and I landed a job as an attendant at the campus bowling alley, which was part of the Game Room. Those lanes are no longer on campus, and even in 1988 they weren’t new, which meant a fair amount of mechanical attention. That mechanical attention turned out to be a life changer for me. Since they did need frequent repair, everyone who worked at the Game Room took a turn once a week helping the mechanic. Mondays became my favorite day of the week; the day I helped the “bowling alley man,” for that was what he came to be called on Fourth West Dobson. The dimpled smile and dusty blue eyes won me over, and I must have talked a little too much about him to my wingmates. Written on the
Ashley Ackerson Schmitt ’08 – My husband, Adam, and I met in the spring of 2005 at UW-Platteville after we both took jobs at the Information Center in the student center. We both worked various roles in our time at the Information Center, but ultimately both became building managers. After a few years of dating and working together, Adam proposed and we decided to get married right there at UW-Platteville! Our wedding photos were mostly on campus and our reception took place at Ullsvik Hall on Oct. 23, 2010. We are now happily married for 10 years and have three children. McKenzie is 7, Carson is 4, and Porter is 2.
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