At Lewis & Clark, so many connections are made. Students meet professional mentors, make lifelong friendships, and forge powerful relationships with folks across all three schools.
For some, they find something more—love! Check out these stories from alumni about meeting their lifelong partners because of their experiences at L&C.
Mary Dakin, BA ’88 and John Aney BA ’88
“We met through the arts! John, a theatre major, was in a production of Chekhov’s Three Sisters in the theatre department, and Mary, who studied music and Russian (but majored in neither) was asked to play the violin offstage before John’s character made his first entrance, carrying a violin he had supposedly been practicing. This meet-cute perfectly encompasses our mutual passions and future life together—but the truth is we didn’t hit it off at that moment. Two years after graduation, a mutual friend (hats off to Leslie Anderson Freck, BA ’89) threw a brunch party on lower campus and we definitely hit it off then, exchanging phone numbers (remember that?) and meeting up for a drink that night. A year later John joined Mary in the midwest where we both went to graduate school, and the rest is history. John now works at the college, and our younger daughter is a first year River Otter.”
Matt DeRosa BA ’14 and Leann Knapp BA ’16
“We met fairly early in my time at L&C. Connected through friends, Matt served as an RA and on the football team. I got involved in ASLC right away.
Leann Knapp BA '16 and Matt DeRosa BA '14 with Bill Nye, who visited the L&C campus in 2015.Some of my earliest memories of Matt include him teaching me little songs on the piano in the Stewart common room.
He eventually got involved in student government too, contacting me over the summer with questions about funding for student organizations. That following year, his last as a student on campus, we grew a friendship and slowly developed feelings for each other, with our love being cheered on my L&C students and staff alike.
One of our most treasured memories of our time at L&C was during a major snowstorm that hit Portland in 2013. Matt and I took a snow walk around campus and while goofing around near the reflecting pool, I fell in a small pond nearby, having not seen it because it was covered in snow. Walking back to Odell, shivering, and spending the evening thawing is one of my all time favorite memories of our early love.
That same year, we would continue doing student government together and enjoying everything that falling in love as college students has to offer. Dances, trips to downtown, sports games, and countless meals together in the dining hall.
I led on the Senior Experience for his graduating class, meaning I got special permission to accompany the graduating class at events, including a boat cruise on the Willamette.
After his graduation, Matt remained a fixture on campus, serving as a coach for the L&C football team. I stayed on campus for two more years, completing internships, serving as Student Body Vice President, and completing my Political Science degree.
After I graduated, we both tried to stay connect to our Alma mater in our own ways.
We grew up throughout our twenties together, establishing careers, maintaining friendships with fellow students, and making a life for ourselves in Portland.
And then, in the Fall of 2023, Matt asked me- like he did most years- if I wanted to attend the Homecoming football game. I accepted, and that weekend, with the help of other former students, he proposed in the spot where I had fatefully fallen into the fountain by the reflecting pool almost 11 years earlier.
I accepted and we got married in the summer of 2025 with one of our wedding colors being orange- a nod to our beloved college.
We remain passionate alumni and eternally grateful for the lives -and love- L&C has given us.”
Dennis Mooney JD ’11 and Bobbie Mooney JD ’11
“We met in August 2008 as 1Ls at Lewis & Clark Law School and quickly bonded while planning a group backpacking trip on Mount Hood for the weekend between orientation and the start of classes. Both coming from the East Coast originally, we didn’t expect snow in August. So after hours of hiking in wet, heavy Oregon snow and sleet, we turned around and our planned overnight became a cold, exhausting day hike. After that, we stuck together through law school, the bar, starting our careers in Colorado, marriage, two kids—and now, starting our own law firm together.”
Trisha Kumar BA ’16 and Nick Laycox BA ’16
“We met working on the One Act Festival in Fir Acres fall of our freshman year! We stayed together through college, including many more theater shows, jobs as RAs, Trisha’s study abroad trip to New Zealand, and Nick starting a job working on an ambulance before we even graduated. After graduating in 2016–both of us with a major in biology and a minor in theatre—we moved to Sellwood and adopted a greyhound, almost immediately. We were engaged and adopted a second greyhound in 2020, Trisha got her master’s degree in 2021, then we got married and bought a house in NE in 2022. Now we’re expecting our first baby in April of this year, almost exactly 10 years since graduating from L&C!”
Sarah Ott Lennox MAT ’09 and Doug Lennox, L&C athletics advancement officer
“We met in Brooklyn, New York as kindergarten teachers and coworkers. Sarah had just earned her MAT from Lewis & Clark and was recruited to be a lead teacher at Leadership Prep Ocean Hill Charter School, which is part of the Uncommon Schools network. Sarah remembers meeting Doug on her interview day and thinking, “If I take this job I will get to work with this handsome guy in New York City; I should do this!” and about two years later we began dating. We are now married with two kids (Douglas Clark age 7; Christopher age 5) and we named our second son after the street where our school was located (Christopher Avenue).”
Jessica Youngman, BA ’98 and Jason Rodgers BA ’98, MAT ’99
“The first time I saw my future husband was New Student Orientation. My roommate and I were sitting in the Bon when we saw this tall, lanky kid with a ponytail in his goatee walking across the room to put his tray away. He had quite the swagger and I was intrigued. Then he tripped on the edge of the dance floor and almost tossed his whole tray across the cafeteria. He lost his swagger for a second, looked around, then kept on walking - swagger intact.
Jessica Youngman, BA 1998 and Jason Rodgers, BA 1998 MAT 1999That night we went to a rock show at The Platform and there he was, playing guitar in Mourning Tuesday, a classic L&C band from the mid-90’s. I pointed at him and yelled to my roommate, “That’s the guy that tripped in the cafeteria!”.
I met him after the show and we became friends immediately, probably because he didn’t mind me teasing him, still doesn’t. The summer after junior year we fell in love and we got married by Rev. Mark Duntley under the wisteria on lower campus in 2000.
We have an amazing 21 year old daughter and live in Lake Oswego, OR.”
Tracy Wynn (Peel) BA ’10 and Isaac Wynn BA ’10
Tracey Wynn (Peel) BA '10 and Isaac Wynn BA '10 together in 2010.During freshman year, Tracy and her roommate were sitting in the Bon goofing around, selecting potential male counterparts (not romantic partners, per se) based on who was coming and going. Nobody seemed to fit until Isaac appeared in his trademark brown leather jacket, hair past his shoulders. Both Tracy and her roommate agreed instantly - “That’s you, Tracy.” It wasn’t until the following year when Isaac roomed with some of Tracy’s friends that they struck up a friendship and started dating.
Since graduation, they moved to New York for 7 years before making their way to Tracy’s hometown of Tucson, Arizona. Isaac has a thriving piano tuning business, Tracy works for Arizona Arts at the University of Arizona, and they share a feisty 3 year old daughter (and dog) with a son soon on the way.
Alex Chapelle BA ’24 and Sophie Chapelle BA ’24 MA ’28
“We met during virtual our new student trip in 2020 when NSTs were moved to zoom because of the pandemic. We had started talking more during orientation week and began dating soon after. We took the opportunity of our family being in town and got married a few weeks after graduation!”
Bethany Dengler-Germain, BA ’01 and Shaen Germain BA ’00
They met in Bethany’s dorm, Odell, during a storm blackout when the students had returned from winter break her freshman year in January 1998, but it was an ice storm so there were no classes. Shaen and their mutual friend were walking by Bethany‘s dorm and they started talking and there was instant chemistry. A few days later they got stuck behind the door together at a crowded dorm party at Hartzfeld and Bethany, who didn’t know that area of campus well, started heading towards the icy ravine. Shaen who was a sophomore and who knew the campus much better saved her and walked her back to her dorm room, which took forever due to the ice. They stayed up all night talking/connecting and started dating after that. They have been together almost the entire time except when they were on different amazing L&C overseas programs. They’ve been married for almost 23 years and have two kids together! They even built a two-story cabin by hand in the woods on the Big Island of Hawaii where Shaen is from and where their son was born. They are happily living in Corvallis now.
Bonnie (Tompkins) Crawford BA ’98 and Preston Crawford BA ’97
“Preston played football and was living in the dorms during my NSO—unbeknownst to each other we’d both told our parents we’d check out the Christian Fellowship mixer (neither of us were very religious) and on day 1 of NSO we got paired up. As Preston tells the story he thought I was cute until he learned my Dad was a pastor.
For 2 years we hung out as friends and then the summer of ’96 while I was an RA for summer school we finally decided to make it official and we are just about to celebrate 30 years together.”
Sam Jewell BA ’11 and Karielle Brugman (Jewell) BA ’10
“Kari and I had seen each other on campus in passing a few times as we were both studying science and frequented the Dovecote. We didn’t officially meet until spring 2010 after we had both returned from studying abroad during fall semester 2009 (Kari in Greece, Myself in East Africa). Through a friend celebrating a birthday we were introduced and felt an immediate connection, we called it love at first sight. We’ve been together since and were married in 2018. We are so grateful to have a found each other through L&C!”
Ginger Moshofsky BS ’83 and John Moshofsky ’85
“We met in Russian class in the fall of 1982 as we prepared to go to the Soviet Union in the spring of 1983. For me, (Ginger) it was love at first sight! For John, it was love by the end of the trip. That was the first of many travels and adventures that continue to this day!”
Serena Ancheta BA ’12 and Torey Frisina BA ’12
“We met in 2010 when Torey transferred into L&C. We saw each other in passing and we got to know each other a little bit while giving football tours in the fall of 2011. The first time we really hung out was graduation night. Torey was buying Dirty Shirlee’s at the L&C grad party and we walked home from the bus drop off together. We became friends and officially started dating in February 2013! We built a community of friends, mostly from our Lewis & Clark years. Now we are married, with two kids, and three pets (fun fact, our cats and dog are orange and black), and we live in/own Torey’s college house.”
Jessica Polledri M.Ed ’15 and Chris Doherty M.Ed ’12
“We were introduced by Tyler Young (M.Ed ’15) in 2015. Tyler and Chris had been friends for several years, and Tyler and Jess were in the same School Counseling cohort. After graduation, he introduced us and we’ve been together ever since. We got married in 2019, had our first daughter in 2020, and our second daughter in 2025. We moved back to the east coast and the story continues! Included are a photo of when we met, and another of us and our older daughter.”
Katherine Jernigan BA ’15 and Lars Steier BA ’11
“We met in 2016 at a going away party for Passage Crampton (BA ’15) although her partner Marc Steiner (BA ’14) was also playing cupid and had a role in setting us up. We hit it off immediately and stayed drinking and talking late into the night at the Hungry Tiger.
A magical thing about our story is that our dear friends Casey Nold (BA ’10) and Galena Graham (BA ’15) also met that night at the same party (Katherine had dragged Galena to the party and Lars had brought Casey along). After 9 years of dating and various chapters in multiple cities, Lars and Katherine got married last year–two weeks after Casey and Galena!”
Sophie Abbassian BA ’25 and Connor Smyth BA ’24
“We met at Winterim, a week-long competition during winter break in which you develop and pitch a business idea. We were both on the same team and quickly got to know each other working long hours into the night on our business pitch. At the end of the competition, we won one of the prizes, which gave us the confidence to ask one another out. Our love grew in the following years as we rebuilt the campus Rose Garden together. We will be celebrating our three-year anniversary this Valentine’s day!”
Alumni is located in Alumni Gatehouse on the Undergraduate Campus.
As our Phonathon program reaches new heights, our physical space is evolving to match! A new mural, painted by Student Philanthropy Officer Kiana Hall, serves as a permanent landmark of our growth, celebrating the collective impact of our student callers and the expanding network of support they represent.
Katya Schwieterman BA ’24 teaches English at an agricultural high school in Austria, where she uses her liberal arts background in science, forestry, and music throughout her daily life.
Graduating from Lewis & Clark College means you will earn a bachelor of arts degree that is grounded in critical thinking, written and verbal communication skills, teamwork, and problem solving—all of the essential qualifications you need to succeed in any career.
Lewis & Clark revealed the design of its new River Otter mascot on February 20, capping an intensive five-month collaboration with Portland advertising legends Wieden + Kennedy.
