Stephanie and Michael first met at Sand Creek Middle School, and the rest is history (as they say). Growing up in the same area, they would run into each other at different times, sharing “fun times in tech [class]” as Steph signed in Mike’s seventh grade yearbook, but it took until some time after college for the two started seeing more of each other.

After high school, Steph went to Manhattan College to play softball and study education, while Mike went to the University of Miami (yes, the one in Florida) to study aeronautical engineering. Mike ended up finishing his undergrad at RPI, where he also did grad school. After finishing her undergrad, Steph came back home to Colonie to work at Lisha Kill Middle School. At this point, Steph and Mike started running into each other a bit more going out with their friends.

The real story begins when Mike added Steph on Snapchat in February of 2019, they’ve talked every day since then! The relationship truly started to form when Steph was going down to her Uncle Jon’s in Ft Myers to play golf for the first time – she needed some help learning the game and asked some friends to come along to an indoor golf simulator. Mike was one of those friends, he was also the one that “had to” share his clubs with Steph because she only brought 2 or 3 of her dad’s mismatched irons to play a full simulated round of golf. After she got back from her week in Florida, the group kept going back to the simulator, but the number of people kept getting smaller and smaller until it was eventually just Mike and Steph going on golf “dates” together. Mike’s family will tell you that before Steph was labeled as his girlfriend, she was his golf buddy.

After some time, Mike and Steph were hanging out more and more outside of the golf simulator, going to events like Chowder Fest, friend’s birthday bar crawls, and Valley Cats games. Eventually, Mike’s friends (read: Matt and Tori Misiorowski) harassed him enough about what was going on that they made their relationship official in May of 2019, and the rest is (actually) history from there. On June 16th, 2023, Michael successfully surprised Stephanie with an engagement ring on the back porch of his family’s beach house on Oak Island, and she said yes!

In the 4+ years that Mike and Steph have been together, Mike finished his PhD, Steph transitioned from teaching to coaching full time (at the high school, club travel, Division I, and Division III levels in softball). They’ve lived with their parents separately, together in two different apartments in Connecticut, and are now back living at home again while Steph starts her head coaching career at Russell Sage College in Albany. The two love to travel, having been to 10 states and 8 different countries in their time together, adding one more when they get married in Mexico in 2024. The couple is very excited to celebrate their love with all of their family and friends and can’t wait to see you all at Secrets Akumal on 11/11/2024!