Raíssa Sousa and Welenton Webler were both exchange students from Brazil when they met in August 2015.
“We didn’t know each other before since he’s from Santa Catarina state and I’m from São Paulo state, more than 620 miles apart,” she says. “The day I arrived at Miner Village, he offered to help me with my suitcases since my room was on the third floor and, when he picked one up, the handle broke.”
Raíssa studied petroleum engineering and Welenton studied computer engineering while at Rolla. The pair would often walk to campus and have breakfast together at the Havener Center or at the Starbucks cafe inside the library.
Today the couple lives in Brazil, where Raíssa works for Bayer and Welenton works for Amazon Web Services.
Their relationship advice?
“Listen and support each other in both good and challenging times,” she says.
Share This Story
Spark a Memory?
Share your story! Fill out the form below to share your fondest memory or anecdote of S&T. If you'd prefer not typing, you can also share by phone at 833-646-3715 (833-Miner150).
Matthew Harris and Grace Lupo
During a biostatistics lab in the fall of 2017, Matthew Harris saw Grace Lupo sitting by herself and invited her…
Bringing it all together
Before retiring, civil engineering graduate John Mathes headed his own multidisciplinary engineering business that specialized in high-profile contamination projects. In…
Sudha Sneha Devarakonda and Karthik Kumar
After Sudha Sneha Devarakonda and Karthik Kumar met through a mutual friend, they kept running into each other on the…
Leah (Rechner) and Matt Lenzner
Leah (Rechner) and Matt Lenzner met during their first week on campus as freshmen in August 2001. Leah’s friend started…
Cheryl B. Schrader on strategic planning
Cheryl B. Schrader, who served as chancellor between 2012 and 2017, describes her approach to strategic...
Chain reaction
Take 60 sleep-deprived students — easy enough to find in Rolla — and add 450,000 strips of newsprint and 530,000…