Rebecca and Joe Hawkes-Cates met in 2009 while volunteering at a Miner football game.
“We handed out fruit and water to the marching band,” she says. “I was in Kappa Kappa Psi and he was in Tau Beta Sigma. We hung out together and just found each other really easy to talk to.”
The next year, Rebecca earned bachelor’s degrees in psychology and biological sciences. Joe earned bachelor’s degrees in computer engineering and computer science in 2011.
Married in 2013, a few of their favorite shared campus experiences included supporting the marching band at the football games and attending band parties together.
Today Rebecca works as an ICU nurse at St. Luke’s East and Joe works as a platform management engineer at Cerner.
Their relationship advice?
“Be open and honest about everything with your partner,” she says. “You can’t build a solid foundation without communication and trust.”
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).
Leading Peru’s higher education
After earning a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from S&T in 1980, Mariana Rodriguez returned to her native Peru to…
Endurance was her middle name
The first woman to earn a degree from S&T, Eva Endurance Hirdler Greene, class of 1911, received the general science…
Mary (Hilton) and Mike McEvilly
Mary (Hilton) and Mike McEvilly met in August 1978 at a Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity party. As students, the two…
Will Annunziata and Rebecka Connor
Will Annunziata met Rebecka Connor in January 2016 while he was home on Christmas break from his first semester at…
Serial entrepreneurship
Gary Havener, a 1962 graduate in mathematics, is the founder of several companies, with business dealings including real estate development…
Martin Jischke on increasing diversity
Martin C. Jischke, who served as chancellor at UMR between 1986 and 1991, describes the importance...