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).
Studying the past to improve the future
Katy Bloomberg, who earned her bachelor’s degree in history in 2006, believes that her experience working in S&T’s Archives prepared…
Janet Kavandi on faculty support
Janet Kavandi, who earned a master’s degree in chemistry in 1982, discusses the importance of...
Abby (Pittroff) and Ryan Riess
Student athletes Abby (Pittroff) and Ryan Riess met in August 2002 outside the campus’s Rayle Cafeteria. “I thought to myself,…
Float like a butterfly
Few have shared the ring with Muhammad Ali or been praised by the New York Times as “one of America’s…
First impressions: UM System President Mun Choi
Mun Choi, who has served as president of the University of Missouri System since 2017...
‘Mr. Miner’
The name “Mr. Miner” may sound like someone related to mascot Joe Miner, and in Jerry Bayless’s case it may…