Augie Sweethearts: Patricia Czech and Vytas Vaznelis, Class of 2007

Submitted by Patricia Czech of Colorado Springs, Colo.

Vytas and I went to sister high schools--Hinsdale Central and Hinsdale South--knew oodles of the same people, lived only four miles apart, and had been to several of the same (inter)school events, but we hadn't ever met until the spring trimester of our freshman year at Augustana!

When Vytas bought me jewelry for my birthday less than a year after we started dating, and I didn't immediately break up with him, my mom started telling everyone that he was the one I would marry. I may have had a track record of ending things with guys who started to show any signs of seriousness.

We dated throughout college, and then we rented a small apartment in Rock Island the year after graduation before moving to New Jersey, where Vytas had received a job offer for teaching high school Latin at a school offering full tuition for grad school, where I launched my art career, and where we ultimately got married! 

In the summer of 2016 we moved to Colorado, where we now live surrounded by lots of friends and family.