Love Stories

Siripanth Nippita ’00

Gernot Wagner ’02

Siripanth Nippita ’00 met Gernot Wagner ’02 when she applied for a summer internship through Bhumi, Harvard’s international development group. Wagner was in charge of preparing Nippita for her summer in Brazil.

What started out as work dinners quickly evolved into a serious relationship. While Nippita spent the summer of 1999 in Brazil, Wagner arranged for her to spend a few days in Rio de Janeiro with a friend of his, and surprised her by flying down for a visit.

Wagner set up the proposal by replaying all of their memorable dates in one weekend in August 2000.

Wagner got permission to enter his old freshman dormitory in Matthews Hall South, where the two had watched “Good Will Hunting” and talked for hours after returning from their first date—a Veritones Concert. They also went to dinner at the Bay Tower Room, the site of their first formal date.

Nippita and Wagner were legally married on Feb. 27, 2002 at Cambridge City Hall, but will have a wedding in Wagner’s native country, Austria, on June 22.

They plan to move to Palo Alto, Calif. where Nippita, a Yonkers, N.Y. native, currently works for Partners In Health. Wagner will begin a Ph.D. program in economics at Stanford.

Romance at Recess

Tovah A. Day ’02

Moshe Y. Spinowitz ’02

For Tovah A. Day ’02 and Moshe Y. Spinowitz, ’02 teaching Hebrew school together during freshman year became more than a way to reach out to the Jewish community. They began dating at the beginning of sophomore year when Spinowitz surprised Day with tickets to hear Itzhak Perlman and the Boston Symphony play Tchaikovksy’s Violin Concerto.

This March, Spinowitz took Day back to the playground of the Hebrew School where they first met for a picnic dinner.

“It’s hard to devise a trap to get someone to come to Hebrew School on a Thursday night!” Spinowitz says.

But Spinowitz managed to lure Day to the school and, before dessert, he popped the question.

Day, from Lexington, Mass., and Spinowitz, of New Rochelle, N.Y., worked out a compromise for the site of their wedding. They will be married in Connecticut, halfway between their hometowns, on Oct. 6.

Day plans to teach high school chemistry before attending medical school and Spinowitz will do Israel advocacy work in Boston before attending law school.

UC Proposal

Justin A. Barkley ’02

Melissa G. Ausman

Justin A. Barkley ’02 met Melissa G. Ausman, currently a senior at Tufts, at their high school in Birmingham, Ala. Ausman had just finished class with one of Barkley’s favorite teachers, when he stopped by the classroom to pay the teacher a visit.

As Ausman and Barkley snacked on the teacher’s candy, the teacher began complaining that the pair was eating all of her sweets.

Ausman offered to pay her back, but before the teacher had a chance to accept or decline the offer, Barkley playfully grabbed the money and put it in his pocket.

The two began to “fight” over the money.

“He thought it was funny we were fighting over the money and I think he liked me after that,” Ausman says.

Barkley wanted to propose to Ausman in public. He asked Ausman to attend his final meeting as Undergraduate Council treasurer last October.

After giving his farewell speech, he said, “And there’s one more thing.”

He approached Ausman, recited lyrics from a love song and asked her to marry him.

Shocked, she began crying, and accepted.

“A lot of my friends were going to be at the meeting already, and we got to be on the front page of The Crimson,” Barkley says.

Barkley and Ausman will be married in Birmingham on Aug. 10. Barkley will attend law school at the University of Alabama and Ausman is currently looking for a job in Alabama.

Chemistry Between Them

April R. Gleason ’02

Alan B. Northrup ’00

April R. Gleason ’02 met Alan B. Northrup ’00 on the science league team for their high school in Lowell, Mass.

A year later they started dating, but had to get around Gleason’s parents’ rules.

They spent the beginning of the relationship—when Gleason’s parents thought she was too young to date—going out in a group.

After Northrup came to Harvard, they continued dating. The couple didn’t plan on attending college together, but once she got in to Harvard, she decided to attend to be near her family and boyfriend.

Northrup graduated in 2000 and moved to California to get his Ph.D. in Chemistry at Caltech.

When Gleason visited California to meet Northrup before the two went on a week-long trip to Hawaii, both say they knew they wanted to get married.

But before giving Gleason a real ring, Northrup tricked her by giving her a ring box filled with Sweet Tart hearts.

The couple will be married in Chelmsford, Mass. on July 13. Northrup will continue his studies at Caltech and Gleason hopes to find a job in Pasadena as a history teacher.

Hall Mates

Nisha B. Marks ’02

Dave P. Zacharias ’02

Before they began dating in January of their freshman year, Nisha B. Marks ’02 and Dave P. Zacharias ’02 were spending so much time together that friends began calling them “Daisha.”

The two, who lived across the hall from each other in Matthews that year, say it’s difficult “to pinpoint exactly when” they started dating. The summer after freshman year Marks and Zacharias returned to their respective homes in Washington, D.C. and Reading, Pa. They weren’t deterred by the distance. Every weekend they would take turns driving 150 miles to see each other.

Then they decided that was the last summer they would live apart.

The proposal came last November at Harvest in the Square. Marks says she had a suspicion the question was on the way. She brought a camera to the restaurant just in case.

“I’m not very good at surprises,” Zacharias says.

The wedding is scheduled for Dec. 28 in Washington, D.C. Zacharias will work for a strategy consulting firm in Boston next year and Marks will attend Harvard Law School.