斯科特 and Ariana: Of Love and Leadership

斯科特 Esswein ’15 and Ariana Sadeghipour ’17 not only met 在欧文的康考迪亚大学, but both served as ASCUI president during their time as students. This year they are getting married to make the political—er, personal partnership permanent.

“我们是在大一那年认识的, 2014年1月, 他大二是哪一年,” says Ariana with characteristic precision. “He was super involved as a tour guide and in leadership. I was getting immersed in college life and had a crush on him before even knowing him.”

斯科特, 之后担任ASCUI财务主管, was president-elect that spring when their relationship began to get serious.

“We dated for three or four months with me not wanting to put a title on something,” he admits. “I was hesitant to make this an official relationship. 我不想仓促行事. 我想实际一点.”

Things moved much quicker on Ariana’s side. “From the beginning I was head over heels for him,她说。. “As I got to know him, I really enjoyed our conversations. 我很早就知道.”

She was so confident about her feelings that in April, 在他们相遇三个月后, she “brought up that hard conversation because I didn’t want to keep spending time together if nothing was going to come of this,她说。. “I was ready for the official boyfriend-girlfriend stage.”

它工作. 他们成为官方的.

The two never officially served together on leadership, 而是当我挣扎的时候, he had that relate-ability of having gone through it.'

“有些夜晚我感到不知所措,斯科特回忆起那段时间, 而且还是学生会主席. “‘你已经不自量力了. 你给自己惹了什么麻烦? 你有这么多事情要做. 你不想让别人失望吧.“阿里给了我很大的支持. We’d have evening walks late at night, stroll around campus and talk about our days. We were each other’s person to lean on— and vent to.”

Ariana had joined leadership but on a different track, 通过融合, 欧文康考迪亚大学’s freshman leadership group, then in LEAD as the coordinator of commuter outreach. During their nightly walks, talk often went to their various experiences in student leadership.

When Ariana took a job at Nordstrom, she thought her days in campus leadership were over. But the supervisors of LEAD pushed her to join ASCUI and run for student body president someday.

“我说，‘不. 斯科特在阿斯崔. It seems really boring,’” she remembers with a laugh. “我一点兴趣都没有.”

But on the day leadership applications were due, she realized she would miss it if she didn’t, so she secured letters of recommendation, applied and was elected secretary for her junior year.

“我喜欢它，”她说. “It was a lot of fun and there was no doubt in my mind I wanted to run for president for my senior year.”

她跑得很成功, 和斯科特, 刚毕业的学生, gave her advice and a listening ear on their nighttime walks.

“The way she tackled situations was maybe not in the same manner, but it made it great to play off each other,他说.

The two never officially served together on leadership, 而是“当我挣扎的时候, he had that relate-ability of having gone through it,阿利安娜说。.

很快, 斯科特’s assessment of their relationship brought him to the conclusion Ariana had already reached.

“I realized I needed to have this woman in my life,” 斯科特 says. Ariana adds, “He doesn’t get super-sentimental, so that’s love, what he just said.”

Love finds you when you’re not looking for it.

They were engaged in January 2017, during Homecoming. Fittingly, 斯科特 popped the question by Good Shepherd Chapel. The couple cherishes Homecoming weekend because it was when they had their first date and became engaged.

Ariana, an English major, is in the Call process for a teaching position at a Lutheran school. 斯科特, 工商管理专业, works for Wells Fargo as a relationship manager for manufactured home communities.

“这是梦想成真，”他说. “When I was at Concordia, my goal was to get into banking. Sure enough, God put people in my life to help everything come together.”

He says he relies on the fundamentals of business and finance he learned in Concordia’s “wonderful business program.”

As a couple, both say they are highly driven and value a strong work ethic and keeping their word. 他们喜欢一起做饭, and eating out—after sending Yelp reviews back and forth throughout the day, culminating with an actual calendar invite for their date. “That’s kind of how we operate,” 斯科特 says.

斯科特 recently became a member of 欧文康考迪亚大学’s alumni board and he and Ariana “are still so passionate about Concordia,他说. “在我内心深处，我爱康科迪亚. I have my alumni scarf up in my office to advertise it.”

Serving in leadership shifted Ariana’s personal goals to include serving someday in university leadership.

“I went to Concordia to train to teach in schools, but being president and working with the administration opened my eyes to wanting to be in higher education,她说。.

Right now, all thoughts are on the wedding.

“斯科特 said something really good the other day,阿利安娜说。. “’Love finds you when you’re not looking for it.’ 斯科特 is not cheesy at all, but he said that. 这是真的.”