A SIPA Love Story: PowerPoint Slides to Soulmates!

Before SIPA, Eduarda was living in Brasilia working for the Inter-American Development Bank with climate change projects in partnership with the government. Sean was in Los Angeles working at the Red Cross as part of the AmeriCorps, after working in journalism, media, and politics.

We met during first year orientation. We heard each other’s names and back stories during the endless icebreakers, but didn’t speak to each other at all. By the last day, we ate lunch in the same group, but still hadn’t spoken to each other much. I [Eduarda] actually thought he was completely uninterested.

Finally, after that lunch in front of the philosophy building, he sat next to a friend and I for one of the orientation sessions on how to use the library system. As they passed to the next slide, he – having noticed I was taking photos of the important slides to save for later – said he missed that last slide in his notes, and asked me if I could text it to him. Little did I know that he was actually very interested, and was looking for an excuse to get my number. We started texting back and forth here and there, before he finally asked me out for a drink at The Heights down the street from campus.

During our SIPA experience, Sean was Vice-President of the Digital and Cyber Group (DCG) and of the Progressive Security Group in his first year. More recently, he served as a digital editor for the Journal of International Affairs. Eduarda worked for the Institute of Latin American Studies (ILAS) and the Center of Global Energy Policy (CGEP) while also serving as the SIPA Energy Association President. She also traveled to COP26 with Columbia University and joined a small youth roundtable with President Obama. Now we both live together in Manhattan with our dog, Coffee, and over the summer, we’re hoping to enroll in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and travel to Southeast Asia.

If you have a SIPA love story you want to share, let us know so we can feature you!