从高中开始，凯蒂和鲍勃·加夫尼就在一起了

高中让凯蒂和鲍勃·加夫尼走到了一起，现在他们选择的大学又建立了新的相互联系。 

Both Bob and Katie are originally from Delaware County in eastern Iowa—Katie grew up in Manchester and Bob was from nearby Ryan. 他们在从西特拉华高中毕业之前就开始约会了。  

高中毕业后，两人都上了离家很近的小型但不同的天主教大学。 Katie chose 皇冠体育 in Cedar Rapids, studying 教育, while Bob ended up majoring in accounting at St. Ambrose University in Davenport. 

多年后，这对高中情侣惊讶地（但又兴奋地）看到他们的大学院校走到了一起。 

“I think anytime you put two good things together, you get an even better thing,” Katie said. “It’s exciting to hear about the plans of both universities to expand their programming. 

“I am happy to see 皇冠体育 continue to grow and expand its athletic offerings,” she continued. “Adding a football team is an exciting development. Since I was a student-athlete myself, I look forward to seeing the positive impact it will have on the university’s athletic community.” 

凯蒂自2015年以来一直是Mount Mercy体育名人堂的成员，她对母校的体育运动当然有深入的了解。 She had a four-year career in women’s cross country and women’s track & field, earning academic all-conference honors three times in both sports. 在越野赛中，她曾三次获得NAIA个人国家预选赛（2005-06、2006-07、2007-08），并在2007-08赛季获得团队MVP。 在田径比赛中，凯蒂获得了全美田径协会3000米和远距离混合泳接力的资格。  

“I knew I wanted to attend a smaller private school and hoped to have the option to run cross country,” Katie said. “After visiting a variety of small private schools, I felt most comfortable and interested in Mount Mercy. 他们有很强的教育项目，我觉得主教练很重视我。 Ryan Scheckel真的表现出他关心我的决定，并希望我成为球队的一员。  

“I knew I wanted to major in 教育,” Katie continued. “Mount Mercy’s 教育 program was very impressive and had so many options for my future career. 教授们很友好，知识丰富。 他们帮我做了一个中学背书和教练证书的决定。 我喜欢小班授课，并且可以随时与教授见面。” 

和凯蒂一样，鲍勃也想上一所小型私立学校，这使他来到了圣安布罗斯。 

“St. Ambrose struck a nice balance of far enough away from home, being the right size school, quality programs, and really attractive campus,” he said. 

鲍勃一开始主修历史教育，后来转到会计专业。 

“I still wasn’t 100 percent sure what I wanted to do, but I was practical enough to know there was a strong job market for that major,” Bob recalled. “I found the quality and size of classes at St. Ambrose to be appropriate for me.” 

Mount Mercy为我提供了如此多的实地实习机会，我觉得自己已经准备好进入课堂了。 一路走来，我有很多导师，他们帮助指导我获得某些认可。 —凯蒂·加夫尼，08年

完成学业后，鲍勃和凯蒂准备开始他们的职业生涯。 Married in 2009, Bob’s career led him to public accounting work in Davenport and a finance job in Garner, Iowa, before landing with his current company, Rinderknecht Associates, a Cedar Rapids general contractor, in 2018 as Chief Financial Officer. 大约一年前，他被任命为公司总裁。

“While at Ambrose, I earned my bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting and always felt my schooling prepared me for everything I encountered in the ‘real’ world,” he said.  

Katie’s professional path led her to teaching and coaching opportunities with late elementary- and middle-school-aged students in Des Moines, Bettendorf, and Garner. 她于2018年加入Linn-Mar学区的Excelsior中学，目前在那里教七年级扫盲和中学越野教练。 

“Mount Mercy provided me with so many field placements that I felt prepared to enter the classroom,” Katie said. “一路走来，我有很多导师，他们帮助指导我获得某些认可。” 

虽然鲍勃和凯蒂走上了不同的高等教育道路，但他们都在各自的小型私立天主教学校获得了有益的经历，这对他们的职业追求很有帮助。 随着这两所大学推进战略合并，鲍勃和凯蒂说，学生的机会应该比以往任何时候都要大。 

“Each institution will be able to expand programming with some things that the other institution does well,” Bob said. “此举似乎是为了确保两所大学的寿命。”  

“I can’t wait to see what benefits this brings to both campuses,” Katie added, “and student bodies.”