Thanks to Trip Stewart CCAS BA ’11, JD ’16, and Kathryn Burggraf, MSPH BS ’11, MPH ’13, for sharing their story!
Where did you meet on campus?
We first met “electronically” while Trip was abroad in Vienna. I had to interview brothers as part of the rush process for Phi Sigma Pi so I emailed Trip. He likes to point out that he wanted to continue the discussion, but I never emailed him back after I fulfilled my interview duty. Our first in-person meeting would have been at one of our fraternity meetings, which were usually held in Phillips Hall. It wasn’t until one of our fraternity formals at Nick’s Riverside Grill though that we officially got together. Going to GW helped us “meet in the middle,” Trip being from Florida and I being from Maine.
What were your first impressions of each other?
Trip – I thought Katie was cute. Katie – I thought Trip was goofy and liked to talk a lot, but also cute.
What only-at-GW moment did you share as a couple?
Our first “date” was a trip to the Corcoran Museum to view an exhibit for one of Trip’s photography class assignments. Unbeknownst to me, Trip saved the tickets and presented them to me when proposing last April. He claims he knew I was special from the beginning. I used to work at Gelman so when we first started going out and before we made it “official,” Trip used to stop by a lot claiming he had to “study.” Our first summer together we actually ended up living in the same hallway of Ivory Tower. Graduating on the national mall together in 2011 was also unreal. While Trip was in law school, I was also working as a teaching assistant in the public health school. Trip used to be my courier, dropping off my graded assignments before heading to his criminal procedure course.
Tell us about your last visit to GW or how GW has remained important to your life. Our last visit to GW together was for Alumni Weekend where we rocked out to White Ford Bronco and enjoyed spending time with our fellow Gdubb friends. Prior to that, we had been on campus for Trip’s graduation from law school. It was awesome to celebrate the successful completion of three years of hard work (for both of us)!
Anything else you want to share. This is the first year that neither of us are at school at GW. Between the two of us, at least one of us had been in school from 2007-2016. That’s a lot of GW! After what will be seven years of dating, we’re finally getting married next August in Kennebunkport, Maine. Trip proposed at Dumbarton Oaks Park and our best man (who is also a GW grad) planned a surprise party with all of our closest friends, many of which we met at GW, after. There will be many GW friends traveling from far and wide to attend our wedding this summer – we can’t wait for the mini reunion! D.C. has become our home, and we continue to live in the city with our pup, Murray. I work for a public health nonprofit downtown, and Trip is an attorney at a law firm in McLean, Virginia.
