In fall 2009, during their first week of grad school, Matt Haggerty, TSPPPA MPP ’11, and Sarah (Dieter) Haggerty, CCAS MA ’11, met through GW’s Intervarsity Graduate Christian Fellowship.
“Sarah was dating someone else at the time, so we were just friends at first,” says Matt.
When that relationship eventually ended, Sarah and Matt continued to build their friendship. “As we began to hang out more, we realized we were becoming more than friends,” they explain.
The two became an official couple in July 2011, and by February 2012, they were ready for the next step. “We got engaged during a late-night tour of the Woodrow Wilson House, where Sarah was working at the time, on a balcony overlooking the city,” remembers Matt.
Matt and Sarah got married in August of the same year—many of their GW friends were there to celebrate in Sarah’s hometown of Rochester, MN.
Today, Sarah and Matt have settled into life in DC, complete with a house and a dog. Sarah is the associate curator at the National Law Enforcement Museum, where she interned during her time at GW. Matt is the chief operating officer at the Coalition for Nonprofit Housing and Economic Development.
Although they became a couple late in their GW careers, Sarah and Matt still share many campus memories.
“One of our last ‘pre-dates’ was at the Froggy Bottom pub, just off campus,” remembers Matt. “We learned that we both enjoyed a good bar burger and cheap beer, which apparently is enough to build a relationship on!”
