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Tying the Knot Before Tug of War: A SUNY Plattsburgh Homecoming Love Story


It was a romance made at SUNY Plattsburgh, sealed at Homecoming.

He was a public relations major from Palmyra, N.Y.; she, a public relations and political science double major from China. They met through a roommate and friend.

She was “awkward and cute,” Tim Maggio ’13 said. “She caught my eye. I began to talk and flirt with her every now and then.”

“I did not even know he liked me, until our friends pointed it out to me,” Zi Wang said.

Then, one night, they went to a movie.

“Everyone left, and it was just the two of us,” Maggio said. “As I was about to leave, I wrote on her white board, ‘Will you go on a date with me?’ and she wrote, ‘Yes.’ Since that day we’ve been dating.”

They continued to date even after Maggio graduated and moved to West Virginia to take a job as a residence hall director and begin work on a graduate degree at Shepherd University.

Marriage, Homecoming Style

Wang planned to move south to join Maggio after her December graduation, but, first, they wanted to get married.

“We figured this is the place where we met and fell in love, so we should make it official in the same place,” Maggio said.

On Thursday before Homecoming, Maggio called Bill Laundry, vice president emeritus of student affairs, and asked him if he would officiate. Laundry agreed.

Bringing Care to ‘Another Level’

To Maggio, Laundry’s officiating was symbolic.

Both Maggio and Wang had been heavily involved with student affairs under Laundry’s leadership. Furthermore, Maggio plans to go into the field himself after earning his advanced degree in college student development and administration.

“It was meaningful for me to see that a vice president of student affairs — the profession I am entering — marries students that he works for,” Maggio said. “It just brings caring for students to another level.”

The bride and groom exchanged vows on the steps of Hawkins Hall, just in time to watch the tug of war over the pond as Plattsburgh’s newest married couple.

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