Mia Leyba ’17 and Jordan Ross ’17, both therapeutic recreation alumni, married on October 29. Lebya and Ross were just classmates until falling in love at the very end of their final semester.
Lebya shared that the pair actually met off-campus at a conference. ”Our class went to Midwest Symposium and we actually met there,” she said. “I was sitting in the lobby waiting for a pre-conference event, and then I saw him. He was standing with a lot of friends, and he looked so cute. I told him that, and we started talking more from that point.”
The pair had been in the same classes for two and a half years, but they sat far from each other and didn’t cross paths. Ross said, “It was crazy timing. We spent two and a half years in the same class, and then for whatever reason, it just happened to work out the last month. We had started talking and then started dating right before graduation.”
The couple was meant to be. Ross had tried two other majors before finding his passion in therapeutic recreation, and Lebya also had other plans before she transferred to Illinois State University.
The couple is now settling down together in Crystal Lake and continuing their jobs. Lebya works at Northern Illinois Special Recreation Association (NISRA). She is currently the inclusion manager there, so she helps people with disabilities who are participating in Park District programming to be included, supported, and she ensures that they have reasonable accommodations put in place to support them. Ross works at Northwest Special Recreation Association, overseeing four districts as an inclusion coordinator. His job is similar to his wife’s in that he works to implement supports and figure out what participants need to be successful in different types of programming.
“I couldn’t be more thankful for my experience in ISU and what it has led to,” said Ross. ”Finding the love of my life and being able to marry her is so special. I’m just extremely thankful, and I am grateful to the school for that setting. It was the right place at the right time. All of our classmates, Rachel and Sherri, and everything it was.
“I truly believe I had an unbelievable experience at ISU. My five years there were the best probably five years of my life so far.”
Learn more information about School of Kinesiology and Recreation and Therapeutic Recreation program here.
