communigator

Jennifer & Robert

Jennifer Nevins Robbins, TEL 1999, will always remember walking into her first day of Associate Professor James Babanikos’ writing class in 1998. It was the first time she met Robert Robbins, TEL 1999, who received his law degree from UF in 2002.

Noticing a handsome face in the crowd, she took the empty chair across from him.

During that semester, they often talked before and after class, but never ventured beyond polite conversation. On the last day of class, however, Jennifer hoped to change that. To her disappointment, though, Robert had disappeared after the final exam, claiming to have waited for Jennifer for what “seemed like an eternity,” and in the end, leaving before she finished.

“After that semester,” Jennifer recalled, “I referred to him as the ‘cute guy from Babanikos’ class’ and hoped I would run into him in Weimer Hall.”

Torn between remaining home during summer break or returning to school for the Summer B session, Jennifer decided to return to Gainesville. As luck would have it, Robert also decided to take the same telecommunication course, and with a nudge from a friend, Jennifer sat beside him on the first day of class.

Soon, they planned their first date. They made a bet: If Robert scored 95 percent or below on a test, Jennifer won, and if he scored a 96 percent or higher, he won. The loser cooked dinner.

“He scored a 96 percent,” Jennifer said. “That weekend, I made Bobby what ended up being horrible lemon-pepper chicken, which took us to Steak ‘n Shake. From then on, we were inseparable.”

Their senior year, the couple enrolled in their remaining telecommunication classes together, attended every home football game and traveled to Tallahassee for the Gators-Seminoles showdown.

Following graduation, they survived three years of long distance dating while Robert stayed at UF to attend law school. In 2001, Robert proposed to Jennifer on the beach at Amelia Island. Two years later, they married in Palm Beach Gardens, and now live in Wellington with their 3-year-old son, Jacob, and 3-month-old daughter, Grace.

–Kelli McKinney