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Two housing staff members found love at IUPUI

nicolereitz2

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON https://spotted.iupui.edu/


In December of 2014, Sydney Lease met the love of her life on the first day of her new job -- but she didn’t know it at the time. During her first staff meeting at IUPUI as an assistant director in Housing and Residence Life (HRL), her future husband, Ben Lease, sat right next to her.


In the midst of starting a new job and moving back to Indianapolis from Washington, Sydney’s life was taking her on a whole new journey, and IUPUI was opening new doors for her.


The same went for Ben as well. As he was finishing up his master’s degree in higher education and student affairs, IUPUI offered him an assistantship where he could gain experience in housing as the graduate director of University Tower.


Following Sydney's first staff meeting, Ben went to her office to introduce himself further, and they ended up having an instant connection.

"It was a really great conversation, and I remember thinking this person is really great," Sydney said."


But it took some time to develop their relationship. Sydney was assigned to work in Riverwalk Apartments and Ben was still working in University Tower, so they did not see much of each other after meeting.


Then, during the summer of 2015, everything changed. Sydney was moved to work in the same building as Ben, and Ben’s summer assignment -- given by his supervisor, Sara Dickey -- was to get to know Sydney better.


"She called it forced-bonding," Ben said. "She was like, 'you guys have to bond so you can work well together over the school year.'"


So Ben did just that. Working in the same building and spending everyday together led to an unbreakable bond and strong friendship. From supervising the building to putting residence hall beds together at 2 a.m. before move-in day, there was plenty of room to heighten their relationship. That’s when they both realized this was something more.


"We developed a great friendship that carried over into supervising the building together," Sydney said. "We had an awesome, really fun, next academic year. That’s when we really started to consider that maybe our relationship could be more than just friends."


Ben and Sydney began dating that fall, which ended up being beneficial to their careers.


"It was really great to have a partner that understood HRL, the weird hours and the student concerns," Sydney said. "I could confide in someone who knew what the work was."


Working together allowed for them to bounce ideas off each other, which enhanced their relationship even more. Sharing a common love for IUPUI and HRL has been, and still is, a strong bond between them.


"I think in housing you really touch every aspect of a student's academic and personal experience. Their emotional well-being, their social connections, academic success, their family lives -- we deal with just about everything," Sydney said.


"There’ve been a couple of times now where we’ve watched a student who we’ve spent a lot of time working with be successful, overcome their challenges and graduate."


By spring 2018, Ben was finishing up his master’s degree and going to night school to become an EMT. His success and strong resume could’ve taken him anywhere, but he had grown a deep love for IUPUI -- and for Sydney as well.


"I interviewed at a bunch of different places, but I had really gotten to know this department," Ben said. "I thought Sydney was pretty cool and there were other nice things about IUPUI that I already knew, like the residence halls."


Ultimately, Ben decided to pursue his career further at IUPUI and continued to grow in his relationship with Sydney. The two ended up getting married in May 2018 and have been inseparable since -- all thanks to the opportunities they had at IUPUI.


"We have been working in the department ever since and it has been really cool," Sydney said. "We don’t work in the same functional area anymore, but we still get to go to work together every day, go to meetings together, and we still get to stay debriefed on what someone else is working on."


You can find them both today working their dream jobs as part of IUPUI’s HRL team. Sydney as assistant director for residence life and Ben as facilities asset coordinator.

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