How we met

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Meredith Van Natta and Sam Stepp

It was a sweltering October day and Sam Stepp, Mission Hills senior, was frustrated that the KU Housing Department had turned off the residents’ air conditioning. While writing a strongly-worded letter to the housing department, Stepp, who wanted the air conditioning turned back on, noticed Meredith Van Natta, Torrance, Calif., senior, also hanging out in the Templin Hall lobby.

She lived on his floor, and this was not the first time he noticed her. “She had always seemed intimidating to me,” Stepp says. He asked her for help in writing and editing his petition letter, and she agreed. Van Natta admits this was not the first time she had noticed him, either. “He’s kind of a mischievous guy and I guess I was kind of drawn to that,” she says. After finishing the letter, Stepp got everyone in the lobby to sign the petition except for Van Natta. “It may have been flawed logic, but I had my reasons,” she says.

A week later, Stepp asked Van Natta out to dinner. The couple has been together for more than two years.

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