By Ava Geaniotis

This Valentine’s Day season, love is in bloom at Adelphi – as it had been for two students who attended the university just over 30 years ago. Today, they are still going strong and friends with other couples who met during their time at Adelphi, and their daughter is continuing their Adelphi legacy today, having graduated in 2024 with a degree in Communications.

Caren Prommersberger, ’91, and Richard Panchyk, ’92, met at Adelphi during the fall semester of Panchyk’s freshman year. Prommersberger was an English major, and Panchyk was an Anthropology major. They were both members of Adelphi’s honors program (which later became the Honors College in 1994) and they were both members of The Delphian, which was where they met. They began as classmates and became close friends.

Love at First “Write”
Starting as friends, Prommersberger described her first impression of Panchyk as finding him to be very smart. He felt similarly about her, and he said that she was “intelligent, smart, creative, [and] interested in everything.”

During their shared time at Adelphi, Prommersberger and Panchyk said they were too occupied with work from classes and clubs for their relationship to start. 

Nonetheless, they continued to exist in the same social circles. “At the time, all the offices were on the third floor of the UC, so anyone who was [part of the] yearbook, Delphian, or the radio station – there were a lot of cross friendships and relationships,” Prommersberger said.

At the time, The Delphian was a weekly paper. According to Panchyk, it required stressful late nights. Prommersberger agreed. In addition to both being active members of The Delphian, Prommersberger was also editor-in-chief of the yearbook and Panchyk said he was also part of the radio station.

Even though they were both busy, they stayed connected. Prommersberger recounts listening to Panchyk on the radio station while working on The Delphian. “When he would have his show with another friend of ours, we would turn that on and listen to it while we were putting the paper together.” 

Prommersberger also mentioned how she and Panchyk would recruit one another to help out at each others’ clubs on the third floor of the University Center.

While in some ways school prevented a romantic relationship from developing between them, it also created opportunities for them to get closer. Although they were still only friends at the time, Panchyk considers their first date to be a journalism convention that they attended together for The Delphian in Anaheim, California as the only two members for the newspaper.  

“The whole trip was kind of like a date, even though we weren’t dating yet,” Panchyk said. “That was what kind of sparked it, even though it didn’t go anywhere for months.”

Furthermore, Prommersberger said that the shows they attended together to review for The Delphian also felt like dates.

Once Prommersberger graduated in 1991 and they both had more time and less stress, they started to date. “It was natural that after she graduated it was easier for anything to happen,” Panchyk said. Then, shortly after Panchyk graduated in 1992, they got engaged.

An Adelphi Community with Friends and Family

Now, they’re married, and their Adelphi legacy continues in their family. 

When their children were young, Panchyk said that he would bring them to campus to show them around, and Prommersberger said they would bring them to Spirit Weekend.

Years later, their daughter, Lizz Panchyk, ‘24, attended Adelphi and became the editor-in-chief of The Delphian, just as her father had during his junior year. 

Prommersberger and Panchyk describe having two generations of Adelphi alumni in their family as a “good feeling.” Even though so much has changed since their time attending the university, Panchyk said that the campus “still has that connection for all of [them] now.” 

Similarly, even though The Delphian has changed with technological development, Panchyk said he felt that his daughter’s class conducted their work with “the same level of love and dedication.” Both Panchyk and Prommersberger agree that their daughter attending Adelphi and being a member of The Delphian is a source of pride for them.

Adelphi had a great impact on their lives, both within their family and with the friendships they made while attending the university. Astonishingly, Prommersberger and Panchyk aren’t the only couple to come from The Delphian during their time at Adelphi – there were two other couples in their group.

“We all got married within a year of each other, and we’re all still friends,” Prommersberger said. 

“You never know where you’re going to meet your person, or what friendship is going to develop into something more,” Prommersberger said. “Sometimes life surprises you.” 

Based on their experience at Adelphi, they have this advice for current students:

“Find a club or an activity that you love, and don’t just become part of it – experience it fully, and it’ll enhance your Adelphi experience,” Panchyk said. 

Prommersberger said, “Follow your dreams and keep your heart open.”