Love, they say, can happen at first sight. But more often, it blossoms over time.
Melanie (Scanlon) Sheridan ’01 and Scott Sheridan ’02 met during their freshman year at St. Joe’s Long Island Campus in Patchogue when they both joined the Circle K club, a service organization connected to the Kiwanis Club.
As they worked on and planned many community events and traveled to local and national conferences for Circle K, they became “really great friends.”
As the duo rose up through the ranks of club leadership, they began to spend even more time together, including a late-night journey to upstate New York.
As many can attest, a long car ride can reveal a lot about a person, not to mention the status of a relationship.
Melanie and Scott back in the college days with Circle K.
Melanie and Scott were scheduled to be at a Circle K event in Binghamton, NY early on a Saturday morning, but they also needed to be at a charity basketball game at the Danzi Athletic Center the night before. Their plan: make the ride up after the game ended.
“On the drive up, we kept ourselves awake by listening to the ‘Rent’ soundtrack and the new (at the time) Carlos Santana album,” said Scott. “We rotated back and forth between those two for pretty much the entire ride from Patchogue to Binghamton in the middle of the night.”
Today, the Sheridans—who married in 2006—have not slowed down on their commitments. They have three sons (a 16-year-old and 12-year-old twins). Scott works as an instructional design strategist and Melanie, who loves spending time in the garden, is a recruiting manager.
The Sheridan Family
“I also really enjoy planning various events for my family and friends. Give me a theme and I’ll make it happen,” she said.
The Sheridans are very involved in scouting; Scott is an assistant scoutmaster for Troop 74 in Coram where the Sheridan teens are scouts. Scott is also a captain in the American Red Cross, helping support Suffolk County families impacted by home fires and other disasters.
There is a shared love of music running through the Sheridan family, too.
“We all love music, not only playing a variety of instruments and singing, but also going to see Broadway and local theater productions,” said Scott, who is in a band with his brother, a best friend and two of his sons.
For a great date, the couple enjoys trying new places for dinner around the island and spending warm evenings at Cedar Beach in Mt. Sinai.
When they weren’t in Circle K meetings at St. Joe’s or in classes, Melanie and Scott spent a lot of time together in the cafeteria. They also had one class together: a public speaking class with Richard Paganini. The Sheridans said the late speech communications professor was one of their favorite instructors at St. Joe’s.
What is the secret to a lasting relationship? The Sheridans said, “Communication. Communication is the key. Don’t be afraid to tell each other how you feel about things. And having our own comforters on our bed is also a big part!”
The Proposal: In an Elementary School in Queens
As told by Scott: “When I had planned to pop the question, I was teaching 5th grade at a school in Queens. I knew I was ready to ask but I wanted the proposal to be really unique. So, I enlisted the help of my class. At the end of each year, we held a talent show and my class and I came up with the perfect finale. We spent part of a day making signs that each student would hold that spelled out ‘Will you marry me, Melanie???’ (a few extra question marks to make sure all students got to hold a sign). I suggested to Melanie that she come to the show to meet my class and she ended up taking the day off of work. After all of the acts had finished, our emcee announced that ‘Mr. Sheridan’s class had a very special surprise.’ Each of my students filed out onto the risers in front of the stage with their signs turned around while “Surfer Girl” by the Beach Boys played. On cue, they flipped their signs around and spelled it all out. We had arranged for her to have a reserved seat in the front row. I walked over and got down on one knee and the rest is history! The whole auditorium erupted with cheers. It was quite a day!”
