Margie Vazquez had fifth period lunch with Miguel Olavarria, but it was not until she went to a bowling alley where she saw Olavarria working that she wanted to talk the cute boy that would be her future husband.

  Margarita “Margie” Olavarria, formerly Vazquez, and Miguel Olavarria Jr. Margarita graduated in 1987 and 1986, respectively. They had fifth lunch together in 1983 and were introduced by a mutual friend. They became closer when Margarita went to a wedding at a banquet hall that had a bowling alley upstairs.

  “When I entered I was pleasantly surprised to see that the cute guy from Lane that had caught my eye worked there,” Margarita said.

  Girls were accepted to Lane during the September 1971 semester because of a lack of  technical school for girls and a decrease in enrollment, according to Lane’s website.

  This decision was met with protests — fifteen hundred Lane boys protested at the Board of Education. They wrote letters that protested that the school’s academic and athletic achievements would diminish with the enrollment of girls. According to Lane, the school’s overall academic quality actually improved.

   In honor of St. Valentine’s day, Lane Tech’s Warrior Facebook page sought out Lane alumni couples. The page received over 100 suggestions, but five couples answered the questions given to them and gave pictures.

  The Olavarrias have been together for 29 years starting May 1986 besides their first gap of dating for a few months in October 1983. They were married June 1992.

  Their family expanded and now their three children also have the same Lane pride. Marissa is a senior, Div. 669. Anthony is a freshmen, Div. 960, and Ariana Olavarria is six years old but hopes to go to Lane when she is of age.

  The second couple, Salah Chaurize and Sabine Stoepler-Chaurize, graduated in 1985 and started dating in January of that year.

  The Chaurizes were both involved with the music department. Sabine was lead in the play “Camelot” while Salah played violin in the pit for the musical. They met in geometry class.

  Fast forward two years and both Chaurizes are seniors and have leadership roles in the music department. Salah was Concertmaster of the orchestra and Sabine was singing for every school occasion.

  “We considered each other friends until Mr. Mitofsky, theory teacher and marching band director, played Cupid and announced that we would make a great couple,” Sabine said. “When I privately told Mr. Mitofsky that he was embarrassing me, with a twinkle in his eye he whispered that he was never wrong about love. A few weeks later, we started dating and soon fell in ‘high school love.’ For years after, Mr. Mitofsky bragged about setting up the Concertmaster and choir soloist.”

  After their graduation in 1985, the Chaurizes stayed together until their breakup in college.

  “I think it was both distance and being young that broke us up junior year,” Sabine said. “Although we had a soft spot for one another, neither one of us thought we would ever be together again. It wasn’t until we were establishing our careers that we saw each other on the street and started communicating again. No, it wasn’t instant. It grew into a whole new relationship, with a familiar foundation.”

  The Chaurizes married in December 1994, recently celebrating their 21 years together. They now have two children in high school and live in the far west suburbs.

  The next couple have a somewhat similar story to their beginnings. Linda and Benjamin Wong have been together since 1990. They unofficially met in their freshman English class before Linda transferred.

  “She made a huge impression on me, one that I did not forget. I definitely experienced it [love at first sight],” Benjamin said.

  The Wongs officially met through Benjamin’s locker partner during their sophomore year.

  “I remember being very nervous when I started talking to her my sophomore year.  I couldn’t even ask her out face to face. I had to write her a note,” Benjamin said.

  Like the Chaurizes, both Linda and Benjamin Wong had similar extracurriculars. The Wongs were both school spirit boosters.

  “I was a majorette and performed with the marching band so the majorettes performed at football games, parades, and pep rallies. Ben was one of two guys on the cheerleading team while also a wrestler!” Linda said.

  Both Wongs agreed that they had a great relationship throughout high school despite having different graduating years.

  “I really enjoyed our time together at Lane,” Benjamin said. “In my opinion, I was really lucky to be able to go out with one of the prettiest girls in the school.  Also, I cannot help but think that my two sons, Matthew and Ryan, may be walking around the Lane hallways with their future spouses, just as we did.”

   The Wongs were married September 1999. Currently, the Wong family has grown to have three boys and one girl. Matthew Wong, Div. 982, and Ryan Wong, Div. 152, are very involved with the school — Matt is on the Baseball and Chess team and Ryan is on Student Council, Science Olympiad, Basketball, Chess, and Math team. For this story, the Wongs posed for a family picture (shown right) and as they walked the halls, their parents told them all about the exciting traditions that Lane has that they would enjoy, like International Days.

   Traditions can last forever at Lane, and love is no exception. Fast forward 12 years to 2011 when Gabriela Brizuela and Rufino Salgado graduated from Lane.

   Brizuela and Salgado became a couple later in their time at Lane. It was their senior year, and Salgado was getting over a recent break up with the person that ironically introduced Brizuela and Salgado at a BBQ. They began seriously talking in January 2011.

  “Eventually I asked her to prom, to which she said yes. Then asked her out to which she also said yes,” Salgado said. “Funnily enough, prior to asking her on a date I tried to tell her I liked her in the halls of Lane. It was so loud and she was in such a rush that I eventually had to shout it out for her to hear.”

   Brizuela and Salgado have now been together for five years. They are set to wed in 2018.

  “Five years down, a hundred to go,” Brizuela said.
   They have learned and continue to learn how to communicate effectively with each other. They credited their success to learning how the other processes things and how to handle each other’s moods.

    The last couple, with mandatory computer class, anime club, and Japanese club in common, Zorgie Sanchez and Piotr Scislowicz’s love story seems straight out of an ABC family drama.

   “Because there we were, under the pouring rain, him holding an umbrella over us,” Sanchez said.  “And oh, him pulling me closer to him so that my arms wouldn’t get wet where the umbrella failed to cover us. ‘Piotr?’ I said. ‘Yeah?’ Piotr said. It felt as if we had been standing there forever, and I knew that we had to go. The campus was mostly empty, the storm still heavily pouring upon us. So I said it, ‘I like you.’ And with a stupid smirk on his face he just said, ‘Yeah, I know.’ And leaned down pressing his forehead to mine, almost as if asking if he could kiss me, almost as if he was too scared to do it first. So I kissed him. It was one of the best decisions in my life.”

  The couple will have been together seven years on Feb. 11. Their relationship is so resilient that they have only broken up once.

“Well, we do [mention the breakup], but just to make fun of the fact that we couldn’t even go a full month without each other.”

  Sanchez and Scislowicz are going to marry summer of 2017.

  But as young couples like Sanchez and Scislowicz grow to become as close and have a longer relationships like Stoepler-Chaurize and Chaurize, thinking about Lane brings back memories from long ago.

  “I look at those early years of falling in love in high school very fondly,” Stoepler-Chaurize said. “Would I want to do it all over again? Maybe for a day or two, but not all over again. Looking back on it I still remember the giddy fluttering of my heart with new love and it makes me smile. The love I have right now may be old and comfortable, but it is so much deeper. Although our faces show age, we can still see those 18 year olds. Could or would we have predicted this in high school? Heck no. Would we have wanted it? Who knows.”