{"id":11064,"date":"2023-02-13T08:04:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-13T13:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/?p=11064"},"modified":"2023-02-10T11:27:12","modified_gmt":"2023-02-10T16:27:12","slug":"colgate-love-stories-abigail-hahn-15-and-james-speight-14","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/2023\/02\/13\/colgate-love-stories-abigail-hahn-15-and-james-speight-14\/","title":{"rendered":"Colgate Love Stories: Abigail Hahn \u201915 and James Speight \u201914"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Together They\u2019ll Grow<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If Abigail Hahn\u2019s college self could see\nher now, at age 29, living in suburban\nConnecticut, married to James Speight,\nshe\u2019d ask, \u201cAre you insane?\u201d\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But on one December night, a\nconfluence of unlikely events led to the life\nshe has today.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Let\u2019s set the scene: It was a party at Linen Hall, a cozy bar and restaurant in New York City\u2019s East Village. Hahn \u201915 and Speight \u201914, who\u2019d known each other in passing at Colgate, separately made the trek from their apartments for a birthday celebration in honor of their mutual friend Dave Halperin \u201914. Speight, who\u2019d just finished earning his master\u2019s in management at Wake Forest School of Business, was just beginning his career in fintech. Meanwhile, Hahn had begun her career in data science and project management. As she and Speight separately walked down 3rd Avenue and opened the door to the restaurant, they didn\u2019t know that they\u2019d meet their soulmate that night. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At Colgate, the two spent their time in opposite worlds: \u201cJames was in the Colgate Thirteen, Theta Chi, and rugby, and I worked as an econometrics tutor for the econ department,\u201d says Hahn. \u201cWe were of different walks of life.\u201d Though they didn\u2019t interact much on the Hill, their shared connection with Colgate sometimes makes it feel as though they did. \u201cWhen we go to reunions and come back to campus, I think one of the cool things is we didn\u2019t have the same experience, but we still love the University in our own way,\u201d Speight says. \u201cI think that speaks to what kind of place Colgate is.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Back to that night: When a friend reintroduced them, Speight and Hahn found it easy to make conversation. \u201cWe ended up being very compatible, surprisingly to a lot of our friends, because we were so different at school,\u201d Hahn says. Speight was drawn to Hahn\u2019s intelligence and sense of adventure, while she thought he was charming and charismatic. As they toasted Halperin, they made plans to meet again for a Chainsmokers concert on New Year\u2019s Eve. They still celebrate that date as their anniversary. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now, though, they have another one to celebrate: Sept. 17, 2022. In an outdoor ceremony at Noroton Yacht Club in Connecticut, Speight and Hahn exchanged pre-written vows. They spoke of learning to grow together. \u201cThe people we are now are not who we were so long ago,\u201d Hahn says today. \u201cWe\u2019ve been changing a lot for the better, I think; we definitely challenge each other. I always said I wanted to keep making each other better, I don\u2019t think this is our final state.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At their wedding, the couple also acknowledged Halperin as their matchmaker. \u201cThere were so many parties we [did] not go to, [but] we just both happened to go to that one,\u201d Hahn says. \u201cIt\u2019s all very interesting to think about, how it all worked out.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Speight and Hahn share a pug dubbed Willow, named after Willow Path. <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Abigail Hahn \u201915 and James Speight \u201914 reconnected after Colgate and married in Sept. 2022.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1222,"featured_media":11271,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6],"tags":[880,1305,277,458,1307,1377,927],"coauthors":[168],"class_list":["post-11064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-alumni-updates","category-colgate-love-stories","tag-colgate-love-stories","tag-colgate-thirteen","tag-economics","tag-reunion","tag-rugy","tag-theta-chi","tag-willow-path"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/palXSH-2Ss","amp_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/02\/19-09-2022-18-27-27-2_Color.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1222"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11064"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11064\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11568,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11064\/revisions\/11568"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11064"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=11064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}