It was the second week of freshman year — Sept. 15, 1995 — and Mary J. Blige’s “You Bring Me Joy” was playing on the stereo.

“All of us got up to dance. We kind of locked eyes, I smiled, he smiled, walked across the dance floor, and we started dancing,” Andrea Franklin (BA 1999) reminisced.

“The feeling was mutual when we first saw each other,” Jermain Franklin (BA 1999) added.

The husband and wife met at an off-campus event hosted by the University of Windsor’s Caribbean Student Association. They have been together ever since.

While studying communications, Jermain gained critical writing skills and volunteered to get a feel for the business, allowing him to dive headfirst into sports journalism post-graduation.

He reported in Toronto before securing a job at TSN in Calgary, where he built a distinguished career. He covered Stanley Cup finals, World Junior Hockey Championships, NBA finals featuring basketball superstars like LeBron James and Steph Curry, and the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver.

“I feel truly blessed to be able to do that,” Jermain shared. “It’s a lot of fun.”

One of the biggest highlights for Jermain has been his return to Ontario as a host on TSN’s flagship news program, SportsCentre.

“To come back and be on the anchor desk, that was a big deal to me,” he said. “I’d say that’s been the most significant. It’s good to be back home.”

Andrea found her calling in helping others and making a difference in her community. While working at UPS in Calgary, she localized the “Pulling4U” event, where volunteers haul a commercial airplane, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for the United Way.

Now, she serves as the company’s first community relations manager in Canada.

“It’s about finding projects and people to uplift and support,” Andrea explained. “Educating our employees on what’s happening around them, finding causes that matter to our people and finding ways to bring them to that cause.”

The couple carries their UWindsor experience with them throughout their careers and everyday life, from practical skills to the community they’ve built.

“Every semester, when I worked at the academic writing centre, we’d go to classrooms and do presentations about the resources available to students,” said Andrea. “As someone who’s shy, that experience helped me develop those communication skills.”

“I learned to survive, how to make everything work with what we had,” Jermain said. “I think what made that special is the friendships that we made, friendships I still have to this day.”

Now, their daughter Micah is attending their alma mater, pursuing a drama in education and community degree.

“It was nostalgic and exciting when she chose Windsor,” Andrea said.

“Since she grew up in Calgary, we thought she’d want to go back for university, but Windsor had the program she wanted. So, when she chose it, we had the warm fuzzies,” Jermain said.

The couple is proud of Micah’s choice because, to the Franklins, being a Lancer is special.

“I know what we bring to the table is different than any other school,” Jermain said. “The Ambassador Bridge right over the top of campus symbolizes a bridge to opportunities.”

As the University of Windsor celebrates Alumni Week, stories like the Franklins’ remind us of the legacy of our Lancer community. Share your story at www.uwindsor.ca/alumni/UWindsorLegacy.