Finding lasting love sometimes is an education

Every school has those couples who have been together for years and who everyone votes for on the "who's most likely to get married out of high school" surveys.

They're known as high school sweethearts, the couples who fall in love in high school and get married soon after. Sometimes, though, kids who knew each other in high school, but weren't necessarily head over heels for each other, find themselves together later.

"We went out for two weeks in high school but I was a big nerd and he wanted to be cool," says Gretchen Hagge, a calculus teacher at Faith Lutheran High School.

Gretchen and Nate Hagge, who teaches sixth grade at Faith Lutheran, have been married for four years. They met in high school when Nate was a new student at Gretchen's school.

"Just like here, when there was a new student, everyone thought he was so cute," Gretchen says.

During their two-week relationship, Gretchen had thoughts about marriage but never anything serious. Nate, on the other hand, thought little about the idea.

"I broke up with her mainly because of peer pressure, and because I didn't want to date just one person," Nate recalls. "I wanted to float around. I was a little immature in high school."

Both the Hagges went on to separate colleges but reconnected as friends when Nate transferred to the University of Nebraska, where Gretchen was studying. Gretchen wanted to date him after she found out that he had transferred, but it took Nate a little longer to realize she was "the one."

"I figured it out my third year of college," he says. "The idea of it just kept coming back and I kept thinking about it."

The Hagges' story not only makes for great conversation, but it's also rare in that it took some time for their relationship to mature before they knew they should get married.

Jody Rael, an English and journalism teacher at Faith Lutheran, has a similar story of how she met her husband, Mike Rael.

"We were both the new kids at a school where everyone else had known each other since kindergarten," Jody says.

She describes herself as the "reserved girl" who would quickly eat lunch and then go to her locker to study or read.

"One day, Mike was at lunch with his girlfriend when he came around the corner and tripped over me," Jody remembers. "We consider that our first meeting."

Soon after, Mike broke up with his girlfriend and began pursuing Jody. After several failed attempts, they finally started dating.

"My parents had forbade me from dating anyone until I was 16, and I didn't want to go against their wishes," she says of the delays. "Plus, Mike had hair almost as long as mine, earrings, a goatee and tight black pants. He was not someone that my parents would have picked out for me."

Jody, who was and still is a strong Christian, finally decided to date Mike after an eerie event led her to the conclusion that he must need her in his life.

"I went to school and had decided that I wasn't going to date him, but as I got off the bus I heard a voice that said, 'If you date him, you can tell him about me,' " she says. "It was the weirdest sensation I ever had. I went up to him at school and said, 'OK, let's date.' "

After that, they dated for a few weeks, until Jody broke up with him after she felt she had "done (her) duty."

They became better friends, and Mike even started going to church with his family because of Jody.

Finally, on Valentine's Day during junior year, Mike again tried his chances with Jody by sending her flowers.

"I later found out that he had sent flowers to another girl in hopes of getting a date," Jody says. "The other girl wanted to go with him but since I said yeah, he turned her down."

The summer after their senior year of high school, Mike proposed to Jody and they remained engaged all through college.

"I broke up with him once in college because I thought I liked another guy, but I found out that guy was a real jerk and what me and Mike had was something I wasn't ready to give up," Jody says.

The Raels will celebrate their eighth wedding anniversary in June.