Campus Duo: Jon & Jamie Wepking

From alumni, to faculty members, to family, MSUM has been a large part of Jon and Jamie Wepking’s lives. With Jon working in Athletics and Jamie in Admissions, the duo has incorporated MSUM into their growing family’s everyday life.

“We’ve had MSUM as part of our relationship since the beginning, that’s where we met,” Jon explained. Jon played intramural basketball and Jamie was the scorekeeper, and the rest is history.

Well, besides the proposal, which happened at an MSUM basketball game. Jon says he dropped the ring in front of two thousand people, “But she said yes in front of two thousand people, which is the important part!”

They have worked together at MSUM for six years. They enjoy having the same coworkers and said they are able to meet up for lunch once a week if they’re lucky, getting their fix of the chicken tortilla soup. Another perk to working together are the practical jokes that they can pull with each other’s help.

Before their daughter, Nora, was born, they visited Doug Peters, who was both Jon and Jamie’s boss at the time. After a conversation that sounded like the couple was going to be leaving MSUM, they then announced to him that they were expecting. Confusion turned to excitement, and a bit of relief, when Doug realized what they were really saying.

“We get to have some fun,” Jamie said, “and we work with really great people, so it’s awesome to have a really cool culture at MSUM. [One] that wants to have fun, but really wants to work hard too.”

Between sporting events and pranks, they have been able to incorporate another part of their life with MSUM.

“Our daughter Nora loves coming to games and knows the athletes,” Jon said. ”Seeing her grow up on the floor where we met is kind of a cool piece.”

First impressions of each other?

Jon: Upon getting to know her, she was just so strong in everything I was weak in. She’s so tough, strong, [and] independent. I remember there was a moment in intramurals where I tried to stand up, an individual was getting kind of upset with the scorekeeping *pointing at Jamie* and I tried to stand up and say ‘Hey, stop talking to her like that,’ and she said ‘No, I can take care of myself.’
Jamie: We’ve always been able to just be friends and partners first, and have each other’s back in everything. That’s nice to have at work too, it’s great that you can have somebody who’s got your back and knows what you’re going through.

Would you switch jobs for a day?

Jamie: I wouldn’t want him taking my job…
Jon: I was just going to say the same thing!
Jamie: I can watch him edit and cut pieces and do interviews like this, and it’s not my cup of tea.
Jon: And she’s so good at customer service. I’ve seen her take phone calls with frustrating people sometimes, and handle it with so much calmness and grace that I really don’t possess.
They did add that even though they couldn’t do each other’s jobs, they like to help out and volunteer for the other where they can.

What’s one thing you’ll never agree on?

Jamie: Well, he’s a Packer fan… I’m a Vikings fan.
That’s all they needed to say.

If you could give each other one superpower, what would it be:
Jamie: I would give you teleportation, so you’d never be late again.
Jon: That never happens…never late ever.
Jamie: Anybody who works with Jon knows that he’s usually not dramatically late, but just a couple minutes. So if we’re in meetings together, like [for] commencement, Heather will usually ask me ‘Is Jon coming today?’ and I say ‘I don’t know, text him.’
After a lot of deliberation, and more explanation, Jon decided, “A pause button!”
Jon: Just give her a pause button on life.
Jamie: Wait…
Jon: No no no… There’s a movie called “Click” with Adam Sandler where he had a remote, right? Yeah, I’d give her that remote… If I could give her that remote, I think that’d be killer.
Jamie: I thought you meant you’d pause me.
Jon: No!

If the engagement, the work-life, and family weren’t enough of MSUM for the couple, they spent their eighth anniversary reminiscing and giving each other superpowers over a Zoom interview for the university.

Thank you to this MSUM duo, for their hard work and many laughs!

Do you know a duo on campus who would make a great feature? Send their names to marketingteam@mnstate.edu.