Stephanie and Jeff Frey
Welcome to the Martel family!
We are Jeff and Stephanie Frey. Your years at college will be very exciting and we hope to be a big part of it. We have made Martel our home all year round so we can be here to help you thrive and succeed at Rice. We will eat together, attend events together, throw parties together, do laundry together, wake up to fire alarms at night together, and just sit around and talk together.
Originally from Pittsburg, PA (Jeff) and Aurora, CO (Stephanie), we met and married twelve years ago in Massillon, OH when we were in college. We moved to New Orleans, LA for a few years and have now been in Houston, TX for seven years.
We have another member of our family. Samson is our four-year-old Silky Terrier who likes to bark at everything. He is a bit high strung, but harmless. Call him “Samson” most of the time, “Sammy” when you are playing with him, and “Sam!” when he is bad.
Jeff creates websites and technology solutions for Rice, managing the Web Services group in the Information Technology Department on campus. He holds a Master’s degree in Computer Science, teaches technology courses at the Glasscock School of Continuing Studies, and is presently finishing his last year in the Executive MBA program at Rice.
Stephanie is a Licensed Professional Counselor and Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in private practice in Sugar Land, TX. She is also the Director of Marriage, Family, and Counseling at the Sugar Land Vineyard Church. Stephanie holds a Master’s degree in Marriage and Family Counseling.
As a couple, we like movies, the theater, going out to eat, and travelling. Jeff sings, plays guitar, and likes multisport activities like duathlons and triathlons. Stephanie loves to cook and bake, likes afternoon tea, coffee shops, and shopping. At Martel, we host a weekly study break and other events outside the college like paintballing and afternoon tea.
We are in room 327, stop by often and get to know us. We look forward to meeting you in person real soon.
Edward Caplan and Maria Tsakalis
Hey Martel! Welcome to The Best College Ever! We are so excited to have you join us as the new additions to the Martel family! We can’t wait to get to know you all and have many fun moments with you in the future.
We know college life can be hard, adjusting to living with new people, living in a new place, dealing with a completely different eating and sleeping schedule, all while trying to excel in your coursework. That’s why we are here! Not only as a friend to talk to when you need us, but also to help you relax, and to stay balanced mentally and physically! We are both pretty laid back people, love to hang out, and always an open door when you need us. So I guess we should tell you a little bit about ourselves…
Maria is a Registered Dietitian and works in the Wellness Center where she gives free nutrition consultations to all students and designs and implements body image awareness programs on campus. She attended THE Ohio State University for her BS in nutrition and exercise science and attended Kent State University for her MS in nutrition. Maria spent her whole life living in Ohio (originally from Stow) and will always be a die-hard Buckeyes fan! Before coming to Rice in 2010, she worked at a “Biggest Loser-esk” diet resort in New York and is excited to now live here in Houston and especially at Rice!
Edward is also working to become a Registered Dietitian and just completed his residency with the University of Houston. He currently works with HIV side effect management at Houston Buyers Club and is busy studying for boards. Edward attended The University of Oregon and Kent State University for his BA in chemistry and completed his MS in nutrition at Kent State University. Edward is originally from Columbus, Ohio and spent 2 years after high school living in South Korea and Japan working for the military. After undergrad Edward worked for the YMCA in Indiana and Nevada where he managed fitness and aquatics programming. Ed is also certified personal trainer, lifeguard instructor, and dive master for scuba.
So how the heck did we get together? Well we met in graduate school. Maria asked Ed to a Lance Armstrong documentary, and the rest is nerdy relationship history!
Our son Hamilton is a one-year old Great Dane mix. We rescued him from the Houston Humane Society. Since moving into Martel, Hamilton has truly earned the name “Hamilton Thebestdogever” (look him up on Facebook!) and we think many Martelians would agree. His namesake was given to him for simple acts completed such as galloping through the quad painted in Martel colors during Beer Bike, playing with students constantly, chilling in students rooms, being a good cuddler, pooping in Jones College bushes, guarding Martel from intruders, the list goes on!
In our spare time we like to bike, run, take Hamilton to the dog parks, eat good food, drink good wine, be outdoors, ride horses, travel and have fun! We hope to experience many if not all of these activities with you! Welcome again and stop by 427 anytime!
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