Albert & Serena: Highschool Sweethearts

Alumni Serena Brasile is a woman who always knew what she wanted to do with her life. Most teenagers don’t know what they want to be once they become an adult, let alone what they’re going to wear the next day. But not her; she was independent and fought for what she wanted, right down to her high school sweetheart.

Brasile graduated in 2016. Brasile was the typical “good student” in high school, always did her classwork, homework, and got good grades. Most students in high school usually just want to graduate and get the heck out of school, but not Brasile. She said that “KD inspired me by seeing the teachers teach the students, which made me want to become a teacher. Seeing the teachers make a difference in the students inspired me.” 

The teacher who had the biggest impact on her was Spanish teacher Laura Dettinger. “She always cared about her students and tried her best to help every student she had.” Her career path was to be an early childhood education teacher, and she wanted to attend Millersville University. 

Then Brasile said “My life is different now than it was in high school. I am working and living my own life. I am engaged and marrying my high school sweetheart. I am a full time student and getting my degree.” She currently lives in New Freedom. 

While she was a good student and was good in school, another good thing that came out of high school for her was meeting her current fiance. When talking to Brasile and Fiance Albert Greaver and KD alumni, I asked them similar questions. I asked them how they met and Serena said that she met him through her cousin since him and her cousin were best friends. Then when asking Albert the same question he replied with “I met Serena during my senior year of high school.”

Since high school, they’ve experienced a lot of life together. “One of my favorite memories that him and I have together is going to Italy together and him meeting my family.” Albert followed up “She was (and still is now) pretty, funny, and very down to earth.” 

No relationship is perfect, so when I asked them how they got through the tough times and what the toughest part of being together was Serena answered was “How we got through the tough times in high school is to take it one day at a time, because we knew that it would get better.” Albert replied with “The toughest part was after I graduated high school and went to college. Distance can be difficult but we made the effort and made it work.”

I asked Albert how he knew that Serena was the one and how he proposed, he said, “I knew she was the one when we went to Italy together and spent a couple of weeks with her family. I was one of the best times of my life.” With the proposal he said “I knew Serena wanted our families to be there, so I proposed to her at a family cookout on Labor Day at our house in New Freedom.” 

Brasile always knew what she wanted to do, and she still does “My future plans with him is to have our wedding in 2021 and buy a house in a few years.”

Like any relationship in high school they can always be hard. Not many relationships in high school last long enough to end in marriage. Today, only 2% of people marry their high school sweetheart, compared to the 1940s where 25%. Their advice to current high school couples is to always be honest with one another, and to be independent. Greaver stresses you have to be happy on your own. Instead of being together 24/7 spend some time apart it can definitely make your relationship stronger.