Printer-friendly version

Send to a friend

You might also be interested in

• Street Cheese Tasting
• Criminal injustice

This Issue 10/16/2008

• Ego of the Week: Josh Bennett
• The Best Defense Is A Good Offense
• Tokyo Experience

Browsing for a necklace to match her wedding dress two years ago, Natalie Kelly, then a College sophomore, wandered through the packed stalls of Locust Walk during Family Weekend, she recalls.

“My dress is taffeta,” Kelly told a jewelry seller, craning to see what she had to offer. Her thoughts were interrupted by an unprovoked question.

“You’re getting married?” heckled a nearby student.

Kelly, unashamed of her decision, answered yes.

“Well, are you a senior?”

“No. I’m a sophomore,” Kelly coolly replied.

She continued to search for the perfect necklace, unperturbed.

Now a senior, she still recounts the anecdote with disbelief: “[The vendor] was just so appalled that I was getting married. I just kept thinking, ‘Who are you?’” Kelly, who has been happily married for over a year now, certainly realizes that her decision was outside the norm — especially at Penn.

The Utah native feels that her early engagement would not have caused such a hubbub in her home state, where marriage is more common among college-aged students. In fact, Utah has the lowest average age at first marriage, a statistic that can be explained in part by the significant Mormon population that lives there. At Penn, though, many students are occupied with classes, extracurriculars and keggers and most certainly don’t have marriage on their agendas. They view college as a time for playing the field and sexual experimentation, and can’t picture themselves in a white dress or tuxedo for years to come.

According to the most recent United States census, the average age at which men marry is 28. For women, the age is 26. That’s at least four years after most people complete their undergraduate degrees. But the few who have made the unconventional choice can cite a laundry list of reasons why getting married while still in college was right for them, not the least of which is strong religious convictions.

Kelly is a Mormon. She says her faith emphasizes that marriage, aside from a strong belief in God, is the most important foundation for a life that complies with the principles and practices of Mormonism. What’s more, the importance of marriage is ingrained in Mormon children from a young age so that they are prepared to think seriously about marriage whenever they meet a potential partner. “Growing up, I can’t even tell you how many times a church activity involved me making a list of all the qualities I wanted to see in my future husband,” Kelly said. “Your whole life it’s drilled into you [that you should] know what kind of person you want to marry.”