TNP Valentine’s Day Special

Photo via Sarah Donaldson

Valentine’s Day is a day to celebrate our loved ones, usually associated with flowers, chocolates, cards and teddy bears. However, Valentine’s Day has a fascinating history and has been around for centuries. 

The origins of Valentine’s Day contain both ancient Roman and Christian traditions. There are many different legends about Saint Valentine but one of the more popular stories suggests that Saint Valentine was a priest who served in Rome during the third century. 

Valentine would secretly perform marriages to lovers despite Emperor Claudius II outlawing marriage for young men since he believed that they made better soldiers than ones with wives and children. Valentine was sentenced to death when Claudius found out about the secret marriages. 

Fast forward to this Valentine's Day, we want to celebrate two former TNP members, Sarah Donaldson and Cole Behrens, who are set to get married in May of 2026.

Donaldson graduated from Ohio University in May 2022 and Behrens in December 2021. They both majored in jJournalism News and Information through the Scripps College of Communications. Donaldson joined The New Political when she was a freshman, where the two met.

Behrens was already a News Editor for TNP when Donaldson joined, and she shadowed him covering City Council for her first assignment. The two began to date in April 2019, and both remained very involved in TNP during their time at Ohio U.

They joined TNP due to their interests in covering politics and government. Behrens served as managing editor from 2019-2020, and Donaldson served as editor-in-chief from 2020-2021. They got engaged in Columbus in October 2023 and plan to get married next May.

Because Donaldson is out of town this weekend, the two plan to celebrate Valentine's Day next week over dinner. A huge congratulations to them both, and a happy Valentine's Day to all.