Born and raised in Logansport, Indiana Shelley moved to Lafayette after high school to go to Purdue. Purdue was the only college she visited, but she fell in love with the campus at first sight...and she never left!

Shelley has spent the last four years working with the Division of Financial Aid at Purdue, where she met Jeff when they were both undergrads working as peer counselors. As of July 1 Shelley has left her post as the Assistant Director of Packaging/Authorization to begin a new career as the Business Manager for the Chemistry Department in Purdue's College of Science.

In her spare time Jeff keeps Shelley busy motorcycle riding, hiking, and going on road trips. Shelley also somehow manages to find time to take yoga classes, paint, and get in her daily run!

Born at Butterworth hospital in Grand Rapids, MI, Jeff spent the earliest years of his life living in West Olive, MI with his parents, Donald and Susan Turkstra, and from 1984 onward his sister, Sarah. In September of 1985 Jeff and his family moved to Grand Haven, MI where he spent the remainder of his childhood. Jeff graduated from Grand Haven High School in the spring of 2000.

Jeff's college selection process was probably somewhat less rigorous than many's, but at some point he visited Purdue with his Dad and from that day forward Jeff was a Boilermaker. Jeff graduated in 2004 with a BS in Computer Engineering and again in 2007 with an MS in ECE. For the last three years he has been pursuing a PhD in ECE . In June of 2009 he accepted a full time position as a software engineer with the Rosen Center for Advanced Computing at Purdue, delegating his status as a PhD student to part time.

More about Jeff can be found on his personal website, TurkeyLand.

Both Jeff and Shelley started working as peer counselors in the Division of Financial Aid at Purdue during the summer before their Junior year (2002). After enduring an annoying training period, they both ended up in cubicles next to each other. It took a while for Shelley to adjust to Jeff's antics, but after about a year they finally started getting along. Their first date was on August 4, 2003. Jeff showed up with a rose and they went to the movies. A week and a half later, on August 14 (coincidentally the date of their wedding 7 years later) they officially became a couple.