East High School is the perfect setting for the relationship of your dreams. From leaky ceilings to daily fire alarms, what more could a budding romance need to bloom? If you need any more convincing, just take the most successful couple East’s halls have brought together: Ms. Flynn and Mr. Prinzo, or Flynzo for short. The student body’s favorite couple sat down with us to discuss their relationship, married life, and provide some much-needed advice to high school couples. 

How did you guys meet?

FLYNN: Well, we met. I guess we officially saw each other at school in 2016. But we met at the end of the school year staff party. That was in June of 2016.

PRINZO: Yeah, so staff party 2016. We didn’t talk to each other before that, even though we worked together for about four months.

FLYNN: Yeah, and his roommate, Mr. Murray, was an English teacher at the time. And, so, Mr. Murray was like, “Oh, have you met my roommate, Prinzo.”

So, how did you guys officially start dating?

PRINZO: We hung out through the summer

FLYNN: Yes, I had just gotten the job, so I decided I wanted to move here, so he helped me find an apartment. And so we weren’t officially dating until August, right before the school year started.

PRINZO: August 10th!

FLYNN: And, I thought he was funny…looking.

Thought or think?

PRINZO: Yeah, yeah, there’s a lot of hesitation there.

FLYNN: I still think he’s funny. He makes me laugh every day. I actually think the foundation of our relationship is-

PRINZO: Laughter! Nothing wrong with that.

How long have you been together?

FLYNN: 2016 to today is… we’re going on 8 years.

PRINZO: We’ll probably be 8 years in June, so we’re a little short of 8 years.

FLYNN: That sounds insane.

PRINZO: That does sound insane. 2016 to now is about 8 years

FLYNN: Yeah, and he still makes comments like, “Oh, ever since we’ve been dating.” Bro, we’re married now. You can stop saying that.

PRINZO: It’s good you asked that question because that put it into perspective. I don’t think my brain realized it.

PRINZO: The count resets when you get married, so you don’t think about it as much. So, August 10th is the dating anniversary, and May 6th is the marriage anniversary.

FLYNN: Good thing he knows. Thank goodness.

What’s your favorite thing about each other?

PRINZO: I want you to start this one off.

FLYNN: Why? Because you don’t know what you like about me [laughs]

PRINZO: No, there’s like a lot of things. It’s always just hard to answer this question on the spot and narrow down what you want to say.

FLYNN: There’s obviously several things that I love about him. One thing I was thinking about recently is the fact that he makes me laugh. And I feel like because we’re just silly, we have a true friendship, he is my best friend. That wouldn’t be possible if we didn’t actually enjoy each other’s company. Otherwise, I really like that he’s goal-oriented as a human being. Obviously, I think he’s intelligent, but that’s something that I think is important in a human being regardless of what you’re looking for.

PRINZO: For me, I would say the number one thing is I like that she has a very strong, hardworking personality because I have always believed that if you’re in a relationship with someone, it shouldn't be the guy who makes all the decisions and dominates the relationship telling the women what to do. And, I also don’t like the other way around where the woman is kinda bossy or whatever you would say. You should be a 50/50 partner in crime, a partner in whatever you’re trying to do. 

FLYNN: People ask you all the time who wears the pants.

PRINZO: Yes, in all seriousness, if you asked us, even when we were separate from each other, who wears the pants in the relationship is a goofy thing to say. I think we’re 50/50. 

FLYNN: I have one pant leg. We’re in a three-legged race.

PRINZO: Even if we weren’t sitting next to each other, I think we’d say that has much to do with her personality matching mine. 

FLYNN: We really work well and communicate. Nobody just makes decisions.

PRINZO: I love the 50/50 thing, but sometimes it’s bad for us.

FLYNN: Sometimes someone just needs to make a decision.

What is the best date you have been on?

FYLNN: I feel like the night we got engaged was the best date I have ever been on. Best meal I ever had. 

PRINZO: Yeah, I guess, like, it’s really hard to say anything else but that. Like obviously, that’s the most memorable moment, but even if you had done that without the engagement, it was such a cool night. 

FLYNN: He planned out the whole weekend full of activities. It wasn’t just, “Here’s a dinner, here’s a ring.” He tried to consider all the things we enjoyed doing as a couple, so night one was a hayride, and the fall things we enjoyed doing. Then he took me to Philadelphia because I love going there and took me to a few places with rooftop restaurants. He proposed on one of the rooftop restaurants and then took me to dinner and was like…

PRINZO: The most expensive meal I have ever had.

FLYNN: The food was fabulous, I still think about it to this day. Then, the day after, he surprised me again and had planned a brunch with our families. So it was the longest date since it was in three parts. Also, I got engaged, so that was pretty cool. 

How do you feel about the couple's name Flynzo?

FLYNN: We love it. We actually invented it, and it’s caught on obviously in the year since. I would love a legal change.

PRINZO: I think it sounds too cartoonish or something. Flynzo, it's ridiculous.  

FLYNN: It’s like saying Prinzo is a cartoon name.

PRINZO: I don’t know, that’s like my ancient legal name. That came hundreds of years ago. It’s not the same thing.

FLYNN: Well, we can track that, but I love Flynzo. That was like the hashtag for our wedding.

PRINZO: Love it! Love the nickname, but I’d rather keep it a nickname.

What challenges have you had to overcome as a couple?

PRINZO: The biggest thing is we are just facing any challenges a normal couple who just got married faces. Financial situations like buying a house, dealing with inflation, or where we go with our family. I feel like we have lived a pretty good life in that we haven’t had to face any severe challenges. Knock on wood; it will only be normal family challenges.

FLYNN: The next step is that we really, I know it’s mostly me, but we really want to buy a house like kinda like start our lives in that capacity. Everyone knows that so far, inflation has been absolute trash, so that’s our struggle. 

We know you invited students to your wedding ceremony. What other ways do your students play a role in your relationship?

PRINZO: Well, since we both have the same job, our day overlaps so much, so I feel like students play a huge role in our lives because they are our jobs, and we can also talk about and connect when we go home.

FLYNN: And we’re both not completely student-centered, but we both are involved in a lot of things. We enjoy our jobs and the connections we make with students, like as coaches and those types of things.  

PRINZO: I think you can say we’re student-centered because that’s why we’re in this job. We want to relate to our students, and we want to spend time with them.

On a similar line of thought, how is your relationship different because you both work at the same school?

PRINZO: It’s different, good and bad, honestly. I think it’s good because, like I just said, we can go home and relate to everything we are going through. I think it’s bad, though, that like it’s really, really, really hard for us not to bring our work home. It’s almost impossible for us to disconnect from all our work and our job. 

FLYNN: We don’t see each other throughout the day since our classes are in different wings. But seeing each other at home is like, “Oh my god, how was your day.” We actually understand what the other one is talking about, so the follow-up questions are more detailed, so the conversation gets more intricate because his co-workers are my co-workers, and his clients, like his students, are the same as mine.

What are your plans for Valentine’s Day?

FLYNN: We try to do Valentine’s Day out to dinner, either the weekend before or the weekend after, because going on Valentine’s Day is crazy town. And so we actually joked in the past that we try to make reservations like the middle of January to get a reservation someplace. We haven’t decided yet where we are going this year.

PRINZO: We will be going to dinner somewhere.

FLYNN: We try to make it a different place, like, “Oh, that was a nice, special, and not the typical Friday night pizza dinner.” 

What are your thoughts on high school dating? Do you have any advice for teenagers?

FLYNN: As much as I loved having fun, like drama and relationships in high school, it’s really more important to worry about yourself and your friends because life happens. It’s funny because we talk about this all the time. Ten years from now, everything is different, and maybe you brought people along with you, and maybe you have left them in the past, but ten years from now your life will not be the same, so putting a whole lot of energy into what is happening right now will not always serve you in the end. 

PRINZO: I see a lot of students getting wrapped up in the dating drama and seeing how much it affects their lives and stuff like that. It’s not worth it, guys like you have so much to explore. You don’t even know yourself yet. You don’t know what college you’re going to yet or what you’re doing after college.

FLYNN: You don’t know what you don’t know.

PRINZO: I’m not saying don’t date in high school. You need to find out how dating works and stuff like that but relax, it’s fine.

FLYNN: Looking back on it, if I were to have married any of the boys I was so serious about in high school, oh my god, I would be miserable right now. I would be truly miserable. First of all, I wouldn't have met the love of my life, and I would be miserable because those men were crazy and we were teenagers. And they say your brain is not officially developed until you are 25.

PRINZO: And I agree with that because I don’t think I figured stuff out until 27.

FLYNN: I mean, I was crazy at 17, so…

PRINZO: Just understand that you are going to change a lot.