Santa Clara University has always been a special place for Michael Bedolla ’06, J.D. ’14 and Christina Bedolla ’11, J.D. ’14. It’s basically in their genes: Both their parents and Michael’s grandparents were alums, and they both teach courses at Santa Clara Law. Now they’re hoping their daughter, Elizabeth Marie, will also be part of the Bronco family.
Significant, often joyous events come in elevens for Christina Bedolla ’11, J.D. ’14, and Michael Bedolla ’06, J.D. ’14. They started dating on the eleventh day of the eleventh month and celebrated their wedding anniversary on November 11, too. They welcomed their first daughter, Charlotte, on November 21, 2020. Newest addition Elizabeth arrived on October 11, 2023.
Christina always wanted to be a mother and Michael was similarly delighted in their newest addition to the family. “It’s always kind of a shock when you hold your child for the first time,” Michael says. “It’s a magical [and] wondrous feeling. You’re just sort of overcome with emotion and it’s been a wonderful experience.”
Since they brought home the baby, the Bedollas have enjoyed watching Elizabeth grow and interact with Charlotte. To Christina, Charlotte has been the perfect big sister and has taken to teaching Elizabeth colors and letters. Having a child post-pandemic has also allowed the Bedollas to have more family members around to take care of the kids and share in the girls’ special moments.
“We’re taking both of them and the grandmas to Hawaii in June and Hawaii is a special place for us because we honeymooned there,” Christina says. “So we have a lot of special memories there [and] we’re excited to share that with them. Sharing the things that we loved together as a couple with our girls we’re really excited about, but other little things too, like I can’t wait to take them to baseball games and for them to start at school in a few years.”
Until then the family has continued to make fun memories together and share interests. For Michael, Charlotte has become his running partner—she urges him to push with screams of, “I want to go super-fast!”
“We’re just looking forward to adding our chapter to what seems to be the family legacy at Santa Clara,” Michael says. “My family literally has almost 100 years of history here at SCU. So the idea is that Charlotte or Elizabeth, we’ll probably get at least one of them to go to Santa Clara if not both of them. I mean, I told my wife we won’t demand them to go, but we’re just going to strongly, strongly encourage it.”