Homecoming Weekend 2016 was home to not one, not two, but three SU Sweetheart engagements. For these couples, proposing at Homecoming was only fitting, considering Shenandoah was where their love stories began.
“Shenandoah has been a major part of our love story and lives for the past five years,” said Kayla Buechner (AS ’15). Buechner and Brandon Thompson (AS ’16) met outside of Racey Hall in the red adirondack chairs during Welcome Week in 2012.
“It was so meaningful to both us that our engagement take place somewhere with so many amazing memories. From watching Brandon play football for four years at Shentel Stadium to having dinner at the Allen Dining Hall, having fun at the Apple Blossom Festival, and having date nights at the Alamo movie theater,” explained Buechner. Her friends tricked her into thinking they were going to a show at the Bright Box Theater, but instead they turned down the street where Thompson was standing there waiting for her. After saying “yes,” the couple went to Piccadilly’s Public House and Restaurant where more of their friends were waiting for an impromptu engagement party. The couple plans to get married June 1, 2019 at Edgewood Barn in Stanardsville, Virginia — after Buechner graduates from physical therapy school.
In the fall of 2011, Andrew Kalis (AS ’14) checked his campus mailbox everyday for almost three weeks during his sophomore year before asking Michele Boyd (C ’15, C ’16), who worked in the mailroom, out on a date. Boyd said, “In those three weeks, I’m pretty sure he only received one letter!” Five years later, Kalis proposed to Boyd on their fifth anniversary at the Grand Floridian Wedding Pavilion in Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. The couple is planning to have their wedding in Orlando in the fall of 2018.
Liz Grover (AS ’14) met Josh McCauley (AS ’14) their freshman year in the Brandt Student Center. McCauley was friends with one of Grover’s field hockey teammates so as they were eating dinner one night he sat down and began to chat with them. About a month and a half later the couple started dating and have been together ever since. The Friday of Homecoming Grover’s friend convinced her to take photos with their group of friends at Sarah’s Glen. The group took photos on the bridge between the two ponds and before they moved to the other side of Sarah’s Glen McCauley took her aside. “Josh walked me into the middle of the stone labyrinth, and proposed on the middle stone. Our close friends were there to celebrate with us which made it extra special.” They are looking to get married in fall of 2018 and have been checking out venues in the Northern Virginia area.
Though these three SU sweetheart couples will have many more great memories ahead of them, Shenandoah University has given them one that they are never going to forget. Buechner said, “SU has been instrumental to our story and we are so grateful for all the good times we had while we were students there.”