My husband, Jacob, and I met at Ormond Stone Middle School when a friend introduced us during an assembly. However, it wasn’t until high school at Westfield that we truly connected. Our mutual friends often paired us together to organize group hangouts, and we bonded over planning activities like laser tag, movie nights, and group outings to places like Cici's Pizza and Genghis Grill.

We briefly dated in high school, but even after Jacob transferred to another school, we remained close friends. I hosted a farewell party for him before he moved, and although we drifted apart for a while, we reconnected during our freshman year of college. That fall, we went on our first official date, and the rest is history.

We dated for five years before getting engaged in 2019. When the pandemic canceled our wedding plans in 2020, we married at the courthouse in Leesburg the Monday before everything shut down—a moment that was even featured on CBS News! Though it wasn’t our dream wedding, we were thrilled to finally be married. Since then, we’ve built a life together, adding five wonderful dogs to our family and moving to Florida, where we now live by the water.

FCPS played a huge role in shaping our lives, not only bringing us together but also helping us form lasting friendships that we cherish to this day. Jacob and I are both Westfield Class of 2014 , and we’re forever grateful to FCPS for giving us the foundation for our relationship and our chosen family.