Hannah and Maya met in college at Missouri S&T because they lived on the same floor freshman year. Hannah roomed with someone (Shannon) Maya went to high school with, and though Maya had a different friend group for the first few weeks of college, they ended up in the same friend group. They figured out they liked each other in March of their freshman year.

Hannah asked Maya to officially be her girlfriend on May 18th, 2017, before they went to Skyzone. Though they never made it to Skyzone- because Maya’s car was totaled in an accident on the way to Skyzone (what a great anniversary date!).

Throughout college, Maya and Hannah continued to date while Hannah was an RA and Maya lived in the Kappa Delta house. In Summer/Fall 2019, Maya moved to Alabama for a co-op (extended internship), and Maya and Hannah had their first stint of long distance. Maya moved back to Rolla in spring 2020, and then the pandemic hit and Maya basically moved into Hannah’s house in Rolla with some other friends.

In December 2020, Maya and Hannah graduated with their engineering degrees. Maya had been applying to a lot of places in Boston and Philadelphia, so Hannah’s work had placed her (upon request) in Philly. She planned to move there in the summer of 2021. Maya got a job in St. Louis and planned to move to the East Coast when she finished the project she was assigned to.

In August 2021, Hannah, Maya, Hank, and Chris (Hannah’s mom) loaded up a 22ft moving truck and got on the road to Philadelphia. Because Maya was moving to Maryland in September, they loaded up Maya’s apartment in St. Louis (leaving her an air mattress) and moved her stuff along with Hannah’s to the East Coast. For their 5 year anniversary, Hannah and Maya got each other promise rings, but they wanted to live together for at least a year before getting engaged.

After another year of long distance (this time only 2.5 hours apart instead of 9 hours), Maya and her mom packed up her cats, Willow and Fergie, to move to Philadelphia in October of 2022. She moved into the townhome Hannah was living in already. While first living together, Maya and Hannah took turns consistently traveling for work every week or every other week. Finally in 2024, they settled into a routine of (mostly) living in the same home in the same city.

In May of 2024, Hannah and Maya had their engagement rings custom made at a local shop in Philly. In August the rings came in! Hannah proposed at the end of August by recreating their first date: chicken pot pie, going to see the most recent Alien movie, and finishing with a hike to get pictures of the proposal.

Because Hannah was traveling to Rhode Island for work, Maya had to wait until the end of October to propose back. Maya took Hannah to the Camden Aquarium in NJ (which Hannah had been begging to go to for a year) and they did the penguin experience, where Hannah got to hang out with penguins! Maya took Hannah out for ice cream and then down to the riverwalk to propose.