We met the first week of our sophomore year at Missouri S&T. One night after hanging out with her basketball teammates, Katelynne came back to the apartment to Wes and a couple other people hanging out with her roommate. We started hanging out shortly after: first, with friends or in classes (shoutout Dr. Waddill’s Physics II PLCs), then just the two of us. Our first date was a picnic at Lions Club late September 2022.

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We grew together and made a ton of memories throughout college. Wes came to as many home basketball games as he could, and Katelynne even traveled to a few ultimate frisbee tournaments. We went on trips to Colorado, where Wes loves to take Katelynne out of her comfort zone by taking her backpacking and skiing. Wes fondly remembers trips to Mount Vernon, IN, where he would visit Katelynne at her internship the summer after sophomore year. Our favorite memories, though, are in Rolla, cooking dinners together, making late-night pancakes, and chill winter breaks on campus.

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We graduated in May 2025, both with jobs in the St. Louis area: Katelynne as a process engineer and Wes as a product engineer.

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After graduation, we went on a three-week-long trip to Hawaii, Japan, LA, and Colorado. On our third day in Hawaii, Wes (a known non-morning person) wanted to wake up and take a timelapse of the sunrise on the beach across from our Air BnB. The two of us went out on the rocks of the beach, Wes set up a camera "for the timelapse," and minutes later he got down on one knee and proposed. It was the easiest yes of Katelynne’s life, and we can’t wait to see where life takes us from here.