Editor’s Note: This is the third in a four-part series exploring the relationship statuses of Ohio University students.
Senior year brings a multitude of excitements for Ohio University students: the prospect of moving to a new city; starting a new job; and for some, embarking on a life with the one they love.
Getting down on one knee and popping the question might be far from the minds of many OU students, but some see college as the perfect time to turn a relationship into an engagement.
For Sam Hemler, a senior studying video production, the weekend before classes started was the ideal time to propose to his girlfriend Emilee Copus. The two started dating at the end of their senior year of high school and have now been together for almost four years.
“We’d known each other for a long time, and we’ve been through a lot,” Hemler said. “We knew we wanted to be together, and we knew that we would always be together, so I wanted to make it official.”
After spending her summer in South Africa, Copus thought she and Hemler would just be exchanging late birthday gifts one September evening in 2011. But he had something else in mind.
Hemler asked her to wait in an adjacent room while he set up her gift and, although the two had spoken of marriage before, the actual proposal was a surprise.
“I had purchased 100 to 150 votive candles, and I filled the room with candles and had a little pathway,” he said. “Then I called her out of the room and surprised her and did the whole get-on-one knee thing. She was definitely surprised. She was crying a little bit, but it was an immediate yes.”
Hemler and Copus will be married in September 2012, just a little more than a year after their engagement became official. Though they considered waiting two years for the ceremony, they ultimately decided that planning a wedding as college students would be just as difficult as doing it while juggling full-time, post-graduate jobs.
“There’s so much uncertainty when you graduate, so it’s really nice to know that there’s a definitive plan in terms of your relationship,” Hemler said.
Taking advantage of breaks from classes can aid college students while they’re planning a wedding, and OU’s former six-week winter break gave couples plenty of time to get their plans in check.
Erin Burns, a senior studying special education, and Pete Fehrenbach, her fiancé, became engaged in October 2011 after dating for almost 11 months. Erin said that, had Pete proposed after winter break, planning would be much more stressful.
“Over winter break, I went up to Michigan where we’re getting married and stayed with his family,” Burns said. “We got almost everything done over winter break, so all I have left is bridesmaid dresses and centerpieces.”
Making a commitment to plan a wedding as college students and get married just a week after graduation is not feasible for every OU student, Burns said.
“It takes someone who has confidence in who they are, and the same goes for the other person, so that way, you’re not making the commitment too early,” she said. “I think having a spiritual connection helped us, but you don’t have to be spiritual to make this kind of commitment.”
Ian Machir, a senior studying finance and economics, placed a ring on the finger of his girlfriend Carlie Rogers this September, turning their five-year relationship into a betrothal.
The two started dating in high school and spent their first two years together in a long-distance relationship after Rogers and her family moved to Texas in 2007 and Machir started college in 2008.
The couple was apart until Rogers came to OU in 2009.
“The first two years of our relationship were long-distance,” Machir said. “When you separate yourself from your significant other or your girlfriend, it really makes you see what’s holding you together.”
Machir and Rogers also will marry a week after graduating. Rogers will finish her schooling in three years instead of four so the two won’t have to spend any more time apart. The strong connection Machir and Rogers have has made it clear to him that she was who he wanted to marry.
“We both had it in our mind for the past year or so — she said even longer than that — that we wanted to get married,” he said. “I proposed to her in September and surprised her. She said she had a funny feeling when she woke up that day that it would happen, but I don’t know how she would have known.”
Officially committing to spend the rest of their lives together gives some OU students reassurance with graduation looming.
“It’s just nice to know that, wherever you go, you’re going to have someone there with you,” Hemler said.
bm257008@ohiou.edu
