KALEB PROPOSED—and ALLISON SAID YES! And now I get to cover their adorable wedding. Here’s their story…

{written to the Kansas City news stations) I’m writing to see if you would have interest in covering a fun Valentine’s Day story of two local Kansas City public school math teachers getting engaged, at school, on Valentine’s Day? My name is Kaleb Stoppel and I am a math teacher and sports coach at Winnetonka High School in the northland. I met my girlfriend, Allison Blanchard on Match.com 5 months ago, and this Tuesday will be proposing to her at the school where she is a math teacher and coach, at Mill Valley High School in the Desoto School District.

What makes this an interesting and catching story is after we met on match.com we soon learned that she worked at the same school where both my parents work as well (they recently had moved from Osage City, KS), my mom is the Music teacher and my dad a retired Elementary Principal, now Para at Mill Valley. So, although she and I met online, she had already known my parents.

On Valentine’s Day, I plan to surprise her at the end of her school day, while school is in session and while she is in her math department meetings. My mom is going to arrange a “singing valentine” from one of her vocal groups, taking place in the school commons area in front of staff and whatever students may be around. They will sing a song to her, give her a card that I have made, eventually asking her to that there is a bigger question at hand than “will you be my valentine?”. At that time they will turn around, and on the back of their shirts will be one letter each of “WILL YOU MARRY ME” and I will have snuck out from behind the group with a “?” sign, ready to propose.

I think this would be a fun story to share with Kansas City as it represents that wholesome, fun, acts of love can even occur between two math teachers, and how two teachers can be so committed and connected to their work place and their job, that they share something this important and personal, as an engagement, with their school, co-workers, and even students to a certain degree. Teaching is more than a passion for Allison and I. Education is our life and we love what we do, which  is why I wanted to propose to her at her school in front of her “school family” and in front of my actual family, well at least my parents. I would be honored if you were interested in covering this fun Valentine’s Day story.

{Thank you to the photographer who provided us with the awesome, once in a life time moment he caught film}