John Paul and Erika both chose to attend NC State University and study Mechanical Engineering. By chance they each decided to join Pack Motorsports (the race car club at NC State). John Paul worked on Saturdays machining with Seth while Erika worked Monday nights on the lathe with Courtney and Karenna. John Paul and Erika met in passing a few times that year.

While John Paul and Erika knew of each other from Motorsports they didn't interact much with him on the Chassis subsystem and her on Powertrain. Even with the same degree they never had a class together until senior year. They both chose to take MAE 531 - Optimization (though it took Erika two class periods to realize she knew someone in the class). They started chatting about homework outside of class. John Paul was always asking to compare answers three weeks before it was due. He was usually met with the answer "it's not due tomorrow so I haven't done it yet."

In the later half of senior year, Erika decided to try a particular restaurant everyone was talking about. She happened to be texting John Paul about how she was gonna go and he interpreted it as her asking him to go with her. After lunch John Paul invited himself to study with her at the library. In all both parties were questioning who asked whom on a date by the end of the day?

John Paul and Erika started dating in March of senior year in college. Both graduated and while Erika took a job and started working in Henderson, John Paul went back to NC State to get his Masters in Mechanical Engineering. A year later he moved to Henderson, across town from Erika. On September 28th, 2024 John Paul and Erika went back to EB3 to walk around campus. Little did she know he would get her to the third floor in front of the car they worked together on and propose to her. She of course said yes to the easiest question she's ever been asked.