They first met as interns at Riverview High School together in the Fall of 2014. Allison swears Ryan had blonde hair, but he swears it hasn’t changed except for in length. They both graduated that fall from USF and went their separate ways- teaching at two different high schools in Hillsborough County but remaining loosely connected on Facebook and Instagram. They even sat together in the same room for the entirety of New Teacher Orientation in 2015. Who could’ve known where they’d be now? A few years later in the summer of 2016 Allison & Ryan reconnected via everyone’s favorite dating app - Tinder - where he slid in with a request for a date to Chipotle and Allison ghosted him. They saw each other at the gym once or twice, but nothing more. Fast forward to Fall 2018 when Allison messaged Ryan on Instagram to get the low down on teaching at Riverview (he thinks she was already trying to get with him), and she decided to join the Shark family. Ryan and Allison casually chatted a few times that fall and then decided to get drinks after conference night that November.

Ryan always joked every time Allison neurotically sent him rings or made mention of “when we get married” that it would add years on to when he’d propose. However, on April 10th, while they were getting family pictures done and Allison was begrudgingly attempting to remove Olivia’s shoes because the sand was bothering her, Ryan popped the question. Of course, Allison said yes (and so did Olivia), which is why we all get to celebrate happiness, laughter, partnership, resilience, and most importantly love.