The story of how Nico and Willie met is one of the classics, first comes friendship then comes love. Nico and Willie first met at SOU. Willie was the kickass lead dude at the Outdoor Program while Nico was pursuing her dreams and passion for becoming the most kickass outdoor educator. Looking for a job while at school Nico applied to work at the Outdoor Program. Even though they were both wearing plaid shirts during the interview Willie didn’t hire Nico that day. Nico did end up working for the program eventually by taking on a special project with Willie and Caroline. Spending all of this time working together fostered a robust friendship and laid the groundwork for future developments. Eventually, Nico graduated and left Ashland to pursue her lifelong dream of living in her car and working in outdoor education. Okay so remember that project that Nico, Willie, and Caroline worked on? Well, this super prestigious conference wanted them to present their work and findings. This brought Nico back to Ashland (this was also the first time that they were both single). While Nico was there they played board games (even the ones that Willie didn’t like), they made food together, they laughed, and they stayed up all night talking (very much like a romantic comedy movie). They spent the next summer in courtship from afar (Alaska to Ashland). It wasn’t until they went on the quintessential outdoors person date, a backpacking trip, that they knew this would be their last first date.