While neither Sophie nor McLane entered UCSB with any intention of pursuing statistics, both ended up with Statistical Sciences as a major/minor. This forced them both to sign up last minute for Vector Calculus over the summer of 2016, where they first met! They exchanged numbers for study groups, but remained just friends at first.

A few years - and many math and statistics classes - later, McLane and Sophie were growing closer. Against the typical college wisdom of avoiding 8am courses, they found themselves in one together. The habit of sharing notes due to one falling asleep (McLane) and one traveling for grad school interviews (Sophie), meant they were in frequent contact. Spring approaching meant that study sessions could incorporate walks on the beach on the way back from the library, and studying in apartments would inevitably lead to dangling from an aerial silks apparatus, annoying neighbors by sharing their favorite music, and binging staple shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Fittingly, at the end of winter quarter he asked her to go ice skating on a date and she was thrilled (and not just because she loves ice skating).

McLane and Sophie had not been dating long when they graduated from UCSB. Their future felt very uncertain, as she was planning on moving to North Carolina for grad school. Encouraged by Peter and Kira, she finally worked up the nerve to ask if he would move with her. He did! Shortly thereafter they adopted two beautiful cats and have enjoyed living together for ~7 years.

With the recent completion of Sophie's PhD and a few days off for McLane before starting a new job, he took advantage of the window and planned a surprise trip to NYC; a destination they had been meaning to visit for years. While he intentionally picked a hotel with a balcony, both were surprised by the size and when the afternoon light started to beautifully reflect off the surrounding buildings, he brought her out and asked her to marry him. She said yes!