As her microeconomics class neared its end, freshman Bree Oleson felt tired and yawned. She was called to front of the class, and Oleson wondered if she was in trouble.
Then her roommate, Bethany Rainwater, walked in with a camera and Oleson saw her boyfriend, Michael Wilson, in the doorway.
Then the slide came up on the PowerPoint, asking her to marry him.
“I was laughing and crying at the same time,” Oleson said.
Oleson and Wilson met in 2010 when Wilson was on a visit to Oleson’s church. The two began dating and Oleson eventually came to Florida Southern College to begin her degree.
“We had always talked about getting married, but I didn’t realize like, right now,” Oleson said.
Unknown to Oleson, Wilson began looking for ways to propose. He started by talking to Oleson’s friends to find out the information that he would need.
He found a partner in Rainwater and decided on Oleson’s last class of the day: microeconomics. Dr. Peter Bias, professor of business and economics, taught the class,
Wilson then asked Bias if he could propose in his class. At first, Wilson said that Bias was reluctant because he was afraid that Oleson might say no.
However, the two came to a consensus and a plan was set in motion.
“He was real fun to work with,” Wilson said.
A slide was inserted into Bias’s PowerPoint, asking Oleson to marry Wilson. Rainwater agreed to film the event.
The date was set for Jan. 24. Wilson viewed the classroom before he had to go back to Plant City.
On his way back to Lakeland, he ran into traffic due to construction on the road. Wilson realized then that he might be late.
“The thing going through my head the whole time, my adrenaline was rushing, that, this PowerPoint is going to come up, and I’m not even going to be there,” Wilson said.
Wilson hurried to the school and parked as quickly as possible before dashing off to Oleson’s classroom.
“My car door didn’t even completely shut,” Wilson said.
He made it Bias’s class with five minutes to spare and spent some time catching his breath and looking for Rainwater.
He realized later that he had hurried so much that he had passed Rainwater on his way to the classroom.
The two managed to unite in time for the slide to come up.
Wilson recalls that Oleson’s hands were trembling as he turned her to face the slide, as were his. When she said yes, the response was electric.
“I wasn’t expecting to have the reaction that the classroom gave,” Wilson said. “They were like cheering and applauding and stuff.”
Other students from different classrooms came in to offer their congratulations. That afternoon Oleson returned home for a doctor’s appointment and told her mother the news.
“She didn’t really believe us at first. She thought we were joking or something,” Oleson said.
Currently, Oleson and Wilson are considering getting married in June, although the date is not yet set.
Photo courtesy of Cary McMullen, FSC Communications Department
