by Julie Lineback
Life happens West. Everyday at the University of West Georgia, dreams are visualized, shared and achieved. Relationships are formed that can never be unbroken. Alicia Moore and her fiancé Michael Pope are living proof.
Alicia, who received her B.S. in Sociology in 2009 and is currently enrolled in graduate school at UWG, and Michael, who graduated with his bachelor’s in criminology in 2009, met during a brief senior seminar course her last undergraduate semester.
Due to the small number of upperclassmen, the course, taught during the summer by Dr. Todd Matthews, combined sociology and criminology majors. Alicia and Michael met during first day introductions.
“One day, as we walked out of class, we ended up outside Pafford and talked for three hours,” Alicia recalls. “Our first date was the very next day after class.”
Fast forward almost five years later. After a ride home from Dixie, Georgia, Alicia received word her sister was stranded on campus due to car problems. When she didn’t answer her phone, Michael suggested they walk around to look for her.
As they were walking, he grabbed Alicia’s hand and asked if she knew where the two of them were the moment he fell in love with her. She then noticed they were next to Pafford.
“In the distance I could see my sister with a camera,” Alicia laughs. “They had conspired to get me on campus so he could propose at the spot where it all started.”
The two are planning a Spring 2015 wedding.
Alicia concludes, “We’ve always joked about the randomness of ending up in a rare mixed major course that only lasted four weeks and finding your best friend—now fiancé!”
