FROM THE DORM TO ‘I DO’

ECU alum proposes in residence hall where the couple met

Tiffany Meadows thought she and boyfriend Josh Powell, both East Carolina University alumni, came to Greenville on Dec. 14 simply to attend a holiday party for work.

Arriving in town early that evening, they spent time before the event by visiting all the old familiar places, beginning at University Book Exchange and ending up outside Fletcher Residence Hall, where they met as freshmen in 2004.

Josh Powell and Tiffany Meadows are considering wedding dates in the spring or summer 2014.

At Powell’s suggestion, she tried the door and, much to her surprise, it was unlocked so they entered. A campus employee inside told them the dorm was closed, but offered them a quick tour of the building and they accepted. He led the couple into a room where a table was set for a meal.

“We better get out of there,” Meadows said. “Someone’s about to have dinner.” 

Moments later, her boyfriend of nearly eight years knelt before her and extended a ring box. She said yes.

“I never imagined something so elaborate,” Meadows gushed a few days later. “He never plans anything! I’m the planner!”

Powell came up with the idea to pop the question in Fletcher several months ago, but set the plan in motion in October. He explained that he and Meadows met while both were living on the fifth floor of that hall as freshmen. Sharing a hall – and walking together to a world politics class – led to conversations and, eventually, love.

They dated throughout college, and both graduated in 2008. Now living in New Bern, Powell is first to say that the engagement was long overdue.

“We just went to the Bahamas over Thanksgiving,” he added, laughing. “I’m sure she thought I was going to propose then.”

Powell spent a couple months attempting to figure out if the proposal he envisioned was even an option. The dorms would be closing for the holidays around the time he suggested. And he concluded fairly quickly that it’d be impossible to propose in her former dorm room: Someone else was likely living there.

Powell eventually connected with Bill McCartney, associate vice chancellor of campus living. McCartney said he was happy to help. In fact, he was the gentleman guiding the tour when they wandered in on Friday.

“His interest in coming back to the residence hall they lived and met in as freshmen speaks volumes about the impact that living on campus makes for our students, and in this case our alums,” McCartney said. 

“Our students not only begin their life as a part of the Pirate family in our residence halls but the quality of the friendships and experiences that they make there last a lifetime. We had to help him make their second set of memories about Fletcher Hall as special as the first set.”

Those memories now include a four-course dinner prepared for the couple by ECU dining and catering staff and a champagne toast. 

Powell and Meadows both said they appreciate the effort that went into making the night so special.

“This just makes me love ECU even more,” Meadows said.

The couple is considering dates in spring or summer 2014 for the wedding.