Marine on knee proposing to PA student on EVMS campus.

‌Last week was a whirlwind for Allison Sessions (MPA Class of 2016). Not only did she finish her finals, she got engaged, too. Her sneaky boyfriend — now fiancé — Capt. Robert Best, planned the proposal to take place at EVMS on April 22.  

“We actually met in Norfolk last year,” says Ms. Sessions. “He is now stationed in Camp Pendleton in California so that kind of explains the shock you see on my face because I thought he was in California.”

Ms. Sessions explains that Robert arrived on campus earlier in the day and flagged down some of her classmates to learn exactly where she’d be. He enlisted their help to get her in the right spot so the special moment could be captured on camera.

She fondly recalls coming out from her last standardized patient case of the day. Her friends told her that their professor wanted to go over the case, so she headed to meet the professor when someone told her to turn around. And there he was.


‌“I was just so shocked,” she says. “He had my schedule so he kind of knew where I was going to be. He didn’t tell anyone that knew me beforehand because he didn’t want anyone to spill the beans. It was a big surprise. It was so fun.”

Ms. Sessions said her fiancé choose EVMS as the spot to pop the question because she spends so much of her time there. “It also was kind of fun that we both had our uniforms on, so to speak. For both of us, that’s such a big part of who we are.”

The couple is planning an October wedding in San Diego and plan to reside there once Ms. Sessions graduates next year.

Images captured by Sean Holder Photographer.