At dusk on Friday evening, what is considered the most romantic time of the day, a Thunderbird Alum decided to pop the question to his girlfriend he had met right here on campus three years ago.

The story of the Thunder couple’s Thunder Proposal:

The Boy: Rahul Pruthi- MBA class of 2009, now is PM. Sr-Level at American Express and is also the Founder and CEO of Student Care abroad. He loves to create LoveBrand and bridge the gap between the US and India business world. Currently lives in NYC.

The Girl: Virgilia Kaur Singh-MS class of 2008, now is a community builder and works towards helping small businesses and start-ups. Her accolades: 2012 Small Business Administration’s/Small Business Week’s Young Entrepreneur of Arizona, 48 Most Intriguing Women of Arizona’s Centennial, Bloomberg BusinessWeek Fellow, 2012 Who’s Who in Business of Arizona, Inc Magazine’s Coolest College Startup of 2011.

They have been dating for over three and half years now and the time had come to take the leap. What other better place to pop the question than the place that you met that special someone.

The spot: Outside B-210 dorm room.

Firsthand account from the soon to be groom, Rahul Pruthi:

“Once he decided to pop the big question, I couldn’t think of any better place than the place that brought us together- Thundebird.  I made a couple trips to thunderbird to plan this out and to see if I could talk to who currently lives in that dorm room and ask permission to conduct part of the plan outside the room. I knocked on the door and no one answered. I saw three guys standing downstairs and I asked them if they knew the person who lived there. One of them, Kiran, turned out to be the RA of the dorms. He asked me in a bold voice as to, “why I needed that information”, so I briefed him on the plan. This is where I say the stars were aligned for me- he said he could talk to the Housing Manager to see what could be done, so he did and he arranged for me to meet with the housing manager. I went to the executive inn, and it was such a pleasant experience talking to the whole housing team at the reception area, as they were all so excited for the idea.

Due to privacy rules and concern, I was told that I couldn’t get any information, which was absolutely understandable. So, we tried to go the informal route and talk to a common friend, which worked out and I had the room, and the area outside the room to decorate.

Here is the plan in brief:

Two of Virgilia’s best friends drive in a limo and ask her to come downstairs from my house (as she was preparing for a Friday party at my place). She looks outside the window and See’s her friends with posters that read “We Will Miss You”. This was to throw her off into thinking that it was a surprise going away party for her (As she is moving to New York on Apr 1st, for a new job).  Once she got into the limo, she was blindfolded and lead to believe that they were heading to Old Town Scottsdale and also that I (Rahul) has been asked to come there as well.

While all this was happening, me and my friends and my new friends at Thunderbird- were all executing the surprise element- Once the limo arrived, Virgilia was walked on the walkway that leads from the A to the B dorms on the right side of the swimming pool. I had about 150ft of red carpet that started from the A dorms and led up to the stairs of the B dorms. The red carpet was surrounded by candles and posters I had made and place ever couple of feet away, that told a story- of us and this went on till the staircase of the B dorms.  Once we reached there, I made her walk up, in front of B-210, where we had the projector and projector screen (courtesy of TSG to help me in arranging that). I had captured wishes from her most near and dear, from around the world and produced a video which was intentionally geared towards reasons of why she should say ‘yes’ and marry me.

We also had a tablet that was running Google hangout, so our friends and family who could not join in person, were watching all of this unfold LIVE. The video played, and once it was done, I was on my knee asking her something that was on my mind for a while now. I asked her to marry me and she said ‘Yes’. All of us friends – we took photos and headed back in the limo to my place for celebrations.

A special shout out to: Kiran, Kinjal, Harshit from the TSG and the awesome ladies in Housing.”

On behalf of the students, faculty, staff and the school, we would all like to wish you all the very best for the next phase in your life. May it only rain drops of joy and happiness.

Congratulations Rahul Pruthi and Virgilia Kaur Singh!