The Falany Performing Arts Center buzzed on a spring evening. Families filled the seats as students whispered over the program. The Evening of Honors always carried significance, but for Ansley (Avera) Schumacher, the focus centered on one thing. This was Ian’s night.
When his name was announced as Student of the Year, Ansley celebrated fully — smiling, clapping, soaking in the moment for him. She had no idea that the man many on campus knew by the nickname “Schu” had quietly turned the evening into something else entirely.
Ian stepped off the stage, award in hand, and moments later pressed his football championship ring into Ansley’s palm. “Hold this,” he said casually.
She turned it over, studying the details, exactly as he hoped. While Ansley focused on the ring, Ian reached into his pocket, dropped to one knee, and changed the course of the evening and their lives. Phones rose. People crowded. Ansley looked up to see Ian proposing, surrounded by the campus community that had witnessed so many of their shared milestones.
“This is his awards night,” Ansley would later say, still amazed. “And he turned it into a celebration for the two of us.”
As she turned around, the doors of the FPAC opened, and her entire family walked in—parents, siblings, nieces, nephews, and even her grandmother. They had traveled quietly and intentionally, trusting Ian’s plan. Once again, Reinhardt gathered everyone they loved in one place.
The ring itself carried meaning beyond the moment. Ian chose his grandmother’s diamond; a stone tied to family and legacy. She agreed without hesitation, always clear that it was meant to stay in the family. That night, surrounded by family, friends, and much of the Reinhardt community, it did.
Their story didn’t begin with fireworks. It started with math.
Ian and Ansley crossed paths more than once before anything clicked. Their first shared class, Abstract Algebra with Dr. Francesco Strazzullo, demanded focus more than conversation. They noticed each other, but their worlds stayed separate through more than one shared class.
In Geometry, taught by Elizabeth Smith, impressions formed quietly. Ian memorized everyone’s name almost immediately. Ansley, focused and reserved, found his enthusiasm to be a bit much.
“I thought he was a little annoying,” she admits now, laughing.
Ian read her as serious and uninterested in small talk, so he gave her space. Neither thought much of it at the time.
Timing mattered. Ansley was in a long-term relationship. Ian focused on classes, football, and campus life. They shared space, not momentum.
That changed in their third class together, Differential Equations with Dr. Richard Summers. By Fall 2017, both were single and in different places. Familiarity replaced assumptions. Conversations deepened. A mutual friend suggested, gently, that maybe the two of them made more sense than they realized.
Snapchat messages turned into plans. After an improv show, friends disappeared, leaving Ian and Ansley alone at The Varsity for their first intentional conversation. They talked about where they came from, who they were becoming, and what they wanted next. On November 10, 2017, they stopped wondering and started dating. “It felt natural,” Ian says. “Things just fell into place.”
Life at Reinhardt intertwined easily after that. They studied in the library, attended improv nights, walked campus paths, and grabbed food at The Varsity when nights ran long. Ansley balanced her studies with track and cross country, while Ian balanced his with football. Ansley earned Student of the Year in 2018. Ian followed in 2019. When they told Smith they were dating, her response came instantly. “Two of my favorite people.”
That reaction felt very Reinhardt—small enough to notice, close enough to care.
Reinhardt did not fade after graduation. Ian returned for graduate school, serving as a Graduate Assistant in Student Affairs while completing his Master of Arts in Teaching. When COVID disrupted plans everywhere, he remained on campus, and Ansley joined him there, which meant their first year of marriage unfolded at Reinhardt as well.
It was a season of intention and growth. Living on campus helped them save, build stability, and step confidently into the next season of life. Their original wedding plans included Hagan Chapel and a campus reception. The pandemic changed the venue, not the meaning. Reinhardt had already shaped too much of their story to disappear from it.
Today, both teach math—Ansley at Marietta High School and Ian as a STEM teacher at Carmel Elementary in Woodstock. They still return for football games, alumni events, and the professors who mentored them. They still train together—Spartan races, early mornings, tire flips on the Reinhardt football field. Every workout pulls them back to where it all began.
“It’s been there from the very beginning,” Ansley says.
Some love stories begin with chemistry. This one started with math—shared classes, late nights, misread first impressions, and the quiet work of becoming adults. Until one night at the FPAC made it official in front of everyone who mattered most. Reinhardt didn’t just witness Ian and Ansley’s story. It helped shape it.
The Give to Love Annual Fund Campaign highlights members of the Reinhardt community whose stories reflect the relationships and shared experiences that make campus feel like home. Ian and Ansley Schumacher’s story reminds us that a Reinhardt education extends far beyond the classroom. Some love stories don’t just happen here. They grow here.
– By Sherelle Morgan, Director of Annual Giving & Alumni Relations
