‘She said yes’ on stage as they graduated from Texas Tech nursing program, video shows

Moments after Devin Del Rio received his degree from Texas Tech University, he turned around, dropped to one knee and popped out an engagement ring.

As he did so, his girlfriend, Leianne Maugeri, was walking across the stage to also receive her degree from the Health Sciences Center School of Nursing. The Texas Tech graduation proposal was captured on video and shared by the school’s nursing program.

Maugeri’s jaw dropped in surprise as the audience loudly cheered at the Saturday, Dec. 11, commencement ceremony. The video shows she began to cry while nodding “yes.”

Her new fiancé then stood up, slid the engagement ring on her finger and went in for a quick on-stage kiss and embrace.

“She said yes!!!” the school announced on Facebook.

“Of course, I said yes!” Maugeri said in a news release. “I admire this man so much and am honored to spend the rest of my life with him. It is crazy to think of all that we have endured together over the last four years — from serving as active-duty flight paramedics to graduating this nursing program together.

“It’s a wonderful thing to have gone through so much with my very best friend,” she added. “I feel incredibly blessed.”

Both new graduates of the university’s “Veteran to BSN program” program, Del Rio and Maugeri are veterans who took their military medical training and earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. Del Rio graduated with cum laude honors, and Maugeri graduated magna cum laude.

“Leianne has the better grades, hands down,” Del Rio said in the news release. “She’s smarter than me by far. How she ended up with me, I don’t know. But I do thank my lucky stars for it. Sometimes it’s better not to question.”

School of Nursing Dean Michael L. Evans said Del Rio had asked permission from the school before popping the question to his then-girlfriend.

“It was a natural fit to this happy occasion,” he said.

This story was originally published December 17, 2021 at 1:38 PM.