On July 3, 2013, Miah Noelle Majors and Aree Jamal Vernor met working their first shift together at Shoe Carnival. He had been working there for a few months and Miah was just recently hired. They exchanged phone numbers and begun talking on a regular basis. He really made her laugh and she instantly fell for him. Their senior year of high school began, and they started spending a lot of time together on the weekends outside of work.
On November 3, 2013, at Miah’s house, Aree asked her to be his girlfriend, and as they say it, the rest was history. Aree went through a tough time during his senior year and Miah was a great support system for him, which is when their bond grew the strongest. Over the next year, Aree and Miah shared various memories together including senior proms, high school graduations, getting matching tattoos, and traveling. Then, it was time for them to go off to college.
Aree attended SIUE and Miah attended UARK, and they carried on a long-distance relationship. They spent all their days and nights on Skype and FaceTime. When freshman year ended, they both decided to transfer to Mizzou together and never were separated again. Aree played a big role in supporting Miah throughout nursing school and he was very proud to watch her graduate in Fall 2018.