Sometimes, the best things in life are hiding in plain sight. In Ella Nibert and Jackson Hill’s case, that was somewhere within Pennypacker Hall.

Nibert, a Pennsylvania native, and Hill, who came to Penn State from California, have been in each other’s orbits since their first days on campus. In their first year at Penn State, they both enrolled in the Army ROTC program and lived in the same residence hall.

The couple didn’t start dating until the second semester of junior year, however.

The shift from “just friends” to “forever” happened at a staple of the ROTC social scene, what they refer to as the “Army House.”

“I saw her there, and I’ve seen her previous times, like in the gym, we both work out in the same gym,” Hill said. “I was talking to my buddy. I was like, ‘Hey, do you know if Ella’s here tonight?’ He was like ‘I think she is, but like, I think she was on her way out.’”

It’s safe to say Hill managed to find her. He struck up a conversation, talking about their families, where they’re from, and all of the initial get-to-know-each other topics. By the end of the night, Hill not only got her number, but he also secured a date.

The timing was a little tight. Hill was heading to Indianapolis to watch Penn State take on Oregon in the Big Ten Championship.

“Before I left, I was like, ‘I have to get this number and then ask her out on a date.’ So we got both of those secured by the end of the night, which was great,” Hill Said.

Their first casual date was at Mezeh, Nibert’s favorite “quick spot to grab food,” where breaking the ice turned into a three-hour conversation sitting in Hill’s truck. Their first official date was at The Tavern, a location that would eventually play a role in Hill’s proposal plans.

For this couple, balancing the life of a college student with the demands of ROTC wasn’t easy. Nibert is an engineering major, and Hill is in Security and Risk Analysis. Both also held part-time jobs along the way.

“We share a lot of the same hobbies. So like when we have those hobbies, we do them together,” Nibert said. “Getting up, getting our workout done together… we’re both there for each other to keep each other motivated.”

The shared motivation is what has kept the couple strong through the stresses of college. Nibert describes them as an “outlier” in the typical college dating scene, noting that they have focused on their shared future since day one.

“When both of us started to date, we dated with intention,” Nibert said. “Jackson and I both solely came into this relationship with like, ‘Hey, like, we’re in college, we’re trying to have a future.’ So, like, we were dating with the intention that we were gonna get married.”

Hill agreed, noting that while communication is a common talking point, the real work comes down to the “sacrifices that we kind of had to make with our daily routines.” By merging their schedules, they found they didn’t have to choose between their goals and each other.

“Not only do we get to still do them, but we get to do them with each other,” Hill said. He also stressed the importance of keeping their support system internal. “If one of us has, like, a problem that’s going on, that’s behind closed doors. That’s something that we have to internally figure out between the two of us.”

When they aren’t in the gym or the Wagner Building, you can find them at Our Lady of Victory for Sunday Mass or at home for “steak nights.”

The road to the couple’s engagement was a collaborative effort involving Nibert’s brother, a first-year Penn State student. Hill spent days scouting the Arboretum, originally planning for a proposal on the bridge. However, State College weather, as it often does, had other plans.

“The weather was looking pretty bad, so he was over there texting me, saying, like, ‘Hey, we should probably push it inside,'” Hill said. 

Hill recalled a moment talking to Nibert’s dad in Johnstown before the big day, worrying that the proposal might distract her from her engineering exams.

“He just was like, ‘If you want to do it, do it.’ And I was like, ‘All right, yeah, you’re right,'” Hill said.

On the day of the proposal, after another dinner at The Tavern, they walked through the Arboretum. Nibert admitted she started to get a hunch when they moved toward the fields.

“He was just kind of like telling me all these sweet things, kind of like recapping our relationship,” she said.

Jackson decided to improvise, heading toward a tree at the back of the field. Just as he asked, the sky opened up.

“It just started dumping downpour and hail,” Nibert said. “You can see, like, as Jackson’s proposing, there’s just like, lightning bolts going off in the background.”

Despite the storm, the answer was a resounding yes. While some might wait until they are “set up” to start their lives, Nibert and Hill knew almost immediately that they had found their person.

“We both knew, like, right off the get-go,” Nibert said. “For both of us, it was like, right away … He’s the one. I knew, like, a month into dating him … Now we’ve been together for like, almost a year and a half, but it’s still a honeymoon phase every day. It just never fades.”

That certainty, combined with the unique path of military life ahead, fueled the decision to get engaged before graduation.

“If we’re ready, like, why not now?” Nibert said. “We wanted to start our lives together. Coming out of college as like, young adults, partially still feeling like a kid, I think it’s awesome to already be married.”

“After we graduate and commission into the army, the army kind of just takes us. So being married … since we will be married by the time I commission, the Army has to keep us together so that way we can’t be separated,” Nibert said.

Hill echoed the importance of the timing, especially with the uncertainty of future assignments.

“For the dual military purpose, as soon as you get out of school, you’re kind of in the Army’s hands,” Hill said. “The whole reason, obviously, of marriage, [is] because I love Ella. It was all with the greatest intentions, and just the fact that I love Ella, and I just thought, ‘I’m gonna do it right now.’”

Hill will graduate in May, while Nibert will finish her degree in December. Though their careers may take them far from Happy Valley, Penn State will always be home.

“When my family comes out for my graduation, that’ll be the first place I take them to is, ‘Hey, this is the spot,'” Hill said about the Arboretum. “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thought about, like, since that day. When Ella and I come back, we’ll always visit that spot, because that’s where it happened.”