For a lot of women, graduating college, getting married and giving birth are the biggest moments in their lives. Recent graduate Jessica Mullings experienced a variation of all three on her graduation day from North Carolina A&T State University.

While preparing to take her walk across stage to shake Chancellor Harold L. Martin Sr.’s hand, Mullings now-fiancee, Charles Jones, who walked before her, dropped to one knee and asked for her hand in marriage.

“I was in shock,” she said. “I thought it would be sometime this year but I was thinking maybe Thanksgiving or Christmas but definitely not graduation.”

While Mullings expected one thing, Jones decided he would do another.

“I’ve been planning it since we got back from Christmas break,” he said.

“It always stuck out in my mind that graduation is important and I consulted with my frat brothers and decided I was going to go for it.”

Jones is a member of the Beta Epsilon chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., on N.C. A&T’s campus. While he consulted with them, he spoke to his frat brother, Chancellor Martin, to get the OK to propose on stage.

“I had three different plans and it wasn’t until I ran into Chancellor Martin the Wednesday before and asked him informally if I could do it,” Jones said.

“I knew we had First Lady Michelle Obama as the speaker and I didn’t want to get shot.”

When he got on stage, Jones checked with Martin one last time before he popped the question. Martin gave him the go ahead and she said yes.

“Everything was a blur – it was very surreal,” Mullings said.

“We knew we were a couple on campus who a lot of people knew but we did not expect there to be such an outpour of love and support.”

The outpour started immediately for the couple via text messages and their social media accounts.

“By the time I looked in my purse for my phone, I had 15 or 16 texts – that was from the stage to my seat,” she said.

Jones counted 225 mentions on his Twitter account and 365 likes on two pictures posted on his Instagram account.

“I felt like LeBron James making the last shot over Michael Jordan,” Jones said.

The couple met their freshman year at the top of the steps in front of Williams Cafeteria.

“She had red hair,” Jones recalled.

“I was hanging out with my (friend) who was (dating) her roommate and I said ‘I need her in my life’.”

Mullings didn’t exactly feel the same way.

“He sparked things at Krispy Kreme – I used to go between classes and he asked if he could sit with me and we hit it off,” she said.

“I used to say I didn’t want to be bothered so I gave him the runaround before we went on our first date.”

Jones said he chased her for two years but it’s all been worth it. The couple has weathered Mullings’ New York City internship, Jones’ pledging his fraternity and even his riding of a bicycle for a month to buy her engagement ring.

“I felt more elated than anything else,” Jones said.

Mullings agreed. She said in a message from her Twitter account on graduation day, “Outside of hearing my son's heartbeat for the first time...Today is the best day of my life.”

Mullings is pregnant with the couple’s first child, a son, they plan to name Landon. They will move to Charlotte where Jones has taken a job teaching high school social studies for Teach for America. Mullings will stay home with the baby in the beginning.

“We want to concentrate on making sure Landon is OK and we’ll start concentrating on wedding planning next year,” she said.