B.I.O.: Better Than Recess

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WHEN PATRICK BYRNE went to meet some girls with a buddy, he was his pal's wingman. "Too bad the wingman was really cute," recalls Fraser Rothenberg. The feeling was mutual, though Pat admits he "was pretty intimidated by her at first." Hey, it was nothing a first date at a University of Maryland fraternity keg party couldn't fix. "Within a few months, I knew," says Fraser.

Five years later, Pat made it official. While Fraser was volunteering at the elementary school where Pat teaches, Pat had each of his students drop by, one at a time, with notes that were part of a larger message. After Fraser received the last one, she says, Pat "got down on one knee and said, 'You aren't going to make a roomful of 9-year-olds cry, are you?' All of the kids were holding up signs that together read, 'Marry Mr. Byrne.'" On June 28, she'll do just that in a semiformal garden ceremony followed by a reception in Chevy Chase.

Pat, 27, is a elementary school math teacher. Fraser, 26, works for an environmental nonprofit. They live in Rockville.