Wick Schmidt '99, a classics major, gave the salutatorian address in Latin at his graduation. In the last line of his speech, he switched suddenly to English and proposed to his girlfriend Anastasia Rohrman '99.
Wick said he would have liked to propose in Latin but Anastasia, a mechanical and aerospace engineering major, would not have understood.
Because he proposed in English, Anastasia was able to respond with a "Yes" sign given to her by Wick's friend Tim Webster '99, later his best man at the wedding. Wick remembers the creative proposal as something he had always wanted to do, but also very unlike him.
"My friends don't think of me as the guy who proposed because it was so out of character for me," Wick said in a recent interview.
Married on Aug. 26, 2000, the couple now resides in Richmond, Va. Prior to this spring, they lived in New Haven, Conn. while Wick attended Yale Law School and Anastasia, who now goes by the last name Schmidt, worked as an engineer.
At Wick's bachelor party, just before the wedding, his friend Tim gave him a baby-sized Princeton T-shirt, and his friends took bets on how soon it would be before he and Anastasia had their first child.
Neither Wick nor Anastasia can remember who won the bet, but on April 12, 2002, Cassandra Grace Schmidt was born to the couple. Her birth, however, was far more routine than Wick's marriage proposal.
The addition of Cassie has been a big change for both Wick and Anastasia, who has been staying home to take care of the baby. The two hope to have a large family. However, for now, Cassie keeps them both busy.
"Getting married is a big step because it's one step closer to being like your parents," Wick said. "But, if you have two responsible adults, it's not taking care of someone else. With a baby, there's the element of someone who needs your care constantly."
Anastasia said she has been surprised by how difficult it is to figure out what Cassie wants.
"If she's upset, I keep trying things, but if they don't work, she can't communicate with me. That's frustrating because I want to be able to fix the problem."
Both said they find Cassie's laughter one of her most enjoyable qualities. According to Anastasia, one of the easiest ways to make her laugh is to bounce her in the air.
"If you lay her on a bed and bounce it with your hands, she bounces in the air. She loves that," Anastasia said.
Wick said some of his favorite times with Cassie occurred when she slept on his chest face down with her head turned to the side on several occasions.
At just under seven months old, Cassie is making the transition to real food by eating Cheerios and rice. She is babbling though she cannot yet talk. She often repeats the syllable "da." Cassie can also support herself on all fours for approximately one second.
Wick and Anastasia said they realized that if Cassie does go to Princeton, she would be in the class of 2024. Coincidentally, this would make Wick and Anastasia members of the parent class of 1999 for the class of 2024.
"I'm not opposed to her going to Princeton if she can and wants to. We'll see how much money we have," Anastasia said with a laugh.
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