A couple got engaged in the same 5th-grade classroom they met in 10 years ago

• Peyton Wynn and Simon Jenkins first met in fifth grade at an Alabama elementary school.
• For the couple's 10-year anniversary, Jenkins planned a surprise proposal for Wynn.

Peyton Wynn and Simon Jenkins were 11 years old when they first met at Johnson Elementary School in Pinson, Alabama. Ten years later, the couple returned to the same fifth-grade classroom where they first locked eyes to get engaged.

The couple met in fifth grade and started hanging out as friends before they officially started dating in the sixth grade, Wynn told Insider.

"I can't explain it, but I just knew there was something different about him the moment we met," she said. "Our first official date was sixth-grade homecoming, and we've been together ever since."

Wynn told Insider she always joked with Jenkins that he would never be able to pull off a surprise proposal. They've been together so long that she always knows when he's hiding something, she said.

What Wynn didn't know was that Jenkins and his mom, Traci Thompson, had already been working on a plan for the proposal in their fifth-grade classroom since Thompson had suggested it three months prior.

On June 16, the couple was set to celebrate their 10-year anniversary at a local restaurant, but Jenkin's mom called and asked him and Wynn to stop by the elementary school to help her with something.

"When we first walked in, it felt so weird to be back to the place where we grew up and first met. It gave me butterflies to be there for the first time in years," Wynn said.

Jenkin's mom had decorated the classroom with a light-up "Marry Me" sign and a banner that read, "It was always you, Peyton + Simon," so Wynn instantly knew she was being proposed to.

Jenkins said proposing to Wynn in the same classroom they first met was the perfect full-circle moment for them as a couple.

"I wanted to take her back to where it all began, where I first fell in love with her," he said.

Jenkins added that his mind was blown when he walked into the classroom because he was also seeing it for the first time. "I hadn't been back in that classroom since fifth grade, so it truly brought back so many memories," he said.

The couple's fifth-grade teacher, Patti Hathorn, shared on Facebook that she was also in attendance for the couple's engagement.

"It was such an honor to be asked to be present," Hathorn wrote. "It is another moment that reminds me of my 'why' as I continue to love 'my' children each year."

After Jenkins proposed, he and Wynn went to dinner to celebrate their anniversary and engagement. Jenkins also planned a surprise engagement party for the next day.

The couple told Insider they are enjoying their recent engagement and have already started planning their 2023 wedding.