Students help teacher's boyfriend pull off surprise proposal

Students at a school in Wilmington, Delaware have helped pull off a surprise proposal for their teacher.

The grade two students held up mini-chalkboard signs reading "Will you marry me?" behind their teacher's boyfriend, as he dropped down to one knee in her classroom.

Jared Kauffman, 30, popped the question to girlfriend Chelsea Darczuk, 28 in front of a room filled with staff and the teacher's Year Three and Year Four special education students.

"Hi," he said, according to Delaware Online, adding: "I want to be with you."

As the bride-to-be wiped tears from her eyes, the nervous groom-to-be fumbled with the ring as the room erupted into cheers.

"I can't put it on myself, you have to put it on," Darczuk is heard saying with a laugh in the video, posted to the school's Facebook page.

"Kiss, kiss, kiss!" the kids from EastSide Charter School can be heard in shouting in the background.

The proposal was a complete surprise for the teacher, who thought her boyfriend may propose on their upcoming long-weekend getaway.

The couple met in 2015 on dating website match.com and had been talking about marriage. So when Kauffman insisted on a trip away to Mystic Connecticut and Rhode Island, Darczuk had a feeling he might propose.

But instead, she was caught unawares days beforehand.

On the day of the proposal, the teacher got a message from her boss, asking for help on a project she led last year.

When she walked into the classroom, she didn't quite register why her boyfriend was standing there or the signs behind him at first.

"I'd been really hyping myself up thinking it was going to happen this weekend," Darczuk told the publication.

"Then, when it actually happened earlier than I expected, I was like, 'Wait, what?' It was definitely a good surprise. I feel like a lot of the people I cared about were in the room."

The pair plan to wed in September 2020.