CRANFORD, N.J. — The student speaker at the Union County College commencement ceremony had a surprise in his speech before more than 1,000 graduates and their loved ones.

Mid-speech, Sean Williams dropped to one knee turned his girlfriend, Joana Costa, who was also graduating, and proposed marriage.

Costa said yes.

The 29-year-old Williams and 22-year-old Costa met last year when he was her tutor for an English class.

She tells the Courier-News that she wasn’t expecting it.