Everyone saw it, the spark, the chemistry, the connection, enveloping Yavapai College Roughrider Ambassadors Alyssa Bullock and Conner Bustamante after they became friends and co-workers while navigating college and young adulthood together.

Custodian Harold Speers saw it. As he crossed their paths in Building 3 on the Prescott campus, he would point to Alyssa and say to Conner, “I think she wants to date you.”

Fellow Ambassador Sophia Dritsas saw it. “Alyssa and Conner worked night shifts together. And just the way he looked at her. It screamed like something was going to happen and it did,” she said 

Mary Rizk, a former Roughrider Ambassadors advisor, said she wondered if her two charges would pair up one day. “That actually crossed my mind,” she recalled.

Mary introduced Conner and Alyssa via Zoom, in fall 2024, when Alyssa was interviewing for a position with the Ambassadors, a student team that organizes and promotes campus activities.

What everyone saw, Conner and Alyssa becoming inseparable as co-workers and friends, blossomed into something sweeter in spring 2025 with a little help from their Ambassador friends.

Those friends had been nudging Conner to do something about his increasingly obvious feelings for Alyssa, who had taken a full-time job and wasn’t around campus as much as she had been in the fall. During an out-of-state trip, Conner realized he sorely missed Alyssa. Upon returning from the trip, he agreed to a plan hatched by fellow Ambassadors Nic Clower, who had shared intel with Conner about Alyssa’s work schedule, and Brianna Lizarraga. The plan: surprise Alyssa in the Yavapai College residence halls.

“I needed some push,” Conner acknowledged. “I just felt like it was the right time. No matter how nervous I felt, I just had to ignore it and go get her some flowers.”

After Alyssa arrived home from work, Brianna lured her to her dorm room with the promise of a Red Bull beverage. It was Conner who answered Alyssa’s knock at Brianna’s door, flowers in hand. 

Conner remembers thinking that Alyssa looked terrified and saying to himself, “Oh no, this might be going terribly wrong.” He mustered the courage to hug Alyssa, however, and tell her how much he cared before walking her back to her own dorm room.

Alyssa was terrified, but also ecstatic. “It was really something,” she said of Conner’s revelation. “All the Ambassadors came together to help Conner out.”

The following weekend, the couple met in The Eatery on the Prescott Campus. Although it seemed like only 20 minutes, Conner said he and Alyssa talked for three hours. Their one-on-one time over dinners and outdoor adventures continued unabated and, in short order, they began planning a life together.

It took only two official dates for Conner to know that Alyssa was the one. “At that point I was very confident that I was going to marry her,” he said. It was shortly after their first dinner date that Alyssa told her sisters, “You guys really have to meet him. I swear he is the best.”

Conner and Alyssa got engaged in July on Mingus Mountain, evading an approaching monsoon downpour. They got married Dec. 20 at Windmill Farms in Chino Valley. “We always say that Nic was the biggest part of us becoming us. He was the officiant for the wedding and introduced us as husband and wife,” Alyssa said.

The fact that they met, became friends and fell in love at Yavapai College is not lost on the newlyweds.

An aspiring wildlife biologist, Alyssa enrolled at Yavapai College after graduating high school in Gilbert, drawn to the college’s aquaculture classes that she had visited on a tour. “She came for the fish not for a husband,” Conner joked.

Alyssa also came to Yavapai College for a cost-effective, live-in-the-dorms college experience that wasn’t too far from home. She applied for an Ambassador position after bumping into Mary Rizk and hearing about the student employment opportunity while touring the college. “YC allowed me to be independent, and it was much more affordable for me. It had the opportunities I needed and wanted and the people here are amazing. I wouldn’t trade my (Ambassador) co-workers for the world,” Alyssa said.

Alyssa graduates this spring and plans to continue her biology studies at Arizona State University.

Conner arrived at Yavapai College following his family’s move to Prescott Valley from Southern California. Looking to augment his college experience while living at home, he joined the Ambassadors and served on the Student Government Association executive board. Initially unsure about a career path, he parlayed a business focus into a Yavapai College bachelor’s degree and a desire to work in public administration. Before graduating in spring 2025, he interned at the Town of Prescott Valley and recently finished a temporary assignment with the City of Prescott. He is pursuing a master’s degree at ASU while seeking government employment opportunities near and far.

Alyssa and Conner said their relationship strengthened easily and quickly over aligned values and dreams, and unshakeable love. “I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her and nobody else,” Conner said. “It was so easy to be around Conner. I got to literally be myself. And he was himself. I could trust everything about him,” Alyssa said.

No one around the pair advised them to give their marriage plans more time and consideration. “Honestly, we didn’t get any pushback from friends or family. They saw how happy we made each other and just knew,” Alyssa said.

Today, as husband and wife and dog parents of a new labrador puppy, Remington, Alyssa and Conner are looking forward to whatever comes next while looking back on their love story with joy and awe.

“Even if we end up leaving the area, leaving Arizona, I absolutely thing think Yavapai College will always mean a lot to me,” Conner said. “It was the biggest chapter change in my life for sure, and I’m so grateful for it.”

As for the encouragement of Harold the custodian early on, Conner said, “thinking back we need to get some lottery numbers from him because that was some crazy wisdom.”

Yavapai College operates seven campuses and centers throughout Yavapai County and offers more than 100 degrees and certificates, four baccalaureate degrees, student and community services, and cultural events and activities. To learn more about Yavapai College, visit www.yc.edu.