Story
University of Delaware Athletics

Meant to be a Blue Hen Family
2/23/2018 10:06:00 AM | Baseball, Softball, Delaware Athletics
This is the fourth and the final installment of a Valentine's Day series during the month of February featuring University of Delaware student-athlete Double Del couples.
“We feel like our paths were meant to cross.”
In hindsight, Jarame and Michelle (Plante) Beaupre appeared to be on a crash course to meeting and falling in love. Both turning down the same school to end up at the University of Delaware and in the
same Theatre 104 class, sharing a love of the same sport and the outdoors, everything seemed to fall their way on the road to becoming Double Dels (a unique term indicating UD alumni married to other alumni).
Jarame played baseball for the Blue Hens from 2003-2004 and was 2004 UD Pitcher of the Year. Michelle was a mainstay at third base, playing softball from 2003-2007. Their love for the same sport provided a strong first connection.
Jarame played baseball at Drexel University his junior year when the baseball program got cut, giving him the ability to transfer in-conference. Michelle was being recruited by plenty of schools to play softball. Coincidentally enough they both turned down full-ride scholarships to attend UD, she as a freshman and he as a senior.

“She made the first move,” Jarame reminisced. “We were both student-athletes and we met in Theatre 104 in Gore Hall during our spring seasons. A few of my teammates were in the class with me and she tugged on my shirt after class and asked about our baseball games.”
“He always tells people that it was me hitting on him and trying to pick him up, but really it was just an innocent ask about how their team did in their weekend series,” Michelle retorts. “He asked for my number, but I didn't really know him so I got his AOL Instant Messenger username and we started talking on that.”
They studied for their theatre tests together and saw each other often in the field house. One day,
“We spent many nights on Main Street and I met her parents for the first time at Klondike Kate's,” Jarame remembers.
After graduation, Jarame pursued a professional baseball career and moved to Virginia, living with Michelle's parents while she was still attending UD. After his baseball career finished, having a great relationship with his now in-laws, Jarame opened a landscaping business with Michelle's dad.
It didn't take long for Jarame to be ready to propose. When asking for Michelle's hand in marriage the one stipulation Michelle's dad had for Jarame was that he wouldn't take Michelle back to his home state of Colorado. Once Michelle graduated, Jarame proposed in 2007 on a cruise with many Blue Hen friends and teammates with them. To
They got married in 2008 in Virginia, having several UD alumni in their wedding party. A year later, Jarame and Michelle packed up their stuff and moved across the country on Valentine's Day. They now have two kids, Brady, 5, and Blake, who will be 4 in March. Both kids are following in their parent's footsteps by loving t-ball, especially batting practice. After they had kids, Michelle's parents made the move to Colorado. Jarame is their t-ball coach and Michelle's dad is the assistant coach.
“It's fun to see everything
“Hopefully they're future Blue Hens. I'll have to get in touch with Coach Sherman and send some videos in,” Jarame joked.
Although it's harder to get back to Newark living in a different time zone,
“We both had such fantastic experiences at UD that we always give back to the school and have been donating since the year we left,” Michelle explains. “Through our alumni friends and donations, we keep connected to Delaware.” 
“The baseball program cares about their kids and they care about them graduating, so I promised I would help give them the support they need and it looks like they're doing great things,” Jarame said. “We were a part of the fundraising for the new baseball stadium and I've seen pictures. The athletics program has done a really good job of keeping their alumni in touch.”
“There are so many memories from UD and such great experiences that we look back on and just make us smile,” they both agree. “Our boys see pictures of us from college, have all the gear and are forever Blue Hen fans just like us.”









