By Kayla Grant
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Andre Archer is a graduate of the Class of 2016. He majored in Business with a minor in computer science. During his time at Clark Atlanta University, he was involved with Collegiate 100 and the track and field team.
Nikita Horton is a “Navy Brat,” who lived everywhere up the east coast with addition to some other places. The two-time Clark Atlanta University alumna graduated from the School of Social Work in 2016 and 2017. During her tenure at the university, she was a member of the class council and became a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.
Their love story begins with a series of tweets made by Horton and a family friend.
“So we met in 2012 through a family friend … I took them to McDonald’s,” Archer said. “Kita was in the backseat tweeting about me and I didn’t know. But when I got back to my dorm I saw it and I’m like, ‘Oh snap.’ I screenshotted the tweets and sent them to the family friend. She showed Kita and then went from there.”
A drive to McDonald’s established the foundation for their relationship. After that, they began talking to each other and growing closer by the day. They were growing together not only as a couple, but also as friends.
Eventually, Archer and Horton both came to the realization that they were in love with each other and they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together.
Archer attributed the year that they were not together as the time that made him realize that he was in love with Horton.
“I knew that Kita was the one probably when we broke up the first time,” Archer said. “Once we finally got back together, I was like ‘I’m never going to lose her again.’”
For Horton, it was later on when the couple moved in together that she realized that he was the one. She said, “We eventually made that step to move in together and I’m like this could really be a thing.”
On Sept. 28, 2019, Archer filled with anxiety and nerves proposed to Horton at a mimosa festival starting the next chapter of their lives together.
“That’s a big thing to do. A big step. So, I just wanted it to be perfect,” Archer stated. “I was just making sure that everything was how I envisioned it to be, which it did. It actually turned out better.”
Although the date, venue and the guests were set and ready to witness the marriage of Archer and Horton on Oct. 10, the coronavirus took the world by storm causing them to postpone their wedding.
Through all the fast changes produced by the coronavirus, Archer and Horton were provided with the opportunity to grow more as a couple. “It kind of allowed us to like recenter,” Horton said. “It was just kind of like what can we do and just finding ways to bring it back to young.”
During this time of social distancing and quarantining, they found themselves eating more ice cream, watching movies together and communicating in better ways.
“Being around each other more definitely [helped] with the communication and just being considerate,” Horton stated.
While navigating through the challenges of working from home, the postponement of their wedding, racial injustice and the coronavirus, Horton received a message from her best friend that would jumpstart a new journey for the couple.
Her best friend sent her information about a contest where they could potentially win $75,000 toward their dream wedding. The couple whose Instagram post could gain the most likes in one week would be announced the winner.
As soon as the contest began, the love story of Nikita and Andre resonated through the AUC community and the support was astronomical.
“It was amazing, like the outpouring of support from people that we didn’t even expect. We never would have thought that we would have got over 60,000 likes. I think it was like, the second day, we hit over 10,000,” Archer said. “ It just kept getting higher and higher and more people with a bigger following started posting it.”
According to Horton, the most challenging part of the contest was having to explain the importance of sharing the post. Spreading the word and getting more people to like the post was essential because there was no telling how many people one person could potentially reach. She described the process as beautiful, but stressful.
In agreement with her, Archer said, “We were both working from home that entire week. We were trying to find a balance.”
When the contest ended, those who promoted and supported the couple rushed to see the results. Based on the likes, one could have assumed that the amazing representation of CAU and Black love that they were rooting for had lost the contest. However, when the official winners were announced, many were shocked to see Archer and Horton were victorious.
“We found out one [of the couples] got disqualified because of a post that they made … stating that they got disqualified,” Archer said.
The cause behind the other couple’s disqualification was not revealed; however, the AUC community celebrated the win by congratulating both Archer and Horton on winning their dream wedding.
With over 67,000 likes on their post, they were granted their dream wedding, which is scheduled for January 2021.
While the details of the wedding extravaganza are still being kept a secret, Horton shared a few things about what people can expect to see in January.
“It’ll be everything that we wanted it to look like in the first place. We want it to be safe,” she said. “I like to have a good time and I like my guests to have a good time, so it’ll be a party.”
In addition, she shared that the colors will be black and emerald green with a hint of gold and white.
From their days on the promenade to now, Archer and Horton said that through patience, acceptance, respect, communication and a strong friendship foundation, their love has continued to grow and develop.
Horton said, “It’s just accepting each other and understanding that we are an evolution. We’re going to always be growing and always coming into a new us.”
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