Bowling Green, Ky. - The Porch family will complete another leg of their educational journey next month when the military couple receives their degrees at Western Kentucky University.

Lewis Porch will fly in from Germany to receive his master’s degree in general education on May 12, while his wife, Coral, will drive down from Fort Knox to receive her bachelor’s of general studies degree on May 13.

Lewis completed his graduate courses in the fall 2005 semester but waited until his wife finished her degree this spring so both could graduate together.

“May 2006 will be the optimum success story because we each can watch the other accept our earnings from Dr. Ransdell,” Lewis Porch said. “Though I don’t know the president personally, I sense his true and dedicated desire to make each WKU student a special person committed to duty, honor and respect for the advancement of education in every field of knowledge. Coral and I both feel very special to be part of the WKU alumni.”

His wife agreed. “This was the Porch family journey of education and we wanted to complete it as a family,” she said.

The family, which includes 8-year-old daughter Kathryn, will get to celebrate together because WKU has divided commencement into a graduate ceremony at 7:30 p.m. May 12 at Diddle Arena and an undergraduate ceremony at 7:30 p.m. May 13 at Smith Stadium.

“Our daughter gets to see dad graduate on Friday night and mom graduate on Saturday night,” Coral said. “Having two ceremonies actually makes it better because we don’t have to get someone to watch our daughter.”

Kathryn has spent the past several months with her father in Germany while her mom finished her coursework at WKU’s regional campus at Elizabethtown/Fort Knox. “She’s ready to have the family put back together,” Coral said.

After receiving their WKU degrees, the family will continue the educational journey by returning to Germany where Lewis, 55, is working on his doctorate and where Coral, 36, will begin work on her master’s.

“Through our hard work and by seeing us graduate, we’re hoping that our daughter understands the importance of education,” said Coral, who will serve as a property book officer for the 5th Signal Command in Manheim.

The WKU portion of the Porch journey began in 2001 when they arrived at Fort Knox. Coral, an Alabama native, was a staff sergeant and needed upper level courses to apply for warrant officer position. Lewis, a North Carolina native, was wrapping up his Army career and was looking to further his education.

“The potential for anyone to seek higher education is only limited by that person’s desire, commitment and fortitude to aggressively complete that educational goal,” he said. “It need not be such a high challenge.”

Both completed their associate degrees in 2002 in a program offered at Fort Knox by Central Texas College. They then began work on bachelor’s degrees at WKU.

“We worked hand in hand getting our education in progress at the same time,” Coral said.

“Coral and I were very fortunate that the Army placed us at Fort Knox together as this was my final Army tour,” Lewis said. “We were fortunate that WKU offered courses and classes at Knox and Elizabethtown that were convenient to our place of residence, only five to seven miles away from the Elizabethtown campus.”

Lewis earned his bachelor’s in December 2004 and began work on his master’s. Coral began work on bachelor’s degree in fall 2004 and completed it in less than two years by taking five or six classes a semester – during her lunch break, at nights and on weekends.

“It’s kind of like a competition in our family,” Coral said. “I started an associate degree program in 2001 and had no idea it would end up here.”

Both Coral and Lewis feel a sense of pride and accomplishment in reaching this milestone on their educational journey.

“Coral and I enjoy our studies,” Lewis said. “For me, the non-traditional students can both receive and relate course information on a myriad of subjects; simply, we’ve lived it and now we’re receiving credit for life-long learning. It’s fun to learn when you’ve seen as much as we have.”

“I enjoy being a mentor, a leader, a wife and a mother,” Coral said. “I’ve kept two households going in two countries. I’ve earned my degree and I can be proud of it. I’ve devoted my hard work and my energy for it.”

More WKU news is available at www.wku.edu. If you’d like to receive WKU news via e-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.

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