A 41-year-old college senior and mother of three will be walking the stage at Bowling Green State University in May 2023 after making a promise to her husband, who was killed in Iraq 18 years ago.
"Andy was just an awesome guy," Tiffany Eckert told Fox News Digital of her husband, Andy Eckert.
"He was funny and charismatic. He was athletic. He was a true leader. He would've been the best dad. And he really wanted to be a dad."
The couple, who met in September 2002, knew "instantly" they were going to get married, Eckert said.
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"Just a few months down the road, he got activated to go to war, and we got married in February of 2003," she said.
"Then he was on basically two back-to-back deployments."
During the first deployment, her husband was unable to come home when their daughter, Marlee, was born.
He was finally able to come home to see her for the first time when she was 11 months old.
"Her middle name is Freedom because he's not in the pictures," Eckert said of their daughter Marlee's birth. "And I wanted her to know why."
During his second deployment, Andy Eckert was able to come home and witness his son's birth, in March 2005. Then just months later, the proud dad and serviceman was killed on Mother's Day, May 8, after he sustained injuries when an improvised explosive device detonated near his Humvee.
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That's according to the Travis Manion Foundation, a charity organization that empowers veterans and their families.
The night before he died, Andy Eckert called his wife.
"He said a lot of things, but the last part of our conversation was about me going to school and how he thought I was the smartest person that he'd ever met," Tiffany Eckert recalled.
He asked her to promise him that she would get an education, no matter what and no matter how long it took.
"I promised him that," she said. "He told me he loved me more than anything in the world, and obviously I said the same. He said, ‘I'll call you tomorrow.' And as we all know, he wasn't able to call the next day."
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Their daughter Marlee was 20 months old and their young son Myles was just one month old when their dad was killed.
"I had a toddler and a newborn," Tiffany Eckert said. "So I stayed home for the first several years."
She ended up having a third child in another relationship. She began working an office job and was making good money, she said.
However, she wasn’t fulfilled — and in the fall of 2020, she applied to and was accepted by Bowling Green State University.
Now, she will soon graduate from the four-year program — which she got through in less than three years, she said.
"I’m getting my undergrad in half the time," Eckert said, "which is really an accomplishment in itself, [given] that I'm non-traditional and I have children, but also because I struggled so much as a young person academically that I barely graduated from high school."
"It was not for lack of intelligence," she added.
"I just didn't have accommodations that I should have and school was difficult for me."
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Tiffany Eckert said that when she promised her husband she would go back to school, she meant it — though she did wonder if she could actually do it.
"I didn’t know if I had what it takes, and I put it off for so long because of life," she said.
But now, Tiffany Eckert said, she knows she can.
"One of the things that held me back for so long in life — my whole life, basically — is that I didn't think I was good enough. And now I know I am. And I know that when Andy said that to me, he believed it with every fiber of his being. But now I believe it and I know it's true."
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She declared human development and family studies as her major.
"You learn about why people are the way they are, how they tick," Eckert said.
"You can go into social work, you can go on to grad school for clinical counseling, you can be in leadership roles, you can work as a case manager. It's people-centric and strength-based. There's a lot of trauma-informed care."
That’s something she said she’s been able to apply from personal experience.
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"The program I'm in has provided me a level of healing that I didn't know I needed," Eckert said.
Dr. Laura Landry Meyer, professor of human development and family studies at Bowling Green State University, taught Eckert’s first human development class.
"I think that Tiffany has great capacity to create opportunities for others," Meyer told Fox News Digital. "She has this ability to connect people and organizations and those connections create opportunities for people to feel empowered."
Meyer added, "She's a great example of an individual who has developed in the context of her family and who's come out strong."
When Eckert decided to immerse herself in the college experience, she went all in. And when a couple of college girls encouraged her to give sorority recruitment a try, she did as well — and pledged Sigma Kappa.
"When I was young, I was always enamored with the idea of sorority life and for the right reasons, such as the philanthropic initiatives, the social aspect," Eckert said.
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"It's really a cool hybrid where they treat me like a peer, but also I'm a mom figure," she continued.
"Some girls are missing their moms or don't have a positive female role model in their life. So I've been able to help."
Gillian Backus, 20, is Eckert’s sorority "big sister."
"Tiffany is a brave, compassionate and loyal sister who has definitely helped and inspired many of the girls in our chapter, including me," Backus told Fox News Digital.
"Sometimes I see her as a mom figure because she’s wise and when I’m having a rough day or just need someone to talk to, she’s always there for me. She gives great advice."
Liz Ensley, 21, was the chapter president when Eckert was initiated. Ensley told Fox News Digital that Eckert constantly offers "a shoulder to lean on."
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"I think the hard things and hurdles that she has overcome have made her into a very strong and intelligent person, and that is going to make her thrive and be successful in her future career," Ensley said.
Eckert said she hopes that if people can learn anything from her story, it is to continue trying no matter the obstacle.
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"You keep going," Eckert said. "You never give up. "
Eckert has shared her story through an organization called Folds of Honor, an educational scholarship program for military and first responders.
She has been on their board of speakers and traveled the country since 2014.
This year, Eckert’s daughter Marlee, 19, is a freshman at Bowling Green as well — and her son Myles, 18, has been accepted into the school.
Eckert is waiting to hear if she herself will be accepted into the graduate program for public administration.
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If things go as planned, Eckert said, "We will all be Falcons and keeping the promise that I made to their dad," Eckert said.
With her degree, Eckert is aiming for a collaborative leadership role in which she works to help people process trauma.
"I want to show people, whether by example or presence or sharing my story, that genuine happiness is attainable at any stage in life, no matter what you've been through," Eckert said.
For now, Eckert said her sights are set on graduation.
"I earned this one," she said. "I started this process to keep my promise to Andy. When I walk across the stage in April, I'm doing it for my children because I've always kept in mind they're watching everything I do. But above all else, I'm doing it for myself."
And Eckert said she knows her husband will be there.
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"I believe he's been walking alongside me and the kids this entire time," Tiffany Eckert said.
"I know that he'll be right there with me, like he has been for the last 18 years. He'll be beaming for sure."
