Riley Foster Kennedy graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point on May 22. Bill and Carole Morgan of Woodfords are the proud grandparents of this all-American woman.
Foster Kennedy majored in Arabic and studied in Egypt twice. During one summer, she earned wings at the parachute jump school in Kentucky.
"It's pretty much a year-round program," said Bill Morgan. When President Bush visited West Point, Foster Kennedy was one of eight cadets selected to greet the president.
Her first assignment as a commissioned second lieutenant is in military intelligence.
A few weeks after graduation, Foster Kennedy was married at Edgewood, Lake Tahoe, to 2nd Lt. Sean Kennedy, who graduated from West Point the year before. West Point graduates in full uniform performed the traditional saber arch for the newlyweds.
During the same spring, Foster's family moved from Oakdale, Calif., to Washington state. Foster's younger brother Kit is her best friend and strongest supporter, so she had to focus on that change at the same time as graduation and marriage.
How does she do all of that?
Foster Kennedy is simply a stand out.
She is one of only a few students accepted at all four military academies. That means she has superior intelligence, athletic ability, and strong leadership skills.
Her father Martin Foster, a former Navy officer, recognized her willingness to work hard and to persevere.
When Foster Kennedy was in eighth grade, her father brought home a crumbling yellow 1966 Ford Mustang, with the condition that father and daughter would restore the car. There is a photo of Riley driving that car to school in her Oakdale High School yearbook.
Her mother Stacey Morgan Foster, an English major and law-school graduate, has worked at American University in Maryland, at California State Universities in San Jose and Stanislaus, and now is vice president of student affairs at Eastern Washington University near Spokane. Foster Kennedy has been immersed in a highly academic environment and has accepted and excelled in every single challenge.
After high school graduation, her mother light-heartedly said, "I guess she is as good as she tells us that she is."
She spent the summer between her junior and senior year at the Naval Academy to experience military life first-hand.
There were only 200 women at the seminar, and Foster-Kennedy was the only woman to finish the brutal-eight hour sea trials, similar to a Marine's training. The Navy awarded her the iron woman award for her performance at the seminar.
Foster Kennedy had overcome her fear of heights by learning to pole vault in high school; however, she could not overcome her sea-sickness so she decided against the Naval Academy and the Coast Guard Academy.
Foster Kennedy is now in advanced training for military intelligence on an Army base near Phoenix, Ariz.
She will join her husband at Fort Bliss, Texas after completing training. They both will spend at least five years in the Army as part of the West Point Academy's program.
Morgan, an Army veteran, is decidedly proud but said, "I'm not surprised at Riley because she has always been very intelligent and very determined."
