College Student
Lynch attended West Virginia University at Parkersburg, on a full scholarship because of her military service. She graduated with her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Elementary Education K-6 on December 16, 2011 from West Virginia University at Parkersburg.
On May 6, 2006, Allison Barker of the Associated Press reported that Lynch, who had completed her freshman year, avoids talking about her military service at school, despite wearing a brace on her left foot protecting nerve damage from her capture: "I think people recognize who I am; they just don't make it obvious. That's good for me because it gives me the opportunity to blend in and not stick out and really experience the college life, just like they are." Lynch also talked about her career plans and legacy: "I know I want to do something with children. I haven't really found my direction, with everything I've been through....I want people to remember me as being a soldier who went over there and did my job. Nothing special. I'm just a country girl at heart."
On August 24, 2006, Good Morning America Weekend Edition co-anchor Kate Snow reported that Lynch wrote a letter stating she would have a baby by the end of the year. Foxnews.com reported that Lynch and her then-boyfriend Wes Robinson would have their first child in January. She made the statement: "I was not sure if this could ever happen for me, learning to walk again and coping with the internal injuries that I still deal with pale in comparison to the tremendous joy of carrying this child." She gave birth on January 19, 2007 through a caesarean section, and named her daughter "Dakota Ann" after her fallen friend, Lori Ann Piestewa, the first woman of the U.S.-led Coalition killed in the Iraq War and the first Native American woman killed on foreign soil in an American war.
Read more about this topic: Jessica Lynch
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