WKU News

The family of WKU senior Stefani McCoy, a first-generation student from Elizabethtown, was recognized Saturday as WKU’s 2018 Family of the Year.

McCoy, who will complete her Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree this fall, was joined by her mother, Juanita McCoy; her father, Steve Tabor; her aunt, Anita Sonner; and her uncle, Ronnie Sonner, during WKU’s Parent and Family Weekend activities.

“I am the first in my family to attend college and WKU will always be the place that gave me my start to my adult life,” McCoy said in her Family of the Year nomination essay. “WKU will always hold a special place in my heart, as well as my family's, as being the place that formed me into the nurse I have become. WKU is what gave me the opportunity to realize my calling and to apply what I have learned into a field where I can give back to my patients. I can change their lives like WKU changed mine.”

McCoy said her family members have been selfless in their support and encouragement during her journey to complete her nursing degree.  

“They each wanted to give me more of an opportunity than what they had at my age,” McCoy said. “They pushed me when I wanted to give up and when I made claims that college was too hard. Because of their actions and selflessness, I can help to make an impact on the lives of my patients, like my family has made an impact on mine."

Contact: Student Activities, (270) 745-2459