EMMAUS, Pa. – This Mother’s Day will be extra special for one Emmaus family. A mother and her son are graduating from DeSales University on Sunday — with the same degree.

It was a total coincidence when Amy Riley and her son Justin decided to both get their bachelor’s degrees at DeSales University.

“This was a dream for me. I never thought that I’d be doing my bachelor’s degree,” Amy Riley told 69 News.

Amy’s journey began during the COVID-19 pandemic when she decided to make a change. She spent 27 years as a military spouse and dreamed of going to college. She began working on her associate’s degree at Eastern Gateway. A breast cancer diagnosis during that time drove her to keep pushing through.

“It was very hard to put that behind me and put that game face on,” Riley recalled.

She completed the program and decided to keep going.

“I decided to go to DeSales and do the online program with the Adult Studies and it’s been incredible,” Riley said.

Meanwhile, Justin started his college career at Lehigh Carbon Community College with dreams of working in public service.

“My whole family has been in some sort of service, whether it be military or school system. I went to Lehigh Carbon Community College. I got hired on as a student working in public safety,” Justin Riley explained.

Justin’s passion for public safety followed him to DeSales where he decided to major in Criminal Justice with a minor in Psychology, as mom did.

“We had a lot of the same professors but despite being in different classes, different years, we had great experiences with them,” Justin stated.

Amy was nervous at the thought of not only going to the same school as her son but also studying the same major.

“I wasn’t sure how Justin would feel about me coming here as well. He was totally fine with it. We used to compare notes. If I had an issue with something, I would ask him,” Amy told us.

Commencement is this Mother’s Day.

“I think it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I don’t think many people can say they walked the stage with their mom or their dad. Knowing how hard she worked for it, it’s very special to me. It’s not easy,” Justin said.

The duo took graduation photos together on campus.

“It’s exciting, and yesterday we were laughing because we were trying to get each other dressed and get our robes on and fix our caps. You just have to persevere and just get through it and know that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel,” Amy concluded.