"I failed my first chemistry test and considered walking away," he said. "But my wife, Brenda, encouraged me to stick it out."

And so he did. Renoe, 34, will be among the approximately 1,600 students receiving degrees from Iowa State University Friday and Saturday. He will receive his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering Saturday. But during the commencement ceremony, while other students may recall highlights of campus life, Renoe said he'll be reliving the three calls to active military duty that tested his dual resolve to complete his education and serve his country.

Renoe's personal mission to earn his degree began with a single class at ISU in the spring of 2002 through a dual-enrollment option with Des Moines Area Community College. The experience spurred him to enter ISU full time that fall.

As an older student, Renoe said, "I depended on my academic advisors and professors and got to know them pretty well."

James Hilliard, associate professor aerospace engineering, also a military veteran, made time for Renoe to sit in his office and swap stories. Relationships like that paid off, Renoe said, when his spring semester in 2003 was cut short by deployment to Egypt. His professors helped him finish his course work early, before the nine-month peacekeeping mission took him to the demilitarized zone bordering the Sinai Peninsula.

"At the time, it was at the professors' discretion to work with me," said Renoe.

Since then, Renoe said, a federal law has been passed requiring institutions of higher education to allow veterans called up to active duty to complete their courses or refund their tuition. Renoe said near the end of his mission in Eqypt, he called his academic advisor, Douglas Beck, "in the middle of the night, Iowa time," to make sure he'd get registered for classes.

"Beck basically lined me up for classes right over the phone," Renoe said.

Beck said he was "so glad to hear from him," he didn't care what time it was.

Renoe recalls that rejoining student life "wasn't so bad" the first time he returned from active duty. He completed three semesters, summer and fall 2004 and spring of 2005, without a hitch.

And then in the summer of 2005, he learned that his battalion would be deployed to Iraq. Renoe left in October and was overseas for nearly two years.

The mission was challenging, he said. Confined to a tiny Marine Corps outpost in Iraq's Al-Anbar province, Renoe said his duties included assisting with convoy link-up operations, mainly inspecting civilian trucks for contraband coming from Jordan.

Beck said when it was time to register for classes, Renoe sent him an E-mail from Iraq.

"It just shows that (Renoe) has the kind of initiative it takes to make it through the challenges of getting an engineering degree and being in the military," he said.

Renoe resumed classes a mere two and a half weeks after returning from Iraq. He said he found it difficult to keep up at first, facing senior level courses, such as fluid dynamics, in mechanical engineering.

"My brain didn't want to do differential equations," he said.

So he hired a tutor and leaned on Hilliard and Beck for support.

Renoe said he stayed the course and was on track to graduate, and then his Guard unit got a call to help with a mission close to home. He missed most of the 2008 summer semester helping with the Parkersburg tornado and the floods in the Cedar Falls-Waterloo and Ottumwa areas.

"Again, my professors worked with me to extend my course deadlines, and I got it all in," he said.

Renoe says he's grateful to everyone who supported him while he earned his degree. In addition to his wife and ISU faculty and staff, he credits neighbors in Ankeny and family who "mowed and fixed things and checked on Brenda."

He's accepted a job offer from Siemens and plans to move to Orlando, Fla., in January to work as an engineer in power generation.

He says his job schedule will determine if he transfers to Florida's National Guard on inactive status.

"Brenda and I have a lot of time to make up, Renoe said. "We may even start a family.