Spring 2026 Commencement Spotlight
Luke Krepela | Herff College of Engineering | College of Arts and Sciences
Jumping out of an airplane came naturally for Luke Krepela.
The first time was celebrating his five-year anniversary with fiancée Ann-Marie Braese, also a recent UofM graduate.
He then got the opportunity to do it again after completing the Airmanship-490, the U.S. Air Force Academy’s freefall parachute course, the only freefall course in the world that allows you to jump out of an airplane solo on your first and subsequent four jumps.
But figuring out how to pay for college just a few years earlier didn’t come as easy.
After graduating from Arlington High School, he took a leap of faith when deciding to join Air Force ROTC at the University of Memphis, having never participated in ROTC in high school.
“Coming out of high school, I honestly had no idea how I was going to pay for college,” Krepela said. “Then the Air Force ROTC offered me free room and board.”
Even though Krepela didn’t do ROTC in high school, he was familiar with the military, having had an uncle serve in the Navy as well as his grandfather, and a cousin who served in the Marine Corps.
“I was already thinking of the military and wanted to serve,” he said. “There was always something attractive about being in that culture.”
Choosing mechanical engineering was inspired by his father, a chiller mechanic.
“Growing up, my dad was super mechanically inclined and really distinguished in his field, and I always grew up working on things around him and seeing him work on stuff,” Krepela said. “And seeing my grandfather who was a flight engineer in the Navy, who worked on cars after, I was just naturally around mechanical work.”
While at the UoM, Krepela excelled: graduating with a magna cum laude distinction, boasting the highest GPA in his Aerospace Studies class this past semester and was the only cadet who sustained four perfect physical fitness assessment scores of 100% for three consecutive semesters.
He also had some major life milestones. Getting engaged to his fiancée and getting saved as a Christian which he says, “was a huge turnaround in my life.”
Krepela continued to lead his peers serving in many leadership roles over the years, including as community service officer, where he led 35 cadets to serve 369 hours in the greater Memphis community in just a single semester.
“I saw volunteering as a big opportunity to lead people, very early on you just gain valuable experience in leading people and building relationships with peers though community service, and it was one of the best ways to bond with all the members in my class,” he said.
In addition, Krepela served as physical fitness officer, an ideal role for Krepela who wrestled growing up — even representing Arlington in the 2022 Class AA 170 lb Wrestling Championship.
As physical fitness officer, he designed and led 39 training sessions raising the detachment physical fitness assessment average to 94% (ranked in the top third nationally). In addition, as cadet wing commander he led staffing, training, fitness, leadership development and academic performance — leading to an even higher fitness average — a 95.3%, which ranked in the top 29% nationally.
“In ROTC you just get unparalleled opportunities to lead people, even starting as far back as my freshman year,” Krepela said. “Having that experience is kind of baptism by fire because you are just thrown into these positions and you have mentorship from your cadre, which really develops you.”
Through it all it, Krepela said he learned a lot about task organization and building relationships for any team, which he plans to take with him as a developmental engineer in the U.S. Air Force.
This past weekend he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant. He was awarded as a national ROTC Distinguished Graduate, putting him in the top 200 of 2000 ROTC graduates for the Class of 2026.
“A warfighter at heart; Luke is also a gifted academic,” said Lieutenant Colonel Mark J. Watson, Commander, Air Force ROTC Det 785, chair and professor of the Department of Aerospace Studies. “He has the complete package of mental, physical, social and spiritual fitness it takes to succeed, and I’m Tiger-proud to have Second Lieutenant Krepela represent University of Memphis’ Air Force ROTC Detachment 785 to the world.”
Krepela said he is most excited about moving to Oklahoma, getting married this summer and continuing to push himself in his future career.
