For the first time in a long time – 13 years to be exact – graduates walked across the stage Sept. 4 at Bob Jones Auditorium and were presented a degree by Garrison Commander Col. Erin Eike and representatives from their respective schools.
In all, more than 28 graduates from 13 institutions earned bachelor’s, master’s and doctorates and participated in the Combined College Graduate Recognition Ceremony for Redstone Arsenal.
Jennifer Anderson, education service specialist at Redstone, spearheaded the revival of the ceremony.
“When I realized the tradition had been lost here, for whatever reason, with the encouragement of my supervisors, we picked it back up,” Anderson said. “It’s my honor to continue a tradition here at Redstone, and we’ll do it again next year.”
Garrison Command Sgt. Maj. Dylan Lemasters delivered the commencement address and received a bachelor’s in organizational leadership from the University of Charleston-West Virginia.
Lemasters talked about the wide range of ages, experiences and levels of degrees that made up the class of 2024 represented at the ceremony and how he struggled to properly summarize the accomplishments, perseverance and successes that were unique to each individual in a condensed catchphrase or motto.
He settled on: “The Class of 2024: The class that will do more because you’ve already done more,” he said.
Then he shared a story about how he had to find his place, his tribe – and most importantly, his wife – before he could finish his degree.
The command sergeant major has been deployed 24 times for about 57 months with the 160th
Special Operations Aviation Regiment during his career and noted that most of those places didn’t have a good Internet signal, which, of course, is not conducive to an online learning environment.
“It wasn’t an easy path to be on,” he said. “It wasn’t an easy journey. So, I chipped away at my college career kind of one bite at a time, because that’s how you eat an elephant, right?”
Institutions and their graduates listed in alphabetical order are:
· American Military University graduated Tiffany Butler, bachelor of arts in human resource management, and Lashedrick Richard, associates of arts in interdisciplinary studies.
· Athens State University graduated Tamara Slade, master of science in acquisition and contract management.
· Auburn University graduated Tiara Ransom, bachelor of arts in film/media with a minor in animation.
· Columbia College graduated Tabitha Levingstonm with a bachelor of business administration with an emphasis in real estate management along with Vickayla Lewis, Obie Orr, Keith Sherer and Dewayne Wright with a master of business administration, Kevin Mettlen with a master of business with an emphasis in human resources, Stephanie Blankenship and Leon McCree with a bachelor in general studies, Roiana Cunningham with a bachelor of arts in health care management, Joseph Himes with a bachelor of arts in marketing, Nicholas Boysel, Dezeirai Lewis and Felicia Northcutt with a bachelor of science in business administration, Reliesha Burns with a Bachelor of Science in business administration and human resource management, Nikole Winkelmann with a bachelor of science in child development, Danielle Murph with a bachelor of science in management, Brittany McDonald with an associate of science in computer information systems, and Danielle Murph with an associate in general studies.
· Columbia Southern University graduated Michael Mills with a bachelor of science in homeland security.
· Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University graduated Juan Munoz with a bachelor of science in project management.
· Excelsior University graduated Tiffany Holley with a master of business administration and Jason Sobataka with a bachelor of professional studies in business and management.
· Liberty University graduated Dwan Contreras with a master of arts in human services counseling.
· National Intelligence University graduated Sandra Kopecky with a master of science in technology intelligence.
· Pace University graduated Sandra Kopecky with a doctorate in computer science.
· Southern New Hampshire University graduated Braden Land with a bachelor of science in game programming and development.
· The University of Arkansas-Grantham graduated Lashunda Hutchinson and Eric Shepard with a master of science in performance improvement.
· The University of Charleston West Virginia graduated Command Sgt. Maj. Dylan Lemasters with a bachelor of science in organizational leadership.
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