JOINT BASE LEWIS-McCHORD, Wash. – Staff Sergeant Kentrell Poindexter, 4th Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, is planning his transition out of the Army in about one month.
He was also planning to see his mom at the JBLM Graduation Ceremony on May 30 at the Norman Worthington Conference Center at Saint Martin’s University, Lacey, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Applied Science in Health Sciences from American Military University.
But he wasn’t planning on graduating with his mom, Chantee Collins, a military spouse at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, as she earned her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from University of Arizona Global Campus.
“I knew she was coming to see me walk and graduate, and I knew she was graduating soon. I just didn’t know that today she would be walking with me. So, that was a surprise for me,” Poindexter said with a chuckle.
Poindexter’s wife assembled the surprise, Collins said.
“And coincidentally, we completed our degrees at the same time,” Collins said. “It wasn’t planned – it just happened that way.”
“I’m extremely blessed to be graduating with my mom,” Poindexter said. “I feel like this was like the grand finale to my transition out.”
The mother and son were the last class of 2025 graduates to walk the stage in the 37th annual JBLM Graduation Ceremony, after being announced and drawing the crowd’s admiration. They were the first in their immediate family to graduate with college degrees.
About 150 Joint Base Lewis-McChord service members and their family members, veterans and civilians graduated as part of the ceremony, which celebrated their completion of an accredited certificate, associate, bachelor, master or doctoral degree.
Graduates earned their degrees from Central Texas College, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Saint Martin’s University, Pierce College, Central Washington University, University of Maryland Global Campus and 23 off-base academic institutions.
“It's probably one of the most emotional events we have within the Education Center,” said Melissa Wallace, education services specialist for the Directorate of Human Resources at JBLM’s Stone Education Center.
“It doesn't matter if it takes you five years, 10 years, even 15 years to get your degree,” Wallace said. “Once you've accomplished it, you can look back and tell yourself, through all the obstacles, through all of the success you finally got here. Own it and be so darn proud of yourself because of everything that you've experienced and went through.”
It’s also important for graduates to remember their supporters, she said.
“Look at those who are there by your side,” Wallace said. “It could be us at the Education Center, it could be your family, it could be your friends, it could be your command team. But just remember those who were there to push you to be a better individual, because you wouldn’t be here today if it wasn't for them.”
To learn more about Army Continuing Education Services at JBLM’s Stone Education Center, visit https://home.army.mil/lewis-mcchord/about/Directorates-support-offices/dhr/aces.
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