Submitted by Saint Martin’s University
LACEY, WASHINGTON — Members of Saint Martin’s University’s Extended Learning Division will gather Friday, Feb. 1 to celebrate the graduation of 29 members of its Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM) December class of 2012. The graduation ceremony, which begins at 1 p.m., takes place at the Clover Park Technical College McGavick Conference Center located at 4500 Steilacoom Blvd SW, Lakewood, Wash.The event will include remarks by University President Roy F. Heynderickx, Ph.D.
Members of the graduating class include service members from various JBLM organizations as well as family members, national guardsmen, reservists, veterans and non-military affiliated students. For over 40 years, the Extended Learning Division has provided JBLM students a non-traditional pathway for earning a baccalaureate degree in accounting, business administration, computer science, criminal justice, political science, psychology and special education. The extended learning campuses also offer graduate degrees in education and teaching.
“Many service members face deployments and other personal obstacles which interfere with taking traditional college classes,” says Cruz Arroyo, director of extended learning. “Our non-traditional campuses provide deployed personnel, family members and other non-traditional students a method for achieving educational goals.”
Students attend courses either in the classroom or online. “’Take us with you’ is our motto for online classes and students appreciate that Saint Martin’s offers an opportunity for them to continue their studies while deployed or working non-standard shifts,” says Arroyo.
“I’m looking forward to Feb. 1,” says Arroyo. “Academic and personal goals will be met and celebrated with all the pomp and circumstance deserving of a university graduation ceremony.”
Saint Martin’s University is an independent four-year, coeducational university located on a wooded campus of more than 300 acres in Lacey, Washington. Established in 1895 by the Catholic Order of Saint Benedict, the University is one of 14 Benedictine colleges and universities in the United States and Canada, and the only one west of the Rocky Mountains. Saint Martin’s University prepares students for successful lives through its 23 majors and seven graduate programs spanning the liberal arts, business, education, nursing and engineering. Saint Martin’s welcomes more than 1,100 undergraduate students and 400 graduate students from many ethnic and religious backgrounds to its Lacey campus, and 300 more undergraduate students to its extension campuses located at Joint Base Lewis-McChord and Centralia College. Visit the Saint Martin’s University website at www.stmartin.edu.
