Marlee DaBrowski, an Army spouse, tearfully hugs her son, John, 4, after receiving her associate’s degree in general studies at the University of Maryland Global Campus Europe commencement ceremony on Saturday, April 27, 2024, at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. About 250 graduates walked the stage, out of a class of more than 1,100 who earned degrees from Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany – When Jennifer Egbe deployed to Poland in January, she was 18 credits shy of earning her bachelor’s degree.
The Army National Guard supply specialist and communications major enrolled in the University of Maryland Global Campus Europe. From her barracks at Powidz Air Base, a key logistics hub near NATO’s eastern flank, Egbe finished her online classes with a mobile hotspot connection and earned a spot in the UMGC Europe class of 2024.
Egbe and six of her fellow guardsmen piled into a van and made the 10-hour drive to Ramstein so Egbe could receive her diploma in person at the university’s spring commencement Saturday at the Ramstein Officers’ Club.
“I wasn’t ever planning on getting to walk the stage,” Egbe said. “This whole experience has been amazing for me, getting to be at a real graduation in Germany.”
Army National Guard Spc. Jennifer Egbe is the first soldier deployed to Powidz Air Base in Poland to attend University of Maryland Global Campus Europe graduation ceremonies. The school held its spring commencement on Saturday, April 27, 2024, at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. Egbe, who earned a bachelor’s in communications, drove to Germany from Poland for the event, with six fellow guardsmen who came to show their support. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)
Egbe, 23, was the first U.S. soldier deployed to Powidz to attend UMGC Europe graduation, school officials said. She was among 250 graduates to don a cap and gown and file into a large ballroom for commencement exercises before Maryland faculty and family members.
About 1,100 students from across Europe, North Africa and the Middle East earned associate’s, bachelor’s or master’s degrees this year, with some attending local graduation ceremonies in Italy, Spain, England and Bavaria, UMGC officials said.
The university’s footprint in Europe dates back 75 years, an enduring milestone celebrated on Saturday.
“I doubt many could have foreseen what would come of seven daring professors hopping a plane to allied-occupied Germany in the fall of 1949, armed only with satchels of books,” said Jay Perman, University System of Maryland chancellor, in his keynote address.
Erin Narvaez, an Air Force spouse, adjusts the hood worn by master’s degree graduate Army veteran Bryce Williams at the University of Maryland Global Campus Europe spring commencement on Saturday, April 27, 2024, at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. Williams, who served 24 years in the Army, said he lost track of how many years it took him to earn his bachelor’s before his master’s degree. “I was doing one class at a time, so it took me a long time,” he said. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)
It was the beginning of a legacy “founded on serving those who serve us, those who safeguard our civil liberties and our freedom,” he said.
The first classes were taught at six different sites in Germany, said Rosemary Hoffmann, a UMGC assistant archivist. Many in the U.S. military officer corps were only high school graduates, she said, and had first dibs on courses such as military history, writing and speech. The university didn’t know how many might show up, telling the professors if less than 300 students turned up, they were to return, Hoffmann said. “They got 1,800 students, just like that.”
Annette Gary, left, and Monica Brady traveled from the United States to see Joseph Gary, their son and brother, respectively, receive his associate’s degree in criminal justice at the University of Maryland Global Campus Europe commencement on Saturday, April 27, 2024, at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. “We made the journey to be part of this moment for him,” Gary said of her son, an Army veteran who lives and works in Stuttgart, Germany. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)
William Wood, who sits on the university’s board of regents, recalls attending school in the mid-1950s at the former Frankfurt American High School while his Army lieutenant colonel father took Maryland night classes at the same school. Wood, 84, said his initials are still carved into the bomb shelter in the backyard of his family’s former home.
UMGC “has been around a very long time,” he said Saturday.
Some 12,000 military personnel, civilians, contractors and family members took classes this year from UMGC Europe, according to school officials. But active-duty service members continue to seek UMGC degrees while serving from far-flung locations. About 62% of this year’s graduates in Europe are active duty. About 100 earned a degree while deployed to Poland, Bahrain, Djibouti, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and other places, officials said.
Chief Warrant Officer 3 Kerly LaBranche and his wife, Kayla LaBranche, both earned bachelor’s degrees from the University of Maryland Global Campus Europe, which held spring commencement at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, on Saturday, April 27, 2024. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)
Chief Warrant Officer 3 Kerly LaBranche, a computer science major, recalled logging into class from a tent during a field exercise at Camp Aachen in Grafenwoehr, where he’s stationed with his family.
His wife, Kayla, pushed him to finish his degree while she completed hers in business administration, UMGC Europe’s most popular major this year. As they prepared to walk the stage Saturday, they described how they hit the books after putting their kids to bed.
“We’re up until midnight or 1 o’clock, writing codes or writing papers,” Kerly LaBranche said.
Air Force Tech. Sgt. Vanessa Alonzo receives her bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Gregory Fowler, the president of University of Maryland Global Campus, at commencement on Saturday. About 250 graduates walked the stage on Saturday, April 27, 2024, inside the Ramstein Officers’ Club at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. ()
Family also motivated Air Force Tech. Sgt. Vanessa Alonzo, 30, to earn her degree in criminal justice after years of schooling, pursued in fits and starts between deployments, short tours and moves, she said.
Alonzo, who works in cyberdefense operations at Ramstein, grew up in Los Angeles, with a father who went to prison for gang activity when she was 11.
Her degree helped her learn more about gangs and understand what may have drawn her father to that life. “While it wasn’t the best avenue (for him) to go through, it helped me understand why he was there and how I can help others to not follow that path,” she said.
“I woke up this morning and was telling my husband, ‘I can’t believe I’m actually graduating,’” Alonzo said. “It’s been 12 years. I’m finally there.”
