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Editor’s Note: This is the seventh in a series of profiles of Spring 2024 graduates.

Jaimon Graves Cater wants to be a changemaker.

As he moves toward a career he hopes will help improve people’s lives, he has become deft at tapping the growing list of skills and knowledge he has acquired, whether it be in his military service or through his volunteerism or as a result of his studies at University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC). When Graves Cater stepped up UMGC’s Grad Walk to accept his bachelor’s degree, the many components of that journey came together.

Graves Cater, who grew up in Missouri, was serving in the U.S. Air Force and taking military classes and training when he started thinking about enrolling in a degree program.

“UMGC has a strong reputation on Air Force bases. What grabbed my attention is that I needed a flexible school schedule so I could also focus on my military studies,” he explained. “UMGC had good supportive learning advisors. They had people on the base. I was happy they put emphasis … on morphing into roles in the military as well as in public service.”

At UMGC, Graves Cater choose political science as his area of focus because of his interest in understanding how government works “and its capacity to improve people’s lives.” He saw that academic area as a personal pathway toward civic engagement and the ability to “do something that benefits everybody.”

Graves Cater had enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 2016. Three years later, he began his degree program at UMGC. He said it was a time when changes in his personal life came in tandem with deep changes in society and government. He was especially affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and upheaval on the streets in response to Black Lives Matter, specifically the civil rights components.

“They are a big part of my values. As part of the military, you have rules and regulations and you can’t be too outward with your opinions but you have the responsibility to protect democracy,” he said. “Education is important because it teaches you how to think through things. While getting my political science degree, I was thinking about the broader perspective. I started looking at how I am engaging with my community in Washington, D.C., or with nutritious food or with affordable health care. How am I living … with American values.”

Even as he worked full time and studied toward his degree, he served as a volunteer in community organizations—and he intends to keep up that momentum. He has worked with Hands On D.C., a group of volunteers involved in beautification projects at D.C. public schools, and he currently volunteers with Habitat for Humanity. He has also been involved with community gardens designed to provide healthy food options in neighborhoods without easy access to grocery stores.

Graves Cater originally wanted to use his degree “for learning and for being able to critically think and defend my positions.” As he graduates, however, he wants more. To that end, he is preparing for the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) so that he can apply to law school. As he weighs what area of the law he might pursue, he is considering national security law, constitutional law and human rights law, although he has not ruled out litigation work.

In addition to his degree, Graves Cater said his UMGC experience expanded his personal awareness.

“There are a lot of life lessons I learned. The academic journey assesses your leadership and your resilience and how you are able to manage multiple things at once,” he said. “I really appreciated that.”

He also enjoyed the lively classroom exchanges. “I really felt like the teachers cared about the issues and the students,” he said. “The teachers were always there to say, ‘I’m here to build a relationship with you and to be a part of your experience.”

Graves Cater noted that his military leadership was also supportive of his studies.

As Graves Cater steps forward, he carries with him a deep commitment to serve and transform his community, armed with the lessons of his military past and the lessons of his academic pursuits, all driven by a dedication to living out what he sees as American values.