Daughter of Former Sigourney Couple Graduates From West Point

WEST POINT – Karly Parcell, the daughter of Joe and Julia Parcell (née Hammes), both formerly of Sigourney, graduated from the United States Military Academy, also known as West Point, on May 25. “I got into the military and everything just because I babysat a lot growing up, and I’m around kids a lot, and so I wanted to help protect their freedoms and just help to keep their kind of innocent look on life and keep their mindset that anything is possible,” said Parcell.

Parcel grew up in Columbia, Missouri. She plans to spend the next five years working field artillery at Fort Campbell in Kentucky. “A lot of my instructors and from my different training the people I met that were field artillery were my favorite people,” said Parcell, when asked why she chose field artillery. “And what you come to realize is each branch does different things. Fundamentally they do have different jobs. But a lot of it is like a personality that you choose with a branch. And so I knew that if I liked the people I was around, I can do the job. And so that was my biggest reason for choosing field artillery, was just knowing that I would enjoy being around the people and working with them.”

Parcel spoke to the News-Review about how she enjoyed meeting other students at West Point, throwing discus for the track and field team, and participating in military training during the summer, where she learnt about weapons and field combat.  “We were in uniforms all of the time,” said Parcell. “All of our classes in some way incorporated some sot of military aspect...60% of our instructors are military, so we get to learn a lot from them while we’re in school and ask them questions. We also take on different leadership positions throughout the school during the year...We’re in charge of other people. We’re helping to run, we’re pushing out schedules. So it’s a lot more regimented than other places...I wouldn’t choose to go anywhere else, having graduated. I’m really glad that I got to go there and to experience everything.”

The graduation required extensive training and drills beforehand and featured a speech from President Joe Biden, but afterwards was a normal graduation. “It’s just pretty special that you get four years with that small group of people and then stay with them throughout time and end it all together,” said Parcell.