By Derek Gean
Community editor
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The Central Iowa Chapel Gospel Service is set to lead the Fort Leonard Wood community in celebrating academic achievements Sunday with their first-ever Baccalaureate Service.

The service, themed “Pathway to Success,” is scheduled for 3 p.m. at the Central Iowa Chapel.

“It is a service to celebrate academic accomplishments of people in our community,” said Chap. (Lt. Col) James Smith, deputy installation chaplain.

“You have people that home school and don’t have access to a cap-and-gown experience for their children, so they could participate, and others making a significant transition from grade school to middle school, middle school to high school and high school to college and certainly those that graduate college,” Smith said.

He said people receiving any kind of college or technical school degrees are welcome to participate. This event is open to military members, civilians and those off of the installation.

Dr. Sonya Campbell, principal of Wood Elementary School, is scheduled to serve as guest speaker.

“(Dr. Campbell) was selected because of her educational values and ties within the community. She speaks and lives getting an education,” said Dr. Connie Respress, parish coordinator 2 and event organizer.

Respress said she encourages people to take part so they can share their accomplishments with others and “receive Godly recognition through Central Iowa Gospel Service.”

Smith said he wanted to highlight the importance of education through the service.

“We want to do our part in furthering the academic achievements of people in our community because it pays dividends for our future to have a trained and prepared population,” he said.

To participate, contact Respress at 573.512.0864 via call, voicemail or text message. Participants can also email her at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , or contact Smith at 596.1038.