WEST POINT, N.Y. — A member of the Lumbee Tribe with ties to Robeson County graduated recently from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
Cadet Michelle Lena’ Hicks, the daughter of Charles Hicks V and Ann Michelle (Harris) Hicks, graduated on May 26. Her family attended the graduation-week events, with members traveling from Maryland and North Carolina.
Hicks’ paternal grandparents are Charles and Shirley Hicks IV, of Elkton, Md., and her maternal grandparents are Annie Liza Hammond (Archie), and Kenneth Harris (Suzanne) of Prospect, N.C. In addition, one of her sponsors at West Point was the family of Chris and Jessica Oxendine. Chris also is a Lumbee Tribe member and a 1996 graduate of West Point.
Hicks grew up in Charlotte and stayed close to her Lumbee background by attending powwows and participating in cultural events in Charlotte and in her mother’s home in Robeson County. She enjoys attending Lumbee Homecoming every July and is very proud of her heritage. Hicks attended school in Charlotte and graduated from Elkton High School, in Maryland, in 2013.
Hicks was a student athlete on West Point’s women’s basketball team. She received the 2016-17 Maggie Dixon Award and was co-captain during her senior year. While at West Point, Hicks concentrated her studies in psychology with a minor in engineering. She was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army within the Ordnance branch after graduation and will report for training at Fort Lee, Va., before transferring to Fort Bragg for her first official assignment.
