Alum serves in the US Army JAG Corps
Nick Perrino ’ 15 grew up in Reno, Nevada and graduated from McQueen High School. At that time, there was a sort of pipeline of McQueen student-athletes attending SOU. From his conversations with other McQueen students, he decided to visit Ashland. “I had a really good vibe about SOU and it was one of two schools that recruited me for track and field. Once I visited, it felt great to be on campus and I signed my letter of intent to attend and run for the track team,” he said. His first time away from home was the Week of Welcome at SOU, just prior to school starting. He settled into the Greensprings residence hall and chose business as his major with a minor in communication.
Kurt Knudsen became his advisor in the business department and built a great rapport as a mentor for Nick. He also wrote his letter of recommendation for Nick’s LSAT exam. John Kinard was another business professor who was passionate and loved to get students to think critically in the realm of public policy, law and society. Nick ran with the track team for three seasons and became an NAIA All-American on the 4 x 400 relay team in 2014. After graduating with a bachelors of applied science in business administration, he hung out for a year, waiting for his girlfriend, Cheyenne Mendenhall ’16, to finish her degree in criminal justice. They later married in 2019.
After Cheyenne finished her degree, they both packed up and moved 3,000 miles across the continent so that Nick could attend law school at Suffolk University in Boston, Massachusetts. He completed the requirements for his doctor of jurisprudence in 2019, passed the bar exam in Missouri in 2019 and joined the US Army with a direct commission after a six-week orientation. He then attended the Army’s Judge Advocate Basic Officer Leadership course at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville so he could learn how to be an Army attorney. He was stationed initially at Fort Hood, Texas where he was an administrative civil attorney at the III Corps headquarters. III Corps is home to 35,000 Soldiers.
After arriving at Fort Hood, he was promoted to Captain and deployed in March 2021 to Kuwait, participating in missions in Iraq, Syria, and Jordan providing fiscal law advice to commanders in the Central Command (CENTCOM) area of responsibility. After his time at Fort Hood, he and his family moved to Korea where he serves as a trial counsel for the 35th Air Defense Artillery Brigade. As trial counsel, he advises the Brigade on military justice matters and prosecutes soldiers for misconduct. Additionally, while in Korea, he and his wife and also welcomed a baby boy to the family.
“Southern Oregon University provided me a very personalized experience. The opportunity to build meaningful relationships with professors and students directly contributed to my aspirations of becoming an attorney and achievement of my goals. I apply my experiences from SOU everyday serving in the US Army JAG Corps.”
Learn more: US Army JAG Corps
