Military mom surprises daughter at Blades Elementary

Military mom surprises daughter at Blades Elementary
Posted on 09/25/2019
Military Mom Surprise

A family is reunited after a military mom surprised her daughter at school Wednesday morning.


Katie Herrell, a Chief Warrant Officer with the U.S. Army, has been stationed at Ft. Gordon, GA for the past four months. Her daughter, Brooke Powers, is a 4th grader at Blades Elementary School.


“Brooke was kind of bummed that I couldn’t make the 9/11 ceremony,” Herrell said. “I thought, ‘what better way to make it up to her than surprising her when I come home.’” 


Herrell contacted Brooke’s teacher to get the ball rolling on the surprise. She drove through the night to arrive at school Wednesday morning, then slipped into Blades Elementary’s 'Boomer the Bobcat' costume to surprise Brooke during the morning announcements.


“There were some times that I missed my mom,” Brooke said after the big reveal. “There have been some times where I was just happy that she was doing a good thing for the country.”


“A lot of people think it’s hard on the servicemembers being gone all of the time,” Herrell said. “But really it’s the families back home that it’s really the roughest part for.” Herrell said. 


Watch the video to see the big reveal. 



The Mehlville School District strictly prohibits discrimination and harassment against employees, students or others on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, age, disability, or sex including pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity and other characteristics protected by law. The following individuals have been designated to handle inquiries regarding the non-discrimination policies: contact Adam Smith at 314-467-5006 or [email protected].