She may be a college graduate, but you can still surprise her.

Pamela Hernandez is used to her military dad, Douglas Hernandez, not being able to make milestone events, so she got the shock of her life when he attended her college graduation on May 12.

"I got an email that said 'I have a daughter that's going to be graduating in May and I'm overseas and I wanted to know if there was a way that I could surprise her,' " said Valarie Burke, assistant dean for graduate student services at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, told KTNV.

Hernandez had been deployed in the Middle East and has been apart from his family since July last year.

So, he traveled more than 30 hours to see his daughter walk across the stage to receive her diploma.

Although Pamela had "a lot of nerves" in the lead-up to her graduation day on May 12, when she saw her dad at the Thomas & Mack Center for the 2023 spring commencement, different emotions took over.

"I was shaking. I couldn't believe it," she recalled in disbelief.

Pamela graduated with a Master of Public Administration degree and was thrilled her father was there to see it.

"I'm just happy to be here," she gushed. "I'm happy to have my dad here, and I'm happy to start a new chapter in life."