Over the past four years in JROTC, I have dedicated myself to serving my school and community, completing over 100 hours of community service and more than 114 hours of leadership development hours. What began as a simple decision to “Why not” quickly became the foundation of my commitment to helping others. My volunteer work has strengthened my communication, organization, and teamwork skills while showing me how meaningful service can be when you give your time. My service experiences have been wide‑ranging. I regularly support my school through parking detail at major events, ensuring smooth traffic flow. I participate in flag‑folding ceremonies like Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, honoring veterans and teaching other cadets the importance of tradition and respect. I have helped collect, organize, and donate supplies for multiple food and resource drives, contributed to my school beautification project, participated in Adopt‑a‑Highway cleanups, and written Valentine’s cards for cancer patients at the Hollings Center. Each experience taught me that service is not about hours it is about impact. My leadership roles deepened that commitment. Through JROTC, I helped run our school’s large FFM competition, an eight to ten hour event where 20 schools compete in Academics, Air Rifle, Drill, Drone, Raiders, and Rocketry. We get to school early, set everything up, worked in specialized teams to keep the event running smoothly, and packed everything up at the end of the day. As I gained experience, I was trusted to lead specific parts of the event, such as organizing the Raiders portion and managing cadets who collected scoring sheets. This year I was given the same opportunity, but I chose to help guide another cadet to give them that experience. Teaching others has shown me that leadership is not about authority it is about pushing and supporting people, so the community grows stronger. My journey in JROTC didn’t start with leadership in mind. As a freshman, I planned to simply follow instructions and get by. That changed when I joined the Raider team. I had no idea how physically demanding it would be intense workouts, long practices, and weekend competitions. I physically wasn't meeting the standard, so I thought about quitting, but my commanders encouraged me to keep going. Showing up every day, pushing through doubt, and slowly improving taught me that perseverance is the foundation of growth. As I grew stronger physically, I grew stronger as a leader. I learned that leadership means being present, dependable, acountable, supportive. It means pushing yourself while encouraging others to rise with you. By junior year, I became the Physical Fitness Officer, responsible for creating workouts, tracking scores, and leading the unit physically. Later, I served as Vice Commander of Raiders, Raider Commander, and eventually Wing Command Chief. These roles taught me that strong communities are built through service, mentorship, and consistent effort. My first Raider Commander taught me the leadership style I now try to pass on push yourself, encourage others, and grow together. That mindset inspires my mission after service. I want to continue uplifting underserved communities, especially young people who need guidance, structure, and someone who believes in them. The challenge I faced as a struggling freshman Raider changed my goals and shaped who I am today. It taught me resilience, empathy, and the importance of helping others rise. My mission after service is simple: use what I’ve learned to build stronger communities, one act of leadership and one act of service at a time. If I were a superhero my theme song would be the U.S Air Force song because nothing will stop me from reaching my goals.

Black excellence means accomplishing your goals and surpassing the version of yourself that you were yesterday despite the obstacles. Trailblazers like Tyler the Creator, Kendrick Lamar, President Barrack Obama, Micheal B Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and Fredrick Douglass all faced oppression, discrimination, and disadvantages for their skin color. They pushed through to reach goals, be seen and heard, change the world, create opportunities, teach and lead. Those men and their stature cleared a path for me and what continues to burn inside of me. I represent black excellence in my JROTC unit, by doing better than my best and aiming high in positions and rank, pushing myself to be better in all I do, and giving those who surround me a path to follow. I have been in JROTC for four years, I’ve started from the bottom as an airman basic, to a captain, and now I am the wing command chief. Within JROTC, I have been on a physically competitive team for the last four years called Raider. I started as a team member who was unathletic and struggling, then became the vice commander, and on to the captain of the team. I studied my predecessors who came before me, in their missteps and successes, and quickly learned how I could build the team up. I earned awards, medals, and my positions from working hard and pushing myself to improve. Joining JROTC freshman year, I wasn’t worried about becoming a leader or having personal growth, I just wanted fun. My plan was to get by with “Yes ma’am” and “Yes sir” and do what I was told. The standards, drill, uniforms, and workouts key parts of JROTC that would show me that I wanted more. I was invited to join the raider team by my African American friend; there weren't as many black kids in the unit. On day one, I learned that Raider is a physically demanding team that takes up half of the week, intense workouts, and competitions on weekends. At the time I was far from athletic, I was okay with push-ups, winded after running, and couldn’t do a single pull up. After the first few weeks, I realized compared to my commanders and teammates, I was lacking. My first year we had four competitions, and I never made the competition team. Moments like these made me consider quitting the team but I was driven by the need to prove myself. I showed up, every day, every workout, and pushed through the hurt, sweat, and doubt. Eventually, it was never easy, but it was never too hard. I started to get better doing pull-ups, running faster and longer, making competition teams, and becoming more confident. I started to see progress and understand the importance of commitment. By junior year, I had become the vice commander of Raider and the unit PT officer, and I oversaw making the workouts. Senior year I became the commander of the team. Shortly after that, I was fortunate enough to earn one of the top five positions in the unit as Command Chief. And now I am the only black cadet in a prominent position. I earned these opportunities by pushing myself, I saw what I wanted to accomplish and worked for it. I’ve made a name for myself in the unit. For me, my black excellence is the ability to learn, lead, and grow not only for me but for those around me, so that we can all do better. Hopefully, my time in JROTC will give the other African American cadets the inspiration to aim higher and be better.