My educational and career goals have been shaped by both my mother’s military service and the work she built after it. My mother is a combat veteran who served honorably during Operation Iraqi Freedom and deployed to the Middle East for a year in 2003. After her military service, she completed sixteen years of federal service in IT at the United States Military Academy at West Point. Her work involved data, records, inventory systems, and project management, all of which required a high level of accuracy and attention to detail. Later, she chose to start her own business, Wrendered, with the goal of preserving the past for the future. Watching her build Wrendered changed the way I think about work and purpose. She did not start a business just to be self-employed. She built something that helps people. Through Wrendered, she has volunteered with the American Legion in Green Bay by helping preserve military memorabilia, World War II photographs, and post records. She has helped families identify military ancestors, which has also led to scholarship discovery for students. She has helped families piece together obituary biographies when details were missing, and she has created retirement keepsake books and family legacy books that preserve important memories and life stories. Seeing that kind of work up close has influenced me a lot. My mother’s path showed me that discipline and technical skills can still be deeply personal and meaningful. Her work is organized and detail-oriented, but it is also centered on people, memory, and service. That has shaped the way I think about my own future. I want a career where I can do work that is structured and serious, but still centered on helping others. Her military service has also affected my education in a personal way. My parents are divorced, but both are veterans, and my father is currently deployed in the Middle East. Growing up in a military family taught me discipline, responsibility, and how to keep going even when things are hard. At the same time, it also showed me the emotional side of service. My father has missed important family milestones during separate deployments, including my brother’s high school graduation. Experiences like that stay with you. They make you grow up with a strong understanding of sacrifice, but also with an awareness of what families carry quietly in the background. That has shaped the way I see my own path. It is one reason I am drawn to criminology and public service. I want to do work that matters, work that deals with real people and real situations, and work that requires both discipline and care. My background has taught me that behind every record, every system, and every case is a person with a story. My mother’s example has had a big impact on me. Her military service taught me resilience. Her federal career showed me professionalism and precision. Her entrepreneurial journey showed me that meaningful work can come from using your skills to serve other people in a lasting way. All of that has helped shape not just what I want to do, but the kind of person I want to be.

Growing up as the daughter of two Army veterans has shaped my career aspirations in ways that are both practical and deeply personal. On the surface, military life taught me discipline, responsibility, and the importance of staying committed even when things are difficult. But emotionally, it has also shown me the cost of service. My parents are divorced, and although both of them are veterans, my father’s continued deployments have meant long stretches of absence during important moments in our family’s life. He has missed major milestones, including my brother’s high school graduation, because he was serving overseas. Experiences like that have stayed with me and have influenced not only how I see sacrifice, but also what kind of future I want to build for myself. As the child of veterans, I was raised with a strong awareness of duty. I grew up understanding that service often means putting something greater than yourself first. That mindset shaped how I approached my own responsibilities from a young age. It taught me to be dependable, to follow through, and to take my goals seriously. At the same time, I also learned that strength is not always loud or obvious. Sometimes it looks like adapting when a parent is away, helping hold things together at home, and learning how to carry disappointment without letting it define you. Watching my father deploy multiple times, including his current deployment in the Middle East, has given me a complicated view of service. Mentally, I understand why his work matters. I know that military service requires discipline, resilience, and sacrifice. I respect that deeply. Emotionally, however, it has been much harder. There is a real strain that comes with knowing someone you love is far away in dangerous conditions while life continues at home without them. There is also pain in seeing the moments that cannot be repeated, like graduations, family events, and the ordinary time together that many people take for granted. Those experiences have made me more aware of the human side of service, not just for veterans, but for their families as well. That awareness has shaped my interest in criminal justice and public service. I want a career where I can be part of work that protects people, supports communities, and treats individuals with fairness and dignity. My background has made me especially conscious of how institutions affect real families. Behind every case, every policy, and every legal issue, there are people carrying burdens that are not always visible. I want to work in a field where discipline matters, but where empathy matters too. My experiences in Girl Scouts, especially earning the Bronze, Silver, and Gold Awards, strengthened that direction. Through my Veterans History Project for the Library of Congress, I interviewed veterans and listened to their stories firsthand. That project made a lasting impact on me because it showed me the value of listening carefully, preserving people’s experiences, and recognizing the sacrifices that often go unseen. It reinforced my desire to pursue a path where service and advocacy come together. Being the daughter of veterans has taught me that service is not just about uniforms or medals. It is also about endurance, accountability, and the quiet sacrifices families make every day. Those lessons have shaped me into someone who wants to build a career in criminal justice with both integrity and compassion. I want to use what I have learned from my family’s experience to help others, serve with purpose, and do meaningful work that honors both discipline and humanity.