My name is Hollis Paradis. I grew up in Northern Georgia, and I am currently a third-year undergraduate student at the University of Southern California, studying Business Administration with an emphasis on consulting. I and the people in my major have learned technical and soft skills from our studies that have made us the ideal entry-level associates in the eyes of any recruiting Big 8 consulting firm. Many of my peers will go on to join companies like KPMG or Deloitte following our graduation, where they will work comfortable jobs as data analysts or consultants. However, I will not be taking that route. Although I am a business student at USC, I am also a Marine Option Midshipman in NROTC. Upon graduation, I will be commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps. Reflecting on my journey, it's remarkable to consider where I stand today compared to four years ago. At seventeen, I was a junior in high school, and the only extracurricular activity I participated in was football. I had no discernable skills, only one or two AP classes under my belt, and my grades were nothing to gasp at. I was an average football player who seldom played in varsity games. My human capital at that time, compared to some of the other students in my grade, was not up to par. I didn’t necessarily feel that I was lacking in vision; I had aspirations to go to university like my friends did, but I didn’t fully understand what that meant at the time. At home, I had a very unstable family structure. My father walked out on me, and my mother was an unemployed alcoholic who lived off of my grandmother’s social security paychecks. She would often belittle me whenever she was drunk, telling me I was never going to accomplish anything. Which, at the time, meant a lot to seventeen-year-old me; I believed her words as the truth. When I wasn’t being emotionally abused by my mother, I found myself idle, wasting away without any real purpose, using football and other distractions as a means of escape from this unpleasant life I was living. As I became more aware of my situation, I became more inclined to take action. I had no means of paying for college, so I knew the military was an option for me to get out of my home and have a renewed start. I signed up to take a military aptitude test (ASVAB) at school. I scored well enough to receive the attention of recruiters. I leveraged my desire to find a sense of purpose and pursue higher education to apply for an NROTC program, and I was fortunate enough to be selected. Since then, I have learned from my peers and superiors in NROTC that I am and always have been capable of being the best version of myself. Choosing a military career path has afforded me the skills I need to be a successful leader and model person during my service and onward. I joined with the idea that a career in the military could get me out of an undesirable home situation, but I have chosen to stay because of the people. Knowing that I can one day make positive, life-altering impacts on the Marines I will soon lead motivates me to pursue excellence as the Midshipman I am now and the Officer I will soon become.