Servant leadership is a management philosophy that emphasizes the role of the leader as a servant to their team rather than the other way around. In this approach, leaders prioritize the needs of their team members, empowering them to reach their full potential and achieve their goals through empathy and collaboration. In my daily life, this type of leadership can be seen often. Some examples include with family, in the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC), my internship with the American Red Cross, and my role as a Girl Scout Assistant. My family has adopted the philosophy that “blood is thicker than water.” In modern-day entertainment, that idea usually backfires on the protagonist. However, my family is different. As a military child, the only thing I had constant was family. My family and I always work as a whole to get things done. Not all the responsibility falls on one person, and rather than having assigned chores, we do whatever we see needs to be done. This method is efficient for us because all of us are busy with different things. I have Advanced Placement classes and JROTC, my brother has homework and sports, my sister has gymnastics and Girl Scouts, and my parents both work. If we work as a team, we all can focus on what we need to do instead of a bunch of chores. This has a positive impact on the whole family because it causes all of us to have less stress and in turn, it gives us more free time to spend together or doing something relaxing or fun. In JROTC, servant leadership can be seen through the chain of command. The people at the top of the chain help the people at the bottom by listening to feedback and taking action to reflect that feedback. This benefits everyone because the superiors know what to work on and the subordinates get what they want. With the Red Cross, there is no extrinsic motivation for volunteering. Volunteering and helping people makes others feel good, and that's why people volunteer. That's also why I volunteer. I have always loved helping people because it makes me happy, and it benefits the people I help. Assisting in Girl Scouts means that I help all of the girls with their activities and any questions they may have. As a former Girl Scout myself, I know some of the activities are confusing and some girls may be too shy to speak up, so I help clarify some of the confusion. This gives the girls a better understanding of what they need to do and how it ties into the Girl Scout Law and Promise. Servant leadership is in the most important aspects of my life, and sometimes I don't even realize it. I assume all leadership is the same, but now I have a different perspective on how I lead in certain situations and it can influence my leadership decisions in the future.

A military career has been my goal since I was a little girl. When I got to visit my dad’s work and see him work on planes for the United States Air Force, I was fascinated by what I saw. Growing up and hearing him get thanked for his service made me proud of him. As I kept growing I realized that it was more than a “thank you”, it was an honor and I wanted to follow in his footsteps. My dad would take me to family nights in the unit, where they would have family, friends, food, and most importantly planes. As I learned about the airlift mission I was exposed to a new perspective of the Air Force. I was quickly learning that the military is not just the cool version that we see in movies, but it's a vital tool to help people around the world. When I finally got to sit in the cockpit of a military-owned C-130, it confirmed what I already knew, I wanted to be a pilot for the Air Force, now more than ever. This dream is slowly starting to become my reality. Using the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC), an internship with the pilots, a personal trainer, and exposure to military life daily, I have learned more about how military life will be as a pilot. Leadership in JROTC has taught me to be a leader and to not be afraid to speak my mind. The corps has taught me that by giving me leadership positions, one of those being one of the top four. Having the experience of actually leading people will help prepare me for real military leadership. The semester-long internship with C-130 pilots has taught me vital information I need to know going into the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC), like field training and the Pilot Candidate Selection Method (PCSM). The pilots also taught me about the jobs they have when they aren’t flying and showed me what their day-to-day experience was. I got to learn about some documents they use and how to read them, and they let me keep an old one so I can study. My trainer helps prepare me for physical training in ROTC and the military. She helps me do this by working on specific areas that appear on the physical training test. We work together to build strength and endurance so I can exceed the standards of the physical fitness test. Being exposed to military life constantly has prepared me for military life the best. I have been surrounded by military terminology and morale for my entire life. Seeing how active-duty personnel and veterans all interact on a personal level is something that inspires me. Everyone in the military is so friendly, despite the serious-looking nature of it on television. The environment is one where I feel like I can succeed, while also being true to myself, and that’s what I plan to do. It will be a challenge, but so is everything else, and I’m ready for it.

The dream version of myself is one where I am confident and happy, and the only way I will be able to reach my dream self is to start working on achieving it now.

Out of 329.5 million United States citizens, 0.36% of children belong to a military household, including myself. Being a military child is not just moving every couple of years. That's just the tip of the iceberg. As a military child it's about handling deployments, long work hours for parents, not being able to see extended family, uprooting your life and leaving friends behind, knowing that you will have to start over and form new relationships while also knowing you’ll have to leave them too. One of the toughest parts of military life is not knowing if one of your parents will come home from their deployment or if someone is going to knock at the door telling us that they will never come home. On the opposite side of things, as a military child, there are benefits. Having to move has opened the door to meeting many different people from different backgrounds and cultures. It brings unforgettable experiences. My high school career has been in two different countries, neither of which is the United States. The best thing about being a military child is not the adventures or traveling, although those things are amazing, it’s the lessons learned. All of the negative aspects of being a military child have taught me to be resilient, which helps to make me a leader. Leadership is something that can be seen every day when growing up around the military. The leadership that I have learned can put me in a position where I can one day use it to make an impact. I’m going to do that by putting myself in the even smaller population of military children that follow in their parent's footsteps. Being in the military myself will be a whole new adventure, but it will be unique to me. In the military, I will have plenty of opportunities to give back to my community. For example, if another tragedy happens, like what happened to the Ukrainians or Afghani refugees, I will be in a position to help them more in-depth. I will be able to be hands-on with providing help to them. I will also be able to protect the ones I love and my country. If I get deployed, which is bound to happen, I will be able to help an innocent community that is being threatened. I will be able to provide hope in dark times. Hope is a strong feeling, strong enough to change whole trajectories of battles and wars and I will be able to spark hope in multiple communities worldwide. I, just a girl, will be able to provide such a powerful emotion to so many. That is what I can give back to my community.

On the white sand beaches of Florida, most children would be playing in the water or collecting seashells that washed up on the shore, but not me. I was captivated by the Blue Angels practicing above me. The striking blue and yellow pattern is something hard to forget. I watched the mesmerizing blue jets get closer and closer to my spot on the sand until they were directly above me and gone like they were never there. At that moment, I knew that I belonged in the sky. As a military child, planes have always been in my life. So, when we moved after that enlightening day on the beach, I was excited to see what kinds of planes this new base would have in store. This move came with a bonus, air shows! The new duty station hosted air shows every couple of years, and my dad was going to take me to one. I soon found another iconic formation of jets was performing at this show, the Air Force Thunderbirds, and I was ecstatic. The feeling of the jets in the air and the ground vibrating beneath my feet was exhilarating. There was only one problem, I was on the airstrip and not in the air where my heart longed to be. The only thing constant in the military is change. This change was another set of orders, but I knew that this move brought me the opportunity to learn about new aircraft. I was introduced to cargo or heavy planes. Unlike fighter aircraft, cargo aircraft hold more than pilots, it is the main transportation asset that brings aid to people in need. I have known about heavies before, but since airlift is the base's mission, I learned about them in a new way. My dad would take me to family nights in the unit, where they would have family, friends, food, and most importantly planes. As I learned about the airlift mission I was exposed to a new mission set, aeromedical evacuations. I was quickly learning that aircraft are not just the cool versions that we see in movies, but they are vital tools to help people around the world. When I finally got to sit in the cockpit of a C-130, it confirmed what I already knew, I wanted to be a pilot, now more than ever. This dream is slowly starting to become my reality. Using the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps and an internship with the pilots, I have learned more about how military life will be as a pilot. With every step closer to my goal, the image of me flying a plane gets clearer. I will achieve my dream of becoming an Air Force Pilot and when I am flying my aircraft, I hope there will be a little kid that will look up at my plane and become fascinated with aircraft, just as I did all those years ago.

Out of 329.5 million United States citizens, 0.36% of children belong to a military household, including myself. Being a military child is not just moving every couple of years. That's just the tip of the iceberg. As a military child it's about handling deployments, long work hours for parents, not being able to see extended family, uprooting your life and leaving friends behind, knowing that you will have to start over and form new relationships while also knowing you’ll have to leave them too. One of the toughest parts of military life is not knowing if one of your parents will come home from their deployment or if someone is going to knock at the door telling us that they will never come home. On the opposite side of things, as a military child there are benefits. Having to move has opened the door to meet many different people from different backgrounds and cultures. It brings unforgettable experiences. My high school career has been in two different countries, neither of which is the United States. The best thing about being a military child is not the adventures or traveling, although those things are amazing, it’s the lessons learned. All of the negative aspects of being a military child have taught me to be resilient, which makes me into a leader. Leadership is something that can be seen every day when growing up around the military. The leadership that I have learned can put me in a position where I can one day use it to make an impact. I’m going to do that by putting myself in the even smaller population of military children that follow in their parents footsteps. I plan to do this by having already been in my third year of the Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps, and currently hold the position of the Group Superintendent with the rank of Cadet Senior Master Sergeant. I’m going to continue to do the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps in college. I have had a semester-long internship with heavy aircraft pilots to help pursue my dream of flying in the military. SSG Valdez was a leader who showed compassion to his colleagues, and that is one thing I hope to show myself wherever I lead and for whoever I work with. Compassion is something that is easily learned as a military child because of the hardships of uprooting your life several times. You learn very quickly that you never know what someone is going through because of the ways the military can quickly hand out deployments or orders. Yes, the military is hard and being in the military myself will be a whole new adventure, but it will be unique to me.