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SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Operation Homefront today announced the five recipients of the 2011 Military Child of the Year® Award. This year, for the first time, the award will be given to an outstanding military child from each Service – Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard. The Army selectee is the son of a member of the Arizona National Guard.
Each award recipient was chosen by a committee including active duty military personnel, Family Readiness Support Assistants, teachers, military mothers, and community members. The five winners will receive $5,000 and will be flown with a parent or guardian to Washington, D.C. for a special recognition ceremony, April 7.
“The sons and daughters of America’s service members learn what patriotism is at a very young age,” said Jim Knotts, President & CEO of Operation Homefront. “Children in military families demonstrate leadership within their families and within their communities. This is what the Military Child of the Year® Award honors.”
Following are the winners of the 2011 Military Child of the Year® Award.
U.S. Air Force
Nicole Goetz, 17 years old, 12th grade
Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla.
Nicole moved to her current home during middle school – a tough transition for kids who grow up in the same house, never mind a kid who has moved towns several times. Once the family was stable, Nicole’s dad deployed – a lot. He spent a year in Iraq and was home less than six months before he left for another year in Afghanistan. Rather than dwell on the negative, Nicole embraced her new community in Panama City, Florida. She began volunteering at the local youth center, the church, veterans and nursing homes, and joined a variety of clubs in her high schools. In each of these places her leadership and enthusiasm was noticed and she was elected to countless leadership positions. As Key Club President, she led the group in an initiative to actively include exceptional students in the club. She also spearheaded a cause that was close to her heart. Nicole organized 21 local schools to create and send hundreds of homemade Christmas cards, cookies and care packages to troops overseas. The project was highlighted by local television and newspapers. Perhaps the person who most appreciates her work is Nicole’s 10-year-old brother. When he needs it, she tutors him in school work. And when he’s feeling down and missing their dad, she takes him to the movies, just the two of them.
U.S. Army
Kyle Hoeye, 16 years old, 11th grade
Tucson, Ariz.
Kyle Hoeye has made helping military families his life’s work. During his father’s three deployments, Kyle has worked to help other military children become more resilient. Kyle is one of only two teens in Arizona certified to teach military kids how to use advanced technology through the 4H program. With the help of his high school Key Club, he was instrumental in putting together Operation Military Kid’s Hero Packs and handwritten hundreds of letters to local military children, thanking them for their service. Since his father service as an active duty service member with a National Guard unit, an important part of Kyle’s job has been to teach non-military families about the hardships of military families and the fact that kids serve too. Once the soldiers returned, Kyle was the guest speaker at a Yellow Ribbon event for over 600 returning soldiers and their families.
U.S. Coast Guard
Margaret Rochon, 17 years old, 12th grade
Jacksonville, N.C.
Margaret knows what it is like to be the new kid in school. During her freshman year of high school, this Coast Guard kid moved to a Marine Corps town. To help ease the transition for others, Margaret joined the Student 2 Student Ambassadors who help students make the transition to her high school. As a military brat, Margaret also understands the devastation of wartime injuries. For her senior project, she organized a seminar about the stresses of wartime deployment on students and the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder on families. The seminar was required for all teachers in her county and included a panel of six nationally known experts, including a retired major general. Her focus was to show teachers that some students may have difficulty in class because they are overwhelmed by the fear and worry of a deployed parent. Otherwise, many teachers may write that same student off as difficult or unruly. Margaret’s panel was so successful that school administrators taped the session and have made it part of the formal annual training for teachers in that county.
U.S. Marine Corps
Taylor Dahl-Sims, 17 years old, 12th grade
Oceanside, Calif.
In 2010, Taylor’s stepfather was on his fifth deployment to Iraq. Soon after he left, Taylor’s baby brother was born. The doctor dropped the tiny infant at birth, resulting in a host of medical problems, including internal bleeding and a broken leg. When mother and baby arrived home from the hospital, the house was flooded. They had no family nearby to help. Taylor’s mom did not want to even tell her father about the difficulties for fear of upsetting him during the deployment. Taylor stepped in and helped her mother manage the clean-up of the house and the baby’s medical care. When her father returned home from the war months later, he was injured. During past deployments, he had been shot and suffered improvised explosive device blasts. On this trip, he took the brunt of several IED blasts and took shrapnel in his face. He returned home with a traumatic brain injury. He had memory problems and other difficulties. He spent much of the next year in and out of the hospital. Again, Taylor stepped in to care for her family. In addition, Taylor and her mother decided they wanted to help other military spouses who found themselves in the same difficult situations. They created the non-profit, the North Star Group. They host baby showers on base and provide pampering for pregnant spouses whose husbands are deployed.
U.S. Navy
Melissa Howland, 17 years old, 12th grade
Millis, Mass.
Every Sunday, Melissa volunteers in the local hospital’s maternity ward. It’s the least she could do after doctors saved her life. Melissa suffers from a blood disorder that allows her immune system to attack the platelets in her blood. Without platelets her blood cannot clot and she could quickly bleed to death. As she was treated, Melissa was hospitalized several times when experimental treatments failed to work. Her father was deployed to Iraq in 2009 and stationed, unaccompanied, in California in 2007 and 2008. Still, Melissa managed to keep up her spirit and her grades. The diagnosis meant Melissa could no longer participate in the sports she loved, basketball and running. Instead, she turned her sights to community service. In 2010, Melissa donated 498 volunteer hours to 12 causes. Today, she still has to visit the doctor, often, and monitor her disease. But she is thriving and growing every day.
| Date Taken: | 03.09.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 03.09.2011 17:11 |
| Story ID: | 66742 |
| Location: | SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 201 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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