Our children are the nation’s unsung heroes. There’s a saying that we volunteered when we married our military loves, but our kids were drafted. Operation Homefront has a fantastic program to recognize our kids who give so much. The Military Child of the Year® Award recognizes outstanding military children who demonstrate resiliency, leadership and achievement.
Click to see a recap of the 2013 Winners!
These are the young heroes of their grade, school, town, or city. This award recognizes military children who have demonstrated themselves as exceptional citizens while facing the challenges of military family life. The average Military Child of the Year® Award Nominee *:
- Has moved five times or more.
- Experienced at least one parent deploy for 18 months or more.
Volunteered with service groups an average of 75 hours during the year.- 17% have a sibling in the Exceptional Family Member Program.
- Maintained above average grades, often with honors.
- Excelled in sports, theatre and/or music.
- Held leadership positions in school and community groups.
Click to nominate your favorite young patriot.
Nominations will close on December 14, 2013.
The fifth annual award will be presented April 10, 2014 at the Ritz-Carlton, Pentagon City. In addition to the trip to our nation’s capital, recipients are awarded a laptop computer and a $5,000 cash prize.
I have a bit of an unorthodox military child of the year nomination. If he isn’t chosen, that is alright, but I wanted to nominate him anyways, because I think he is a little rock star in my eyes. My husband is a Ssgt of Marines, and currently is deployed. Our son Keegan turned ten during this deployment. Keegan was two the last time his father deployed because my husband was severely wounded in Iraq in September 2005. Keegan has high functioning Autism. When Karl left, he completely shut down! I mean, SHUT DOWN!! He couldn’t make it through a single day without screaming tantrums, destroying property at home, having accidents, nightmares, and even had to be hospitalized on Mother’s Day for eleven days. Why do I think my kid is a rock star?? Because he has (with help) turned it around! He has really good grades right now, he’s more and more polite, he’s very kind to others, and makes sure that he compliments others on a regular basis. He is playing Special Olympic Soccer this year again. Last year he had to be pulled due to lack of hard work in school. I couldn’t be more proud of him! If someone has a veteran’s hat on he makes sure to thank them for their service without being told to. This deployment has been harder than the two when he was an infant and toddler. By far. I am proud of his achievements. Even if he doesn’t make it, I wanted to share with you all just how great a kid we have!.
Sounds like an amazing kid! Good luck with your nomination this year!