Mason Mosher Named 2025 Military Child of the Year for Navy
Mason Mosher, the Operation Homefront 2025 Military Child of the Year® for the Navy, earned a bachelor’s degree before most of his peers finished high school. He reached the accelerated milestone while balancing academics with caregiving responsibilities at home.
Mason, 19, is the son of Melissa and Chief Warrant Officer Jason Mosher of Marysville, Washington. Jason, a 20-year veteran of the Navy, serves as N6A at Commander Naval Surface Group Northwest and is based at Naval Station Everett.
The family has made four PCS moves, including two to Japan, and Mason’s father has been away on deployments, patrols, and missions at sea for 97 months.
Being a military child provided challenges and opportunities, Mason said. He found both while climbing Mount Fuji when the family was stationed in Japan.
“That was a very immense struggle,” he said. “Once I made it to the top, I got to see above the clouds. I got excited about what I had accomplished.”
A homeschool student, Mason excels despite challenges of dysgraphia, a learning difference that affects written work and motor skills. He graduated high school at 16 and completed his associate degree from Liberty University just four months later. He kept up the pace, and less than two years later graduated cum laude from Liberty University with a bachelor’s degree in marketing and advertising.
Mason learned to balance academic responsibilities with caregiving. His father was often at sea — for all but six weeks of one year — and his mother faced health challenges that required frequent hospitalizations and multiple surgeries.
His caregiving role expanded when his father suffered a severe back injury in a fall onboard a ship. As Mason completed his final semesters of college, he supported his father through two surgeries to restore mobility and alleviate pain. A month after the second surgery, Mason’s mother began treatment for Stage 4 thyroid cancer.
Through it all, Mason drove his parents to appointments, managed the household, and offered daily encouragement. He reminded them of their goal of attending his college graduation.
Mason continued his support role after his parents’ health improved, devoting volunteer hours to the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society at Naval Station Everett. In the 12 months leading up to his nomination as Military Child of the Year, he logged 900 volunteer hours, mostly with the relief organization.
“I’ve been able to overcome,” Mason said. “I’ve been able to create support for not only my family but other military families and other entities. I have a very long history of volunteer service dating back to when I was about 5 years old.”
As a young child, he donated proceeds from lemonade stands to the hospital where he was treated for pneumonia. When he was 9, he launched a honey business and donated a percentage of earnings to local military and church projects. At 10, he became a published author with “The Buzz About Mr. Carson,” a superhero story about the importance of protecting bee populations.
When he was older, he volunteered with his church to establish community vegetable gardens to feed people who were unhoused.
In his spare time, Mason enjoys creative endeavors. He likes to photograph toy cars and figurines using a forced-perspective technique that makes the tiny objects appear much larger. He also enjoys building with LEGO bricks and aspires to one day put his creativity and marketing knowledge to work for LEGO.
Operation Homefront’s Military Child of the Year program, now in its 17th year, recognizes outstanding teens in each branch of the armed forces for criteria that include their scholarship, volunteerism, leadership and extracurricular involvement while facing the challenges of military family life.
Collectively, the seven 2025 recipients logged 3,488 volunteer hours in the 12 months before nominations. Altogether, they have experienced 34 permanent changes of station and lived through 283 months of deployments.
The Military Child of the Year Award recipients will be recognized at a gala in Washington, D.C., in April, during which senior leaders of each branch of service will present the awards. Award recipients also will receive $10,000 each, a laptop computer, and other donated gifts.
Service/Leadership Highlights
• 2024 President’s Lifetime Service Award recognizing more than 4,000 lifetime volunteer hours
• Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society Everett, communications lead and client service assistant, more than 900 volunteer hours
• Assistant Sunday school teacher, Hario Chapel, Sasebo, Japan
• 2016-2017 Virginia Beach 4-H, recognized as Outstanding City-Wide Member and recipient of Herbert W. Ozlin Award
• Military Teen Adventure Camp Counselor
