2026 Military Child of the Year for the Army Finds Strength in Hardship
Life as a military child presented Amani Ambay with challenges that shaped her global view and gave her a heart for service. Those traits, along with her outstanding achievements, earned her the title of Operation Homefront’s 2026 Military Child of the Year® for the Army.
Amani, 19, is the daughter of Raj and Aparna Ambay of Lutz, Florida. Raj, an Army Reserve colonel, has served 30 years as a field trauma surgeon for special operations and plans to retire in August 2026. He was deployed a total of 18 months when Amani was too young to understand his absences.
“My father served as a powerful example of integrity and sacrifice,” she said. “He never once complained, even after he was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade in Afghanistan.”
Though she was only 10 years old when her father returned home with serious injuries, she showed compassion and maturity as she helped care for him and tend to his wounds and IV drips each day after school.
She learned about resilience in 2021, when she and her parents narrowly escaped a devastating fire. Dressed in pajamas, they stood across the street from the house and watched as their home and all their belongings burned.
The overwhelming support that followed by the military community, her school, and in the area inspired Amani as people rallied to provide emotional support and replace clothing and other necessities lost in the fire.
For relief in stressful times, Amani turns to swimming, working out, reading, and poetry writing. She formed a nonprofit, Yalla Foundation, that leverages video platforms to connect military and civilian kids — especially girls — and today spans 26 countries on five continents. Through Yalla, students from different cultures and backgrounds collaborate and build friendships that extend far beyond the classroom.
Amani graduated from Berkeley Preparatory School in Tampa Bay. She is completing her freshman year at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., where she has been inducted into the University Honors Program and named a U.S. Presidential Scholar. She plans to double major in international affairs and finance.
“By studying both disciplines together, I hope to better understand how geopolitical decision-making affects the global economy,” she said. She speaks five languages with varying degrees of proficiency and is learning two more languages. She hopes to study in three to five countries while earning her undergraduate and graduate degrees.
“I am truly in awe when I think about the limitless number of things to learn, people to meet, and experiences to capture.”
Her commitment to service continues at George Washington University, where she is on the leadership team for the campus TEDx chapter, helping organize events that bring speakers to campus. She is also part of the university’s competitive Stock and Portfolio Management Team, where students help analyze and manage a portion of a live investment portfolio under faculty supervision.
Amani published “Love, Life, Envy,” a book of poetry focused on youth mental health and relationships. Proceeds from book sales go to Thresholds, an organization that supports children, young adults, and veterans living with PTSD and other mental health challenges.
She interned with Zahra Insight Academy, an organization focused on education and empowerment of women in Afghanistan. During the program, she wrote a widely shared article about the need for global advocacy for the ongoing challenges Afghan women face.
At the University of Cambridge in England, Amani was part of the University of Pennsylvania Wharton Global Youth Program team that earned first place in an international case competition for their global expansion plan for a cosmetics company. During that program, she also used data collected in partnership with Yalla Foundation while working with University of Cambridge faculty to research democracy and international relations.
Through her work, she is building a foundation for a career that will influence policy, empower youth, and strengthen international cooperation.
She credits her parents for inspiring and shaping her.
“I was raised in a nurturing environment but also taught to be self-sufficient, disciplined and respectful,” she said. “Those qualities are now a part of who I am.”
Amani will join other Military Child of the Year recipients in Washington, D.C., in April. The seven winners will be honored at a gala, during which senior leaders of each branch of service will present the awards. Honorees will each receive $10,000, a laptop computer, and other donated gifts.
Operation Homefront’s Military Child of the Year program, now in its 18th 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. This year marks the first time all the recipients are women.
Collectively, the seven 2026 recipients logged 4,849 volunteer hours in the 12 months before nominations. Altogether, they have experienced 35 permanent changes of station and lived through 255 months of a parent being deployed.
Service/Leadership Highlights
- Yalla Foundation, founder
- George Washington University TEDx, leadership team
- University Stock and Portfolio Management Team
- George Washington University, Honors Program inductee
- George Washington University, named Presidential Scholar
