Isabella Smith Named Military Child of the Year for Marine Corps
Isabella Smith, the 2025 Operation Homefront Military Child of the Year® for the Marine Corps, values the unique culture of the military community. A junior at Swansboro High School in North Carolina, she makes it her mission to welcome new students.
“Being a military child who is now permanently in Swansboro, I get to not only relate to these new military kids, but help ease their transition into their new environment,” she said.
Isabella, 17, lives in Hubert, North Carolina, with her mother and stepfather, Amanda and Chris Price. She has four siblings.
Her parents served a combined 42 years in the Marine Corps. Her mother, a staff sergeant, deployed three times in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom, and humanitarian missions. She retired after 20 years.
Her father, Gunnery Sgt. Brian J. Smith, retired from service after 22 years and eight deployments in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. He was awarded a Purple Heart after suffering injuries in Afghanistan. He died in 2023 at the beginning of Isabella’s sophomore year of high school after being diagnosed with Stage 4 metastatic cancer.
Though grief-stricken, Isabella felt pride in being a military child at her father’s funeral.
“Hearing ‘Taps’ played for my dad made me feel so proud,” she recalled. “With each key played, I remembered the years of service my father dedicated to his country.”
Isabella channeled her grief into honoring her father’s memory. In the process, she transformed from a shy student into a leader.
“My father who was the epitome of hard work and dedication to his career,” she said. “I strive daily to be as committed as he was in everything I aspire to accomplish.”
In addition to maintaining high academic standards in AP and dual-credit classes, Isabella volunteered 200 hours with school and community organizations in the 12 months before her nomination as Military Child of the Year.
Isabella is on track to earn an associate degree before graduating high school. She’s considering several universities in North Carolina for completing a bachelor’s degree before going to law school. She aspires to a career in the political field.
Though she wasn’t old enough to vote in the 2024 presidential election, Isabella worked to register voters and organized a mock election for her school through her role as president of the school’s Rho Kappa honor society.
She dedicates most of her volunteer hours to her school’s Student 2 Student program, which aims to ease the transition for new students in the school.
Isabella understands military life, and she brings a different perspective. By the time she was 6, she had lived through 54 months of having at least one parent deployed. However, she has lived near Camp Lejeune all her life, and she appreciates being part of a community that understands the challenges and extenuating circumstances that accompany military life.
“I grew up with divorced parents and stepparents, and my family did an incredible job of keeping my brothers and me in the same area our whole lives,” she said. “I get to be in a unique position as almost an anchor for the town of Swansboro. That makes me feel like I can make a difference in the lives of other students who have also sacrificed so much for their country.”
In October, Isabella honed her leadership skills at a leadership conference at West Point Military Academy. She was one of 11 students across the nation selected to attend the Frances Hesselbein Leadership Program. While there, she was honored with the Suzy Carlton Student Leadership and Civic Responsibility Award.
“Because of the many years of service and hardships that my parents faced, I feel like I have a responsibility to serve my country and to leave it better than where it was when I got here,” she said.
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
- Frances Hesselbein Leadership Program Scholarship for fall 2024 semester
- Suzy Carlton Student Leadership and Civic Responsibility Award
- Student 2 Student Military Coordinator
- NC Youth Legislative Assembly Education Committee delegate
- Military Child Education Coalition National Student Advisory Council
