A champion swimmer, two Eagle Scouts and a Princeton University research assistant are just a few of the outstanding characteristics of the 2019 Military Child of the Year® Award winners recently announced by Operation Homefront.
The winners also include an aspiring actress, a middle school fundraising phenom and an advocate for new-to-school military students. Recipients are selected for their scholarship, volunteerism, leadership, extracurricular involvement, and other criteria while facing the challenges of military family life.
“These seven award recipients are truly exceptional young people who have absolutely shined in terms of academic achievement and service to others – positive representatives of the larger community of extraordinary military kids,” said Brig. Gen. (ret.) John I. Pray Jr., president and CEO of Operation Homefront. “Each of our over 350 nominees for our 11th annual Military Child of the Year® Awards personified resiliency, leadership, achievement, and strength of character. Their families and their communities can be justifiably proud of them – and we are too.”
Each year, an independent panel of volunteer judges choose six MCOY® winners to represent each branch of service in which their parents currently serve or have served. A seventh recipient is named in the Military Child of the Year® Award for Innovation, presented by Booz Hamilton.
The award recipients will travel to Washington, D.C., to be recognized at the April 18th gala, during which senior leaders of each branch of service will present the awards. They also will each receive $10,000, a laptop computer, and other donated gifts. The innovation award recipient will work directly with a Booz Allen Hamilton team to develop a plan to help scale the recipient’s project — drawing on technology and strategic thinking as a part of the corporation’s competitive Summer Games.
The 2019 recipients are as follows:
Army: Elisabeth McCallum Polleys, 16, Macomb, Michigan, L’Anse Creuse High School-North
Marine Corps: Jaxson Jordan, 13, Tarawa Terrace, North Carolina, Brewster Middle School
Navy: Elisabeth Lundgren, 18, Chula Vista, California, University of California
Air Force: Benjamin Rawald, 16, Del Rio, Texas, Brackett High School
Coast Guard: Kylie McGuire, 17, Hamilton, New Jersey, Nottingham Hamilton High School North
National Guard: Campbell Miller, 17, Ontario, Ohio, Mansfield Christian School
Military Child of the Year® Award for Innovation: Brandon Mammano, 18, Mililani, Hawaii, Hanalani Schools
Check back here in the coming weeks, and on our social media, as we highlight each winner in the days leading up to the gala. You can find us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
