Military Child of the Year for Air Force Sophia Pinero Finds Strength in Tragedy
Sophia Pinero, Operation Homefront’s 2025 Military Child of the Year® for the Air Force, has learned to embrace life following the death of her father in 2023 after he served his country for 17 years.
Sophia, now 17, was 15 years old when her father, Master Sgt. Anthony Pinero, passed away tragically.. She lives at Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany with her mom, Sheena Pinero, an executive services specialist and her younger sister.
As a military child, Sophia experienced 37 months of her father’s deployment and five changes of station. Moving most recently to Germany meant leaving friends and family even farther away than usual, but Sophia responded with resiliency, helping plan trips around Europe with her mom and sister.
“Of all of the bases that I have been stationed at, Ramstein Air Base has been the best,” Sophia said. “I have never felt as connected to the people around me as I do here. Whether it is pitching mail at the post office with active-duty personnel or recognizing volunteer excellence in the community, Ramstein Air Base has always felt like one big, connected family.”
Ramstein High School and Air Force JROTC have offered abundant opportunities to get involved. Sophia is a member of the school marksmanship team and assisted in breaking the all-time school record at competition in 2024. She participates in Model United Nations, National Honor Society, and was president of the Junior Science and Humanitarian Symposium. She has commanded more than 10 Color Guard and formations in her role at Air Force JROTC, where she also volunteers for activities such as retirement ceremony ushering, color guards for sporting events, manning POW-MIA tables for retiree appreciation events, and base-wide events such as 5k runs and toy drives for Ukrainian children.
Sophia is considering pursuing a career in engineering or medicine. She wants to attend the United States Air Force Academy or a university with a strong Air Force ROTC program, and she hopes to become an officer in the Air Force.
“Having a parent who served in the military has given me a deep sense of pride,” Sophia said. “Witnessing the hard work that my dad put into his career inspired a sense of strength in my own work and also in him.”
Her mother continues to be her biggest source of inspiration. The family leaned on Sheena through back-to-back tragedies in 2023. In early October of 2023, Sophia’s dad was tasked on a short notice deployment with no return date. By the end of October, the family received the news that Sophia’s paternal grandfather became ill. Anthony had to come back from deployment to go on emergency leave. The family had traveled from Germany to the Philippines upon hearing that Sophia’s grandfather became ill so they can be with the family. They took a two-week emergency leave and during that time Sophia took her classes online. Just after they returned to Germany from leave, Sophia’s grandfather died shortly after.
Just a few weeks after Sophia’s grandfather’s passing, on Dec. 13, 2023, Sophia was called to the office at school and then taken to the base Chapel where she was told about her father’s death.
“Seeing her lose my dad and still rise to take care of my sister and me—while also excelling in her career—has been incredible,” Sophia said. “Watching her grow and persevere has been truly inspiring.”
Sophia has also learned to lean on friends. She made the difficult decision to go to school the day after receiving the news about her dad. Her friends from the marksmanship team, instructors, and fellow cadets in Air Force JROTC rallied around her.
“The overwhelming support and love that I received from my friends, family, and community around the base and school helped me keep moving forward,” she said. “They pushed me to continue succeeding while also reminding me that it was okay to take breaks and grieve. The support I receive from the people around me motivates me to keep striving for success.”
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
- First Place in STEM Challenge (In a Team of 3) for with a paper on Predicting European Ozone Healing Based on Past Trends and Recent Measurements, 2024 (Received $800 in cash)
- Outstanding Cadet Award AS2, 2024
- National Award: Celebrating Freedom Foundations, 2023
- Commanded Junior Varsity Color Guard to First Place and Armed Regulation Team to Third Place at All European Drill Team Competition.
- 160+ Community Service Hours across AFJROTC, NHS, and other organizations.
