Serving our country and protecting our freedom has always been a dream of mine. Since I was young I have heard stories about my grandfather who served with the Marines in the Pacific Theatre of WWII. Through the years I had always been set on joining the Marines until I moved to Maryland. Once I was exposed to the USNA I started to gather as much information as I could.Luckily, I was able to find a mentor who has served in the Navy and had taught at the Naval Academy. He is helping me along the way to receive a nomination. My mentor also took me to visit the Academy for the first and I was in awe from the beauty and history of the grounds. The second time was even better when I was invited for a candidate visit weekend during January of 2017. I was very eager to be given the opportunity to explore the Academy and shadow a Midshipmen. Throughout the weekend I learned a lot and met many great people. The weekend was one of the best of my life and I left the Academy feeling even more inspired to pursue my dream. Currently my heart is set on being a Marine, but that could change based on the different summer training programs that Midshipmen take part in. Attending the NASS will help me achieve this dream of becoming a Midshipmen. In high school have taken rigorous courses which I have excelled in. My programming class has given me a solid background in Java which I will be able to apply in the future. Currently I am enrolled in the Cybersecurity Academy at the Applications and Research Laboratory in Howard County. Through the academy I am working on becoming A+ certified and have already passed the 901 portion of the …show more content…
One organization in particular, Bright Minds is always one of my favorites to work with. This wonderful organization based in Howard County provides laptops to low income families that do not have computer access at home. This allows students to research and complete academic goals at