After graduating from elementary school! My mom suggested that I join the JROTC program at Pearl C. Anderson Middle School. My first day there I loved it. I come from a family of hard working women and Army JROTC gave me a chance to prove my worth. The instructor my 8th grade year started to see potiental in me and asked me to put an armed drill team together and I did. I continued on to Skyline High School where I enrolled in the Army JROTC program again. The first day of JROTC class we where introduce to the battalion staff and the special teams leader. So of couse I wanted to be involved. I tried out for the female unarmed drill team and I made the team. After a year and a half on the team I was made the Drill Team Commander. While I was in this role me and my team always won 1st place in all events including best overall drill commander. Getting these awards really built up my confidence in being able to lead people. The whole team if not the whole battalion respected me as their leader and as a good friend. The summer of my junior year I went to the week long summer camp for all JROTC cadets in the region. Upon completing the camp I won best overall summer camp performance , which would be equal to MVP of a sport or an E at LDAC. This award finalized the commander and the 1SG to make me cadet battalion commander over 300 cadets in JROTC. I graduated from High School top 10% of my class and decided to go to Prairie View A&M University majoring in Computer Engineering Technology and of course joining the ROTC program. I was very unaware of how much running and physical activity it was required of me to be successful in ROTC let alone the military. What a rude awakening . I would go to PT everyday along with remedial PT and still couldn't pass the running portion of the APFT. Now remember no where in my story have I talked about running or joining a sport of any kind. That's because I was so focused on my grades and JROTC. My body was in shock to do all these "crazy moments". After my freshman year I decided to enlist in the Army National Guard. I completed Basic and AIT (88M-Motor Transportation Operator) thinking that I will come back to PV ready for a PT Test . I was wrong. I continued to fail so I quit ROTC. A year later I was deployed to Iraq. I was so hurt to find out not only am I going to war I have to sit out of school. I couldn't stop crying. How could I have let this happen to have to sit out of school. That means everybody will graduate before me and it will look like I wasn't trying hard enough or I was being lazy and didn't make the cut. I barely worked out in Iraq , I just did my mission and went to sleep for the most part because deep down I set myself off my path to success. It wasn't until I came back that I realized that going to Iraq was a blessing. I gave me confidence, it opened my eyes to a lot of things, it gave me appreciation for the things I have and the people I met, oh and not to mention the money was nice. I came back to PV and enrolled back into the ROTC program. I notice I had way more knowledge of the army than any of my peers. I had my confidence and I was ready for whatever they threw at me. But it came down to that PT Test and I failed. I'm starting to think that the military is not for me. But I kept working out and by me being positive and determined everyone was willing to help. I had the whole MS 3 and MS 4 plus cadre working out with me. Talk about motivation and teamwork. That summer I was suppose to go to LDAC. I was 1 min away from passing my run and I needed a waiver for my eyes so I didn't get to go . Once again I felt like a failure. Good thing I have a great support system ie my mom, family and ROTC buddies that kept saying positive things as was always there to keep me motivated. I stayed with the program and the first PT Test this semester I PASSED. You see hard work and perseverance does pay off!!