{"id":7636,"date":"2018-04-13T13:31:40","date_gmt":"2018-04-13T17:31:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/?p=7636"},"modified":"2018-04-18T11:18:03","modified_gmt":"2018-04-18T15:18:03","slug":"olhs-student-named-2018-coast-guard-military-child-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/olhs-student-named-2018-coast-guard-military-child-year\/","title":{"rendered":"OLHS student named 2018 Coast Guard Military Child of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ocean Lakes High School senior Roark Corson is the nation\u2019s 2018 Coast Guard Military Child of the Year.<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Roark-headshot-e1523640226619.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-7633 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Roark-headshot-e1523640226619-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"alt=&quot;&quot;\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Roark-headshot-e1523640226619-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Roark-headshot-e1523640226619-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Roark-headshot-e1523640226619-400x533.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Now in its 10th year, the annual awards are presented by Operation Homefront to recognize six outstanding young people ages 13 to 18 whose families represent each branch of the armed forces and who have excelled through volunteerism, extracurricular involvement and other challenges that face military families. A seventh award is presented for innovation by\u00a0a military child.<\/p>\n<p>According to Operation Homefront, honorees on average typically:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>have moved four times or more;<\/li>\n<li>experienced at least one parent deploy for 29 months or more;<\/li>\n<li>volunteered with service groups an average of 370 hours during the year;<\/li>\n<li>maintained above average grades, often with honors;<\/li>\n<li>excelled in sports, theatre and\/or music; and<\/li>\n<li>held leadership positions in school and community groups.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Even though he\u2019s moved eight times and attended five different schools, Corson counts himself lucky.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve had a lot of different experiences that people who are not military would not have been able to have. For instance, hiking up a volcano, or in South Carolina I learned about the rich history there,\u201d he stated. \u201cOf course, it comes at a cost but it\u2019s made me into the person\u00a0who I am today and I\u2019m very comfortable meeting and talking to new people, and I think that stems from my moving so much.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The hardest part for him as with most military families, he says, was having his dad away from home.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I was a kid I didn\u2019t always understand it &#8211; why was my dad always gone half the year when everyone else had their dad; why did I always have to move and give up my friends,\u201d\u00a0Corson recalls. \u201cWhy me?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut as I grew up and saw what my dad was doing and I learned more about it, I realized that he was doing something incredibly important and something that I value a lot. He was protecting our country, along with fellow men and women in the service. He was protecting the rights that I value \u2013 that we all value as Americans. It didn\u2019t necessarily make it easier but I understood.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Corson says that he is extremely proud of his mother and father. His dad, Caleb Corson, served 30-plus years in the Coast Guard as did his grandfather.<\/p>\n<p>Other members of his family also served. His maternal grandfather was in the Navy and two uncles served in the Marine Corps.<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Corson-Family.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-7634 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Corson-Family-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"alt=&quot;&quot;\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Corson-Family-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Corson-Family-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Corson-Family-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Corson-Family-400x225.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Pride in his family and country have propelled\u00a0Corson to excel in school and make time to serve his community through volunteerism.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to ranking near the top of his class with a weighted grade point average of 4.5,\u00a0Corson was named a 2018 U.S. Presidential Scholar Candidate, a distinction honoring America\u2019s top high school graduating seniors based on exceptional scores on the ACT or SAT.<\/p>\n<p>Since middle school, he\u2019s been involved in numerous leadership activities and school clubs, which he continued doing when he moved to Virginia Beach just prior to his freshman year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI look at my life and I think I\u2019m incredibly lucky and I see and recognize that not everyone is as lucky as I am,\u201d he shares. \u201cVolunteering is something that I enjoy doing and something that I feel obligated to do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Corson\u00a0has lost two friends to suicide which makes him even more passionate about helping organizations and causes that work to prevent suicide and help teens as well as adults with mental illness.<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s led numerous community awareness events for the I Need a Lighthouse Foundation and the Virginia Beach chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) for which\u00a0he manages the local chapter\u2019s online events calendar. He has also been a panelist for NAMI\u2019s Say it Out Loud presentations for teens to help dispel the stigma of youth mental illness.<\/p>\n<p>Corson\u00a0also volunteers at the Princess Anne Library, helping children during story time, arts, crafts or summer reading challenges.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLibraries have always been a place that I\u2019ve gone to because I\u2019m a big reader and getting involved there was a good way for me to meet new people and make friends,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n<p>And somehow, between volunteering and school, he\u2019s also managed to earn his Eagle Scout rank and written research papers, one of which has been accepted for publication by Harvard University\u2019s Journal of Emerging Investigators.<\/p>\n<p>After graduation, he will be headed to the University of Virginia (UVA) where he received early acceptance as part of the Echols Scholars Program, which according to UVA\u2019s website, identifies the \u201cuniversity\u2019s most intellectually curious, broad thinking and self-motivated students and its most avid learners.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When asked if he had any advice for other military children, Corson paused before answering.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think the number one thing would be to do your best to find connections. Even if you don\u2019t know everyone, you should know a few people and do things outside of school that allow you to make interpersonal connections. It\u2019s one of the best things you can do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more about <a href=\"http:\/\/www.militarychildoftheyear.org\/Recipients\">Roark\u2019s many other accomplishments<\/a> by visiting <a href=\"http:\/\/www.operationhomefront.org\/aboutus\">Operation Homefront\u2019s<\/a> Military Child of the Year honorees page.<\/p>\n<p>Operation Homefront is a national nonprofit organization that provides critical financial assistance, housing, and family support services to military families who need assistance. These awards, according to Operation Homefront, are the nation\u2019s premier celebration of the achievements of military children.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ocean Lakes High School senior Roark Corson is the nation\u2019s 2018 Coast Guard Military Child of the Year. Now in its 10th year, the annual awards are presented by Operation [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":7632,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[96],"class_list":["post-7636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community-connections","tag-ocean-lakes-high-school"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7636"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7636\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7662,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7636\/revisions\/7662"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}