I am joining a team of amazing military spouses who have given back so much to our greater military community. I am honored to consider many of those in the MSOY family my friends already including the likes of Chelle McIntyre Brewer, Lori Bell, Mona Hatfield, Erin Whitehead, Megan Quinn Glynn, Crystal Cavalier, Laura Vanderwerf and Bianca Stralkowski (just to name a few and there are so many others)! These women are phenomenal and if you ever get a chance to talk with them, do! Listen, watch and learn by the example of citizenship and sacrifice they provide.
Military Spouse Magazine’s founder, Babette Maxwell, has created more than a title, and more than a magazine, but rather a welcoming community for all military spouses to do more and be more and to inspire more! This amazing platform she has created in the Military Spouse of the Year program empowers us to continue to do and give back to our peers and their families.
I am thrilled to be able to say that I get to work with some other outstanding individuals this year. They are my fellow branch winners: Jeremy Hilton (U.S. Air Force), El Brown (U.S. Army), Stephanie Geraghty (U.S. Marine Corps), Erin Strasburger (U.S. Navy), and Christine Gilbreath (U.S. National Guard).
Not only is Jeremy a fellow military veteran, but he has done some amazing things to support our exceptional and special needs families. I think he could quite literally move mountains if you ask him.
El Brown’s spirit just comes alive in all that I see about her. I haven’t even met her yet and I am invigorated by her passion for life and all that she does!
Stephanie’s fire emanates from her video as does her dedication to her program. She is quite obviously a go-getter! I think she can do so much with her energy and has already exhibited that she can.
Erin shares a lot of my interests and volunteer type of work so I know we will hit it off. Her compassion and dedication in her charitable work is quite admirable. I don’t know how she finds enough hours in the day to do what she does!
Last but certainly not least, Christine is a seasoned military spouse and also a fellow military veteran. She has given enormous amounts of her valuable time to work as a FRG leader and I am eager to chat with her about the Women’s Second Chance program and how I can help.
Please take the time to view all of their inspiring profiles and read about them and what they are doing to support our community at: http://msoy.milspouse.com/
These folks are doing big things to support to others while they hold down their respective homefronts. That is not an easy task! I applaud them all and I am humbled to be in their company. I cannot wait to join forces with them and learn from them and how we can support you all together as one awesome team!
Showing posts with label msoy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label msoy. Show all posts
Friday, February 24, 2012
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Whirlwind of Opportunities
Life has been on fast forward these days. I am elated to announce that I was chosen as the 2012 Coast Guard Spouse of the Year. This is a tremendous honor and I cannot even put into words how amazing this is. I am humbled by the support I have received and by the work I am able to do. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
I am passionate about serving military families, and it's as simple as that. No matter where this journey takes me, I will continue doing what I do. Just to give you an idea of how I feel about serving military families, I wrote this out. I wanted to elaborate in my video, but because time is short and I was rather nervous on camera, I wrote it out. My video hits the main points and explains what I am already working on, in sum, but there is MORE. There is a lot of day to day, behind the scenes stuff that I don't share with folks, but here on this blog, I will elaborate more and more. But, first....here's what I envision about what I am doing now and what I intend to do as the 2012 Coast Guard Spouse of the Year and possibly the 2012 Military Spouse of the Year:
I am honored to be the 2012 Coast Guard Spouse of the year. I am proud also to be the founder of Coast Guard Family Organization and Military Spouse Mentoring. I created Coast Guard Family Organization, Inc., because Coast Guard families are often excluded Department of Defense programs like Military One Source as the Coast Guard falls under the Department of Homeland Security. My other main organization is Military Spouse Mentoring. This mentoring program was born from an idea to connect military spouses from all walks of life regardless of branch affiliation to help one another in the areas of education, career plans, parenting and navigating military life among many other things. But, this is not about me and what I have done. This is about our military families. This platform allows for those of us who volunteer our time a stronger voice to be heard for positive change and progressive impact.
Congressional budget cuts are on the rise and because of that military family programs face an uncertain future. I will continue to work hard to keep existing programs in tact and gain support for an all encompassing military family bill to further provide for military family benefits, which would also address military retirement. At this point, we need to cut through the bureaucratic red tape to save heartache and money and allow for creative financing.
Another thing I want to talk about is my education focus. With my own children, I have noticed shortcomings in public school curricula from state to state and this is happening across the Nation affecting a myriad of other military families. Therefore, I am working to gain support of standardization for K-12 curricula or at least providing viable alternatives for our military students who are often advserly affected, academically, because of PCS moves.
Similarly, I have felt the strain of transferring credits and limited collegiate financing options that so many other spouses face and I am supporting every effort including the Military Spouse Education Initiative to see improvements in this area. Likewise, I will continue to work to gain support for universal reciprocity of certifications, licensures for all spouses regardless of their branch affiliation.
As a military spouse, veteran, and parent, I understand many of the obstacles military families face on a daily basis, whether it is navigating TRICARE, dealing with the VA, special needs or reinteigration, etc. I am well versed in a number of these areas and what I haven't encountered, I seek to better understand to support my peers and the military family at large.
No matter where this journey takes me next I will continue serving military families. Thank you for support and please vote for the nominee that you feel would best serve us all as Military Spouse of the Year.
Here's my latest and greatest video (don't laugh too hard, I told you I was nervous, this is a HUGE honor and I get a little shaky when it comes down to it, after all, I have wonderfully, big, great shoes to fill!). I have been running into a lot of trouble getting a video to upload, but finally had luck today! 2012 MSOY FINALIST VIDEO
In other news, this week, I will be speaking with the folks at Business and Professional Women's Foundation about partnering our mentoring programs! Yay for www.militaryspousementoring.com. and I also have a scheduled conference with the folks at Building Capacity to discuss the K-12 education issues of our military students and what they are doing in working with Dr. Jill Biden and how I can help. This is all before Wednesday. Someone pinch me!
I am passionate about serving military families, and it's as simple as that. No matter where this journey takes me, I will continue doing what I do. Just to give you an idea of how I feel about serving military families, I wrote this out. I wanted to elaborate in my video, but because time is short and I was rather nervous on camera, I wrote it out. My video hits the main points and explains what I am already working on, in sum, but there is MORE. There is a lot of day to day, behind the scenes stuff that I don't share with folks, but here on this blog, I will elaborate more and more. But, first....here's what I envision about what I am doing now and what I intend to do as the 2012 Coast Guard Spouse of the Year and possibly the 2012 Military Spouse of the Year:
I am honored to be the 2012 Coast Guard Spouse of the year. I am proud also to be the founder of Coast Guard Family Organization and Military Spouse Mentoring. I created Coast Guard Family Organization, Inc., because Coast Guard families are often excluded Department of Defense programs like Military One Source as the Coast Guard falls under the Department of Homeland Security. My other main organization is Military Spouse Mentoring. This mentoring program was born from an idea to connect military spouses from all walks of life regardless of branch affiliation to help one another in the areas of education, career plans, parenting and navigating military life among many other things. But, this is not about me and what I have done. This is about our military families. This platform allows for those of us who volunteer our time a stronger voice to be heard for positive change and progressive impact.
Congressional budget cuts are on the rise and because of that military family programs face an uncertain future. I will continue to work hard to keep existing programs in tact and gain support for an all encompassing military family bill to further provide for military family benefits, which would also address military retirement. At this point, we need to cut through the bureaucratic red tape to save heartache and money and allow for creative financing.
Another thing I want to talk about is my education focus. With my own children, I have noticed shortcomings in public school curricula from state to state and this is happening across the Nation affecting a myriad of other military families. Therefore, I am working to gain support of standardization for K-12 curricula or at least providing viable alternatives for our military students who are often advserly affected, academically, because of PCS moves.
Similarly, I have felt the strain of transferring credits and limited collegiate financing options that so many other spouses face and I am supporting every effort including the Military Spouse Education Initiative to see improvements in this area. Likewise, I will continue to work to gain support for universal reciprocity of certifications, licensures for all spouses regardless of their branch affiliation.
As a military spouse, veteran, and parent, I understand many of the obstacles military families face on a daily basis, whether it is navigating TRICARE, dealing with the VA, special needs or reinteigration, etc. I am well versed in a number of these areas and what I haven't encountered, I seek to better understand to support my peers and the military family at large.
No matter where this journey takes me next I will continue serving military families. Thank you for support and please vote for the nominee that you feel would best serve us all as Military Spouse of the Year.
Here's my latest and greatest video (don't laugh too hard, I told you I was nervous, this is a HUGE honor and I get a little shaky when it comes down to it, after all, I have wonderfully, big, great shoes to fill!). I have been running into a lot of trouble getting a video to upload, but finally had luck today! 2012 MSOY FINALIST VIDEO
In other news, this week, I will be speaking with the folks at Business and Professional Women's Foundation about partnering our mentoring programs! Yay for www.militaryspousementoring.com. and I also have a scheduled conference with the folks at Building Capacity to discuss the K-12 education issues of our military students and what they are doing in working with Dr. Jill Biden and how I can help. This is all before Wednesday. Someone pinch me!
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