Meet Azalea, the winner of OMK’s Courageous Kids of 2020 Contest in the U.S. Army Reserve category! 🎖️ Azalea, 7, is the daughter of an U.S. Army Reservist who served overseas in 2020.

“Azalea started 2020 struggling with anxiety,” said Brooke, Azalea’s mother. “Adding to the stress of the year, we learned that her dad would be going on a year-long deployment, our very first with children. Right before deployment, Azalea stepped out of her comfort zone and started doing gymnastics, with the help of a scholarship from Our Military Kids. Almost every month, Azalea’s hard work has been noticed and she has been invited to move up level after level. We just received an email invitation for Azalea to join the gymnastics travel team and compete in meets! She has worked SO hard over the last eight months toward her goal and we are so excited to see where it takes her! Already her confidence is soaring and watching her perform in front of others, anxiety-free, has made my Momma heart so happy. Now we are counting down the days until her daddy gets to watch her compete for the first time as well.”

Check out our social media every Mon, Wed, and Sat throughout April’s #MonthOfTheMilitaryChild for more amazing stories from this year’s Courageous Kids of 2020! Read all of their stories here: https://www.ourmilitarykids.org/contest-winners