Conleigh, U.S. Air National Guard Winner
April 29, 2023
Conleigh, 13, was selected as OMK's Courageous Kids of 2022 Contest winner in the U.S. Air National Guard category!
During their mother's deployment, Conleigh and her sisters each received OMK activity grants to cover fees for dance and piano classes.
Q&A with Conleigh
What are your favorite after-school activities and/or hobbies? What do you love about them?
Right now I am running track, doing crossfit, Piano, and attending Wyldlife and my church. I also love volleyball, swimming, biking and basically being outdoors a lot. I like doing all these things because it's fun and I get to hang out with my friends.
To you, what does it mean to be a military kid?
Having to sacrifice and share my parents. My mom and dad have been gone for deployments or weekend duty a lot, but I know why they serve and I am proud of all they do because I understand why they do it.
Do you have any advice to other kids with a deployed parent?
Always try to call or Facetime or write letters when you can! Sending packages AND getting packages helped my sisters and I because we looked forward to those surprises. Stay strong and keep your faith! We had a countdown too so that helped pass time.
What do you want to be when you grow up?
I want to be a flight nurse and work with my mom in her Aeromedical Evacuation unit.
Conleigh's Story
"Conleigh can be perfectly described as a strong and courageous 13-year-old who never ceases to amaze her family with her resiliency," said her mother, an U.S. Air National Guard service member. "Conleigh has been through deployments her entire life. In fact, at just 6 weeks old, her father left for an overseas deployment with four more following that. This past year her mother served overseas, totaling five deployments."
"She is the oldest of two sisters and she owns the title of being their 'momma bear.' She really stepped up with helping at home with her siblings, between helping at bath time, making lunches and dinners, doing dishes, putting laundry away, picking out outfits, doing hair, along with homework and extracurricular schedules. Our household would not function without Conleigh to the rescue!
"This past year Conleigh was inducted into the National Honor Society and attended a ceremony (only two days after her mother deployed), she was the Captain of her volleyball team, and she made A Honor Roll. She was active taking on piano lessons weekly and had a piano recital in May. With a new schedule, she ended up working out at Crossfit gym at 0530 with her father and siblings before school even started every day! She would FaceTime her mother and let her see the progress she made in the gym, such as doing toes to bar, during the morning hours. Because of the time difference, it worked out perfectly for these FaceTime sessions.
"Every year she helps with the Piper’s Promise non-profit family golf event that her family has hosted the past nine years to donate to the Ronald McDonald House and Riley’s Army of Greenville, North Carolina. To date, Piper’s Promise has donated over $100,000 to these two non-profits in honor of Conleigh's younger sister, Piper, beating stage 3 cancer. Conleigh helped with registration, food, making flyers, handing out goodie bags; you name it, she was helping. Conleigh also attended YoungLife events in her community and church events. She volunteers a few times each month at church to help with the livestream video on the computer for the service. She is the youngest to be in this position.
"Conleigh is an uprising leader and her parents couldn’t be prouder of the beautiful young lady she is blooming into. The teenage years are hard, middle school is hard, and with every curve ball thrown at her she continues to rise to all occasions with grace and a smile. We love you, Conleigh!"
