“I think God has guided me through a lot to give me these opportunities,” Nick explains. “There are some things I had to experience in my childhood to get me here.”

[Michael] recalls sitting at the dinner table at an early age, listening to his parents and grandparents discuss concerns and problems in the community. It was then that he decided he wanted to run for office one day and hopefully find solutions to those problems.

“The idea was to have a gift shop-type business catered more to the people who care for plants as a hobby as opposed to professionally, but also a place for people to gather and enjoy each other’s presence, and that became The Plantique,”

“The neurosurgeon told my family that he would do what he could…people with that kind of injury don’t usually make it to the hospital.”

“Having a really good dad was the main structure in figuring out my life. My dad is basically my best friend. I realized I wanted to do that for other kids who didn’t have that in their life.”

“If Herbert was called to war, he would go right now—he'd walk out of that wheelchair,” says Command Sgt. Major Frye.

“Nothing fires me up like watching a player who’s worked on a skill for months and then finally gets it, or a team that really worked to build chemistry, and then it finally clicks.”

“We were mapping out an American WWII cemetery. I met two Englishmen over there walking through the cemetery whose parents had lived in that area during the war. They told me about their experiences, the food shortages, and so on.”

“A good leader pushes everybody to their limits so that they feel great,” he says. “I want to be great, but I also want everyone around me to be great.”

“There is something about molding and conditioning clay that is very therapeutic to me,” Riley explains. “I mix a lot of my own colors, so I get them exactly how I want them.”

“At the Academy, everybody is very driven, smart, and has a plan for their life. They push themselves and they push me. I am surrounded by the best of the best.”

“Family means everything to me,” he says. “I wouldn’t be in any position I am without my parents or grandparents. So I’m going to do everything I’ve learned in life from them, to provide for my own.”