Jeremiah Reniva

I am a Filipino Caucasian American, born in Hawaii. My father, born in the Philippines, joined the US Army and served for 20 years, while my mother graduated from Bangor, Maine, and enlisted in the military three weeks after high school. I am the eldest of four children, with siblings aged 14, 6, and 3. The nomadic lifestyle of the military is what we were born into, and it has given us multiple life experiences.

I have lived in twelve permanent homes and attended six separate school districts nationwide. Three school districts transmuted from my high school freshmen academic year until my junior year. I have also spent over five years of my lifetime without my father's presence. These significant life changes allowed me to show emotional toughness, exposing me to diverse cultures. I will be well-suited to lead in various environments. As a military child, not yet 18 years old, I am thankful for these experiences that have shaped me. This experience has brought hardships into my personal and educational life. Still, I have successfully overcome this as a part of the military child experience.

These frequent relocations were emotionally challenging. Being the "new guy" became a recurring theme in my life. However, during high school, I found solace in the ROTC programs, which provided a supportive environment where instructors understood my situation. The camaraderie I found helped me forge new relationships, gain confidence, and navigate the transitions. I will eventually find a place where I will only sometimes be the new guy.

My career trajectory became fully established when, on February 18, 2021, I watched the Mars rover “Perseverance” landing happen at the end of the school day, and when I got home, I continued to be entranced. Watching the rover land and move was an incredible sight; however, it made my desire to build things, specifically robots, grow more than before. I had been in several robotic groups, from elementary age, The Boys and Girls Club (Ozark, AL), robotics Lego club, a Talented and Gifted Lego robotic class in 6th grade (Ozark, AL), all the way to leading a group Seaperch Remote Operated Vehicle (R.O.V.) summer project for my NJROTC in my junior to senior year in high school (Rehobeth, AL).

During my experiences building, coding, and wiring the various robots, I’ve learned that failure is a part of the process and can teach you how to do better next time. To persevere over failure, you need the following qualities: resilience, courage, curiosity, and a desire for knowledge. An example of times I have shown these qualities is each time I have changed high schools and moved into 8 different permanent homes across the country: Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, Savannah Georgia, Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Alabama.

In my junior year of high school, I enrolled in a yearlong precalculus class at Fountain Fort Carson High School. However, a move to Rehobeth, Alabama, in late October missing almost a month of school disrupted my academic progress, as the new precalculus class was only a semester long. Despite the challenges, I worked tirelessly to catch up, seeking help from friends and instructors. While I may have earned a C for the semester, I took pride in my perseverance and resilience in overcoming the knowledge gap.
As a testament to perseverance and courage, I attended three high schools before the end of my junior year. These moves were challenging for me. My father was deployed, my mother was working full time, and I had an infant brother born in 2020 as well as my other two siblings. I was perpetually the new guy everywhere with family obligations and responsibilities too. Before a teacher or friend could get to know me, it was time to start over. I was able to hang on to the ROTC programs. They had the flexibility of the instructors understating what I was going through as a military child.

The camaraderie and shared missions of the ROTC programs allowed me to share my experiences, build new relationships, and learn from others on my teams in Colorado and Alabama. I fully understand that the entire rover wasn’t designed by one person but instead a culmination of ideas and works from many engineers. The engineers have a single goal and experiment in mind exploration of Mars. I want to study to be a mechanical engineer to make my own contributions to the exploration of space.

My journey began when we moved from Hawaii to the contiguous United States, traveling from California to North Carolina first, then to Savannah, GA, where I started kindergarten—my father deployed in November 2012 to Kandahar, Afghanistan. In first grade, I faced racism while he was gone; this experience taught me that the best way to end racism is to educate and love others. I attempted to make this little boy my friend by showing him where the Philippines and Hawaii were, highlighting the similarities and differences in our backgrounds.

During the very same deployment, my mom's best friend's husband, SSG Steven Blass, tragically lost his life along with four other members of the NATO-led security help force. My playmate's mother, whom we had never formally known, picked my little brother and me up from school and cared for us that day while my mother cared for her best friend and their infant. This experience underscored the strength and bond of military communities where families left behind face various challenging hardships to come together. I developed character qualities such as resilience, empathy, and emotional strength that are unique to me as a military child.

At the time of father's last deployment to Afghanistan, from August 2020 to June 2021, I stepped up to help my mother as she balanced caring for my infant brother and preschool sister, overseeing online pandemic public-school education while working full-time at a hospital. I learned about home maintenance, vehicle maintenance, and what it took to help manage our household and budgets. I suggested we try one of those meal delivery kits and take turns cooking. This time was different; I was older and capable of helping. Of course, I felt lonely without the support of my friends from school and my father's absence. To survive the deployment, I needed to display emotional and physical strength, which I did.

This summer, my mother's job sent her to Washington, DC, to support the Poppy Wall of Honor display sponsored by USAA and the VFW. During our time there, I gained a deep appreciation for true patriotism as we paid our respects to the members of the helicopter crash on March 11, 2012, and honored the sacrifices of other fallen soldiers. Visiting significant landmarks such as Arlington National Cemetery, a tour of the US Capitol Building, and various memorials in the National Mall highlighted the immense sacrifices made by my father and countless other American soldiers.

In conclusion, the diverse and challenging experiences I've encountered throughout my life have played a crucial role in shaping the person I am today. Having lived in twelve different permanent homes and attended six separate school districts across the nation, I've gained a unique perspective on adaptability, resilience, and perseverance. As an individual eager to learn carry these lessons and experiences throughout my lifetime.