When Honor ’27 first arrived at Midland, she carried both excitement and complexity with her.

A Navy kid whose family moved with the rhythms of military life, Honor had recently been named a national recipient of the Orion Military Scholarship, a highly competitive award designed to help military-connected students access stable, high-quality boarding school education. It was the first national recognition she had ever received — and it mattered deeply.

“It was the first national thing I’d ever won.”

As part of the scholarship process, Honor applied to boarding schools across the country, navigating interviews, campus visits, and financial assistance conversations with support from the Orion team. Midland was one of the schools she applied to — drawn by its values, its land-based learning, and its emphasis on responsibility and shared work.

But there was a catch.

At the time, Midland was not an approved Orion partner school, which meant Honor could not use her scholarship here. When Midland offered financial assistance that made attendance possible, Honor and her family faced a difficult choice: accept the scholarship and attend a different school, or choose Midland and forfeit the award she had earned.

Honor chose Midland.

“I had to make a difficult choice.”

Finding Her Place—and Seeing What Was Missing

Honor’s first year at Midland required adjustment. Coming from San Diego — a deeply military-connected community — she found herself translating parts of her identity in ways she hadn’t needed to before.

“A lot of people didn’t really understand what being a military kid meant,” Honor shares, reflecting on the learning curve that can happen in any new community.

Rather than withdrawing, Honor leaned into conversation. During her freshman year, she led a DEIJ workshop on the experience of growing up in a military family — explaining the constant transitions, early maturity, and deep sense of service that shape many military-connected children — including those, like herself, who proudly identify as military brats.

Midland’s emphasis on shared work, responsibility, and service felt deeply aligned with the values she had grown up with.

“Midland cares about hard work. It cares about community. It cares about service,” she says. “Those are values my family already had.”

 “It’s not that the communities are so different. The connection just hadn’t been made yet.”

Turning Advocacy into Action

Honor began reaching out — persistently and thoughtfully — to the leaders of the Orion Military Scholarship program, sharing her experiences at Midland and making the case for partnership. She also raised the idea internally, speaking with school leadership about why Midland and military families were a natural fit.

She saw it clearly: a school where students work jobs, live away from home, contribute to community life, and are trusted with responsibility — and teenagers who had already grown up doing exactly that.

The process took time. For nearly two years, Honor advocated without knowing whether it would ever come together.

“Until I got the call, I didn’t think it was going to happen.”

Then, in June before her junior year, Honor received the news: Midland had officially become an approved Orion partner school.

“That was the thing I’d been working toward for two years, so it was really special and important to me,” she says.

Opening Doors—Including Her Own

After Midland became an approved partner, Honor reached back out to Orion with a question: could she apply again? Although the scholarship typically supports incoming ninth graders, Orion invited her to reapply.

This time, Honor received a $12,000 scholarship for her senior year — the largest annual award the organization had ever given a student — recognizing both her perseverance and her role in building the partnership.

“It’s boarding school,” Honor says plainly. “It’s a lot of money. And financial assistance really helps.”

Making the Path Easier for Others

Honor’s impact didn’t stop with institutional approval.

Since Midland became an approved Orion partner school, four Orion Military Scholars have applied to attend. In her role as a Student Ambassador, Honor answers questions by email, connects with prospective families, and serves as a steady, familiar point of contact throughout the admissions process. By sharing her own experience, Honor helps families feel informed, welcomed, and confident as they consider whether Midland might be the right fit.

“We could lose incredible students just because of miscommunication,” Honor says. “So I try to make sure families feel seen, supported, and welcomed—from the very beginning.”

“Being a military brat is an important part of my identity — and it doesn’t need to be set aside to attend boarding school.”

Through her work as an ambassador, Honor helps families understand Midland’s rhythms, expectations, and values — while also affirming that military identity is not something to set aside, but something that belongs.

She hopes to continue this work into her senior year, mentoring military-connected students and helping them feel rooted even as they move through a new chapter.

“I want students who come after me to have an easier time integrating than I did,” she says. “To have their experiences aided by their identities, not hindered.”

Rethinking Belonging

Honor offers a thoughtful reflection on Midland’s idea of “sense of place.” For military-connected students, she explains, home is often less about geography and more about shared values.

“It’s not a sense of place. It’s a sense of familiar values and care.”

Military-connected students, she believes, can expand how a community understands belonging — showing that roots can be carried, not just planted.

When asked what she would say to another military-connected student considering boarding school, Honor doesn’t hesitate:

 “Grab your water bottle, grab your axe, and hop in.”

Finally, when asked to sum up what this experience represents, Honor reflects on the deeper meaning of her work:

“It’s the ability to create change in a community that didn’t yet fully understand my experience — and help shape it into a place where people like me are understood and valued.”

For Honor, that is leadership: not just finding a place to belong, but making room for others to belong too.