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Aubreanne Aponte

Mua

Public Health Honors p. 2

9 April 2019

Pride Sample

For my pride sample I will be talking about an accomplishment that I achieved this past

summer. Over summer I was selected to attend United States Marine Corps Summer Leadership

and Character Development Academy. This academy, also known as SLCDA, was a week long

camp held at Marine Corps base Quantico in Virginia where we graduated from. There was a

rigorous application process, I had to meet qualifications and do fitness testing. Out of over 900

applicants from all over the United States I was selected to attend, there was only one other

person from California there.

At this camp, we worked one on one with marines at base Quantico learned leadership

skills and qualities along with ways to develop our character. We learned these things from guest

speakers in classrooms to real training scenarios with marines. At the week long camp, we were

pushed out of our comfort zones and forced to work with people we would have no chance of

meeting if it wasn’t for this program. This program push me to my limits, physically and

emotionally. Bunking, eating, and working with these people was difficult at first, but it became

easier as we began to trust each other more. I met so many people, from war heros to everyday

police officers. They allowed me to and helped me learn and grow in ways that I couldn’t back at

home. We worked on obstacle courses, scenarios, and team building activities to bond and work

together. The biggest take away I had from this program was “Good leaders lead, while great
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leaders have the ability to lead and follow.”

This accomplishment is important to me because it was something that no one in my

family or community had done before. It pushed me to my limits and made me go outside of my

comfort zone. This award made me proud of myself and it made my family proud of me. I had

never even heard of this program until a family friend brought it up and suggested it, so being

able to attend and graduate from it was huge, especially having no background in any type of

military. Majority of the people who attended had experience in ROTC or things like that but I

didn't and still excelled. This experience was definitely once in a life and I am grateful for the

opportunity of bring my skills back home to my community.