2023 National Guard Teen Panel (GTP) Delegates

This report highlights Guard Teens who are 2021 finalists in the Operation Homefront’s Military Child of the Year competition. The initiative focuses on showcasing the positive impact military youth have on their communities, schools, and families. This is the thirteenth year of the initiative, sponsored by Operation Homefront, which is a nonprofit organization with a mission of helping military families. By participating in this initiative, youth can connect with military leaders, celebrities, and their military peers around the world. Operation Homefront supports families from all service components.

Operation Homefront presents two different awards each year… 

The Military Child of the Year Award identifies one youth recipient from each of the military service branches.  There are five finalists from each branch, except for Space Force, as they are so new. The Guard finalists for the Military Child of the Year Award come from the states of Kansas, California, Alabama, Wisconsin, and Massachusetts. 

The second award presented by Operation Homefront is the Military Child of the Year Award for Innovation which focuses on recognizing youth for being innovators in their communities. This award recognizes youth who have designed a solution to a local, regional, or global challenge. Winners of this award work with Booz Allen Hamilton, a global technology and consulting firm, to provide project support for one of their projects. Each branch has one finalist for this award; however, there is only one winner. The Guard Youth finalist for the Military Child of the Year Award for Innovation is from Queens, New York. 

Here is a little more information about some of the National Guard finalists for the Military Child of the Year Award:

First up, we have Elise Puliafico. This past year has been especially challenging for Elise, as her father has been on the front lines of the COVID-19 response. Her father is part of a Medical Command, which Elise has volunteered for in the past. Elise has also volunteered her time by serving on the National Guard’s Guard Teen Panel (GTP) for the past two years and is currently a member her state's State Teen Panel. Elise has been a mentor to other Guard youth, has helped create a community of the youth, and has always represented the Guard with poise and class. This past Holiday Season, Elise took the lead on a contactless holiday toy drive that delivered over 200 toys to children in her state. Elise has earned the Presidential Youth Volunteer Award for her efforts. Elise has also excelled at school. She was named to Girls State in 2020, is part of two National Honor Societies, and is her class’ treasurer. Sports is also an area where Elise has taken on a leadership role. She was the Captain of her tennis team for two years, was a field hockey all-star, and helped lead the field hockey team to back-to-back conference championships. If all that was not enough, Elise also found time to be a part of the math team, the ski club, and the debate team. Outside of school, she has worked jobs such as cashier, Spanish tutor, and babysitter. Just recently, Elise has been asked to serve on the steering committee of the Boys and Girls Clubs’ Military Teen Summit. We are confident Elise will represent the Guard well.

Our next Guard finalist, Mabelle Boehlke, is a senior at Baraboo High School.  Mabelle is the daughter of an Active Guard Reservist, who has served in the military for 31 years. She has experienced many of the unique challenges of Guard life, such as deployments, annual training, and the weekends spent at drill. Mabelle has also experienced and overcome challenges that youth of Active-Duty Service Members experience such as having a parent live in another state while on assignment and living in a community without a military base close by. There have been times when she was the only military child in her classroom, and once she was the only military youth in her school. In schools, Mabelle challenges herself academically, this year, taking four advanced placement courses, one general high school course, and four college courses. School work is not the only place she pushed herself. Mabelle serves on her school’s National Honor Society as Vice President and Secretary. She also represents the athletes in her school on the Baraboo High School Leadership Council, where she has helped organize school activities, volunteer opportunities, and helped organize a wellness day for students with disabilities. Mabelle also serves on many other school committees and is a mentor to the freshmen. Her athletic career during high school has also been impressive, as she has been on the volleyball team all four years of high school, has served as Co-Captain for the team, and has lettered all three years that she has been on the track team. She also works two jobs, and during the pandemic has learned how to sew, and has worked with the USO to donate over 400 masks. Mabelle enjoys camping, hiking, tennis, and spending time with family and friends in her free time. She plans to attend college and get a degree in genetics or pursue a law degree. She is a great example of the Wisconsin Guard Motto, “We live here. We work here. We serve here.”

A special ‘Thank You’ to Susan LaFlame (Lead Child and Youth Program Coordinator) and JD Engelhardt (Lead Child and Youth Program Coordinator) for sharing this information about their teens. 

Finally, CONGRATULATIONS to all the finalists!! Thank you for representing the National Guard and for sharing your story. 

Pictured (L-R):  Elise Puliafico and Mabelle Boehlke

This story comes from the northern state of Minnesota. 

MN Teen Panel members came up with a way to reach young children by reading books they would typically hand out at Yellow Ribbon Reintegration events. The idea for this project came from the teens in the program. A few of the teens had participated in the United Through Reading Challenge over the summer, and saw this as a way to continue reaching out to younger children.

United Through Reading is a nonprofit organization that helps connect military families facing physical separation by facilitating the bonding experience of reading aloud. It was started by the spouse of an Active Duty Navy Flight Surgeon. The Surgeon deployed to Vietnam, and when he returned, he was a "stranger" to his daughter. United Through Reading's founder was a reading specialist and understood the value of exposing children to literature. 

The Minnesota teens read seven different books and posted the YouTube videos to the MN CYS Facebook page.  One of the books read was Twenty-Six Princesses, a book which teaches the alphabet and rhyming.  Another book read aloud was Goldilocks, which has the message that you should think about how you treat others. They also read Fancy Nancy Sees the Stars, which has the message that sometimes in life you have to be flexible. In general, all books read contained positive messages for youth and aspects of building resiliency - as one would do through the Master Resilience Training initiative. 

Under normal circumstances, the MN Teen Panel would host an in-person service project, but was not possible due to the current pandemic. This initiative was a great way to serve their military community, that was also safe and fun. The intended audience for this project was parents who have young children at home and who like listening to books. You could feel the joy and passion in the teen’s voices when they read the books. This was a great teen led initiative.  Thank you, MN Teen Panel members and the Child and Youth Program staff, for all of your hard work.

You can learn more about the United Through Reading program by clicking here.

If you would like to view the videos created by the MN Teen Panel, visit their Facebook page by clicking here and then the "videos" tab on the left-hand side of their Facebook page.