"How Has Being the Child of a Military Family Influenced My Educational Goals?"
             I was adopted into a military family at four and a half years of age. Both of my parents have held masters degrees from the beginning, so naturally for me, education is respected and expected. As a child in a military family, my educational goals have been influenced in many ways.
             Being the adopted son of an officer, I have had the opportunity to see the advantages he has had because of his advanced education; advantages for promotion and advantages of service to his community. In St. Louis, he was the president of the board of a military credit union, and under his leadership, the RAC Credit Union moved to Automatic Teller Machine capability, which was cutting edge at the time and definitely was a benefit for the community.
             As a retired Colonel, Dad enjoys the perks associated with rank. This encourages me because accommodations are nice in the visiting officers' quarters, and I can see, in a concrete way, that hard work and education pay off with unexpected kinds of benefits.
             Being around different military posts and bases in the United States has helped me decide more about my educational goal of becoming a business expert. I enjoy going to the military exchanges and commissaries, and I see them as big business opportunities. Since I have decided to go for a business major, I see many kinds of businesses on military bases. The business gamut extends from the individual entrepreneur, selling various homemade or imported items in the exchange atrium, to food services, retail sales, and other areas of the business world.
             I have been accepted by the University of Central Florida in Orlando, and upon investigation; I have found that the campus senior ROTC program is one of the best battalions in the nation. It offers the cadet many opportunities for advancement and possible military service to America. Since ROTC is the wa...