Although I didn’t have the pleasure of meeting Julia until my freshman year of high school, upon becoming friends with her, I quickly learned that she had always wanted to serve our country at some point during the course of her life. In a world so deeply impacted by periodic violence and chaos, it’s understandable (and more importantly, admirable) why Julia chose to take our country’s safety into her own hands.

So, as my five best friends and I began to consider what the world had in store for us following our high school graduation, four of us (myself included) had all committed to four-year colleges scattered across the country, but Julia had something different in mind. Just as she had envisioned for many years prior, Julia had her mind set on enlisting in the Navy, something her brother had done a few years earlier. Although this didn’t come as much of a surprise to our close friends who had been aware of this possibility, some of our peers were truly in awe. It was clear that she was about to pursue something very selfless and undeniably brave, but Julia spoke of her future in a humble manner.

On top of the dreadfulness of parting ways at the end of the summer, Julia was required to abandon her cellphone and Internet access for 8-weeks. Having grown up in a culture where technology was placed at the center of our lives, it became more and more evident that the dynamic of our friendship was going to change, even if it were only to be temporary. Regardless of any sort of initial feeling of inconvenience, we each wrote and received many letters while Julia was in Illinois for boot camp.

While Julia had recognized early that college life was not the path designed for her, she has clearly been able to create her own along the way. Within the group of recruits in her boot camp, she was the only girl able to fully complete the physical fitness exam upon her first attempt. Additionally, she fell within the top rankings of her unit of recruits, and because of this she was selected to hold an honorary flag at her graduation ceremony. Unfortunately, we were unable to attend the ceremony. Instead, each of us watched Julia graduate on a live-stream video online at each of our respective colleges.

With Julia now home for the holidays (the first time since July), I’ll speak for my four best friends and myself and say that we are all so proud to not only be her close friends but to have the pleasure of knowing someone so special. It takes a certain person to feel comfortable devoting their own life to keeping others safe.

She is the epitome of bravery and strength and she has proven this to everyone. Regardless of what some may have thought about her initial decision, she surpassed them. Spending the past 4 months so far away from one another (and oftentimes out of touch) has caused us all to gain an even greater appreciation for the strong bond each of us share with her. Although Julia has chosen to pursue a life that requires a very different set of building blocks than what college-aged students typically are faced with, within the short time she has been away she has already amazed us in so many ways and I don’t doubt that she will continue to do so.