April is designated as the Month of the Military Child. We love celebrating our military kids and we are especially proud to introduce you to one of our favorites. Meet Ellison Eldridge, 5th grader, waffle lover, reigning Young Miss Elba and influential military brat.
Ellison was born into a military family. Although, she only lived there from birth to 4 weeks, Ellison was born at Fort Hood and is proud to call herself a Texan. She is the youngest of 3 children and is now living in Alabama, where her dad retired and her family decided to put down roots.
This past month, Nomadés was proud to sponsor her in her first pageant- The Miss Elba pageant! We were thrilled when she walked away as the winner! Although, she was pretty shocked!
Ellison has never competed in any pageants before and by her own admission isn’t “very girly” and prefers horses and dirt to fancy dresses. She saw a pageant when she moved to Elba, Alabama and decided she thought she could do it and she did.
In talking with Ellison, it doesn’t take long to recognize that her spunk, sass and can-do attitude is part of her military experience. We asked her what was the best thing about being a military kid and her answer did not disappoint and also we didn’t pay her for this statement, although it’s the heart of our company as well. “I like having a story to share. This is what I have been through and this is what I can do because I have learned from it.”
Although Ellison is only 11 years old, she has wisdom beyond her years. It wasn’t until her dad’s retirement ceremony this past year that she really understood what her dad did and what his service meant. She is really proud of her dad and when we tested her and asked his MOS, without hesitation she responded- Field Artillery. Ellison, like most military kids, says the hardest part of military life was when her dad was deployed to Saudi Arabia for a year. However, she was quick to say, she doesn’t want people to pity military kids. “We are proud of what our parents do and we want people to know that.”
When Ellison isn’t representing as Miss Elba at events in her town, you will find her spending time with the horses that live next door, practicing archery, playing the trumpet, singing or reading history/western novels. She thinks shoes are the most important fashion accessory, but we think she would agree that her Nomadés charm bracelet is a pretty close second.
Ellison sums up Military BRAT as Brave, Resilient And True and we concur.