How CMA Changed My Life By: Cadet Haase

By: Casey Robinson on Nov 20, 2018 | Categories: General

How CMA Changed My Life
August 26th, this is the day I arrived at CMA. I had taken a tour that summer to check the place out and see what it was all about. I was a seventh grader with a reoccuring attitude and with many different issues socially. I definitely didn't want to be there that day, but I decided to give it a try. It didn't go very well for the first year, my behavior didn't change and the respect for my mom and from my mom was neutral. I was embarrassed to go home because I knew I wouldn't be able to act right. My leaders, my t.a.c officer, and my own mother were losing faith and giving up on my ability to change. This was my turning point. Eighth grade year my behavior started to change drastically. My mom began to regain her trust in me and she began to start showing more respect as I had started giving her twice as much. My grades were straight A’s and I was doing very well that year.

My ninth grade year I made the decision to go back to public school. Without the mandatory study halls and the complete structure, within the first month I was failing every class I was taking. I knew it was time to return to CMA. When i returned mid October that year I was just another cadet. My grades were there but I wanted to dig down a little bit further and show everyone that I wasn't a mistake. I wanted to be something great , as my favorite speaker William Hollis once said “ Put your crown back on your head king, let the world know your name.” See my mentality is that everybody is better than me and I must work to become better than them. My tenth grade year I made some major mistakes that put me back on the bottom and i had to work and grind to earn my crown back. I know that the best gifts come from the bottom so I worked I showed respect as I would have been given and I worked so hard to regain my position in the company. My eleventh grade year I was given the rank of SFC and that was it. I didn't do much but see that bothered me because I was a natural leader who made some mistakes and wanted to get back to the top. We had an incident where our company First Sergeant was demoted and I didn’t see this as a chance, I saw this as an opportunity to prove myself. I went up to my Tac officer Sgm Green and asked him if I could be band and staff company first sergeant, he said “NO”. So what did I do, I kept bothering him until he gave me a chance, now I am band and staff companies first sergeant for the year of 2018-2019 and am projected to be the company commander the following year.

One day this year when my mother saw me, I looked into her eyes and saw how proud she was of me and what I have and will accomplish. I went from nothing to something, now it might have taken a few years to manifest but something great turned out of my faults and troubles. I went from failing grades and a terrible attitude to being a leader, a caring son and brother, and something to be proud of. If there was one thing I would want somebody to get out of this story, it is to never give up and to never forget that you are one caring adult away from being a success story. My name is Aiden Haase and this is how Camden Military Academy changed and saved my life.