Lydia Wilson reuniting with her family after months of basic training. Photo provided by senior Lydia Wilson
By: Lilly Buist/Editor in chief
By: Naomi Amaize/ Feature editor
For most students school started on August 1st, but for Lydia Wilson, a senior at New Palestine High School, that wasn’t the case. After three months of being away from home for basic training, she was opened up to many new opportunities in her life that made her stronger and more resilient.
Wilson decided to do basic training to help her with her future.
“It’s definitely going to help me in my future career because I want to be in the FBI,” Wilson said. “It also pays for college tuition, which is definitely a plus.”
Wilson’s tap-out from basic training, while emotional, had a humorous moment.
“You had to stand completely still and wait for your family to come tap you out, and my mom didn’t see me. She walked up to my first sergeant and she made my first sergeant call out my name really loud. It was really embarrassing. But I sped to my mom and it was nice,” Wilson said.
Since basic training was a very different environment than that of a high school, Wilson had to learn how to adjust back to her normal life quickly.
“I came to school expecting all my teachers to be yelling at me all the time, like the drill sergeants do,” Wilson said. “But it just made me realize how nice teachers are. I have to make up most of [my work], but some of my teachers are really chill and [are] giving me long extensions, and some just completely exempted stuff.”
Wilson found that basic training was a great experience for her and made her a stronger person.
“It’s just, it really helped strengthen me emotionally. It just made me realize that like, I wasn’t as weak as I thought I was. If people are even considering joining that they should definitely talk to somebody because you’re stronger than you know.
