Olentangy Orange High School senior Alex Naugle is one of more than 250 Ohio high school students who simultaneously signed letters indicating their intention to serve in the US military or attend a service academy on Ohio Military Signing Day Wednesday.

After graduating this coming May, she will follow in her brother Cory’s footsteps and enlist in the United States Air Force. 

“It is really good to hear all of the speeches and everything everyone had to say [at signing day]. It was really inspiring, and it made me feel really happy to see all of the support that’s now surrounding the military.” Alex said. 

Alex has been a member of the Air Force Junior ROTC program at Olentangy Orange since she was a freshman. Her parents said they could not be prouder. 

“When she joined as a freshman, she was my little wallflower. She was timid. [She was] afraid to speak up. Never could [I] imagine her standing in front of anybody saying anything,” said Alex’s mother Mellissa Naugle. “Through the program she found this inner person… and really just blossomed.”