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For Air Academy High School senior Kaci McBrayer, community service both locally and nationwide are core passions.

McBrayer comes from an Air Force family. Her father, Brandon McBrayer, is still on active duty, and shes lived for over seven years in Japan, as well as in South Korea.

The exposure to different cultures has instilled in McBrayer a deep curiosity for life, but also served to broaden her worldview and appreciation for the different ways people make their way through the world.

Mathematics teacher John Thek of Yokota High School in Japan wrote that McBrayers experience living internationally has enriched her educational background exponentially.

During her years at Yokota High School, McBrayer eagerly participated in volunteer opportunities, including with the Junior Volunteer Program at her local hospital and in a virtual SAT math bootcamp program for US students.

McBrayer has accumulated over 200 hours of community service. Service is meaningful to me because it allows me to take a step back from my life and become immersed in the selfless assistance of others, McBrayer said. Getting to see my impact firsthand brings me a sense of fulfillment.

Recently, McBrayer volunteered with the Colorado Springs Fire Department, donating and installing fire and carbon-monoxide detectors and fire extinguishers in a local mobile home community. It was an experience that affected McBrayer deeply, both in the sad reality of the levels of poverty in her community, but also with the beautiful sense of increased safety she helped leave behind.

Outside of her obvious dedication to community, McBrayer is also a supremely talented student and an AP Scholar of Distinction with a GPA of 4.53. Thek, who has taught Mathematics since 1969, wrote that McBrayer is one of the strongest Mathematics students I have ever had the pleasure to teach.

McBrayer has been accepted to the US Air Force and US Naval Academies, but is waiting on a wavier for medical disqualification. Whether McBrayer attends a military academy or Auburn University, she decided long ago to seek a career in cybersecurity and computer science. She hopes to pursue the Department of Defenses Cyber Scholarship Program in college with the ultimate goal of joining a government agency like the Central Intelligence Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation or National Security Agency.

For all of her academic achievements, McBrayer also prides herself on her athletic abilities. But in 2021, after years of high-level play in soccer, she severely tore the ACL on her left knee and was faced with not only surgery but a months-long rehabilitation process. McBrayer who had never experienced a serious sports injury, said she panicked as the surgery approached.

Post-surgery and physical therapy brought their own challenges and mental blocks. McBrayer found herself too petrified to bend or even lift her leg. But with the support of her surgeon, sister, and family McBrayer made a brilliant recovery and within three months stood at the top of Mount Fuji at 12,388 feet for the second time having beat both her father and sister to the summit.

After a another six months of hard work, McBrayer was cleared to play soccer again just prior to the start of her junior year.

I felt the strongest I have ever been, McBrayer said. My performance significantly improved. I gained a new appreciated for my abilities I also supported my teammates with a renewed sense of compassion.

By her own standard, McBrayer said she finds satisfaction in mastering any skill and that she accomplishes the most when she is pushed past her limits, academically, in sports and in life. Tearing my ACL was one of the hardest obstacles I have overcome, physically and mentally, and I believe I am a better person for it, McBrayer said.

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Best and Brightest: Dedication to community and computer science - Colorado Springs Gazette