Murrieta teen Isabella Arrieta wins Military Child of the Year award for leadership, commitment to military community [Video]

MURRIETA, Calif. (KABC) — Out of 700 nominations nationwide, Murrieta student Isabella Arrieta was chosen as a recipient for the Military Child of the Year award.

“I honestly don’t think that I would be the person I am today had I not been a military kid,” Isabella said.

The seven recipients represent the armed forces branch in which a parent either serves or has served. Seventeen-year-old Isabella’s father served in the Marine Corps for 20 years.

“I’ve been in gunnery’s for about five years. Actually, when she was born, we were stationed in Newburgh, New York. She was born at West Point. and we got orders to Camp Pendleton, and we’ve been here since,” said Isabella’s father, Carlos.

The nonprofit handing out the awards, Operation Homefront, works to build strong, stable military families so that they can thrive in communities they’ve worked hard to protect.

“Our military families face many difficult situations, deployments, frequent …