Mission: J'maica Difference: Brogan MacMillan

My name is Brogan MacMillan, and I recently graduated from Kent State University with a bachelor’s degree in Criminology and Justice Studies. I’ve lived in Bay Village for most my life and graduated from Bay High School in 2014. I became an Eagle Scout this same year too. Raised in a religious family where my father was the pastor at John Knox Presbyterian church in North Olmsted, I was heavily involved in the youth group. We took mission trips to Tennessee, West Virginia, and most influentially Nicaragua. When we went to Nicaragua in 2012, we helped build a school, lead bible studies, and interacted with the locals. This trip made me recognize my passion for selfless service, philanthropy, and being a part of something greater than myself. That year I truly realized how blessed and fortunate I have been to live in the town that I was raised in, and that without the sacrifice that others had laid down their lives for, I wouldn’t be able to have lived like this. Therefore, I decided to uphold people’s freedoms at the forefront of my life, and enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. I left for boot camp a month after high school graduation, and have been in the reserves for nearly 5 years now, enabling me to go to school, and be in the Marines at the same time. I’m a corporal and squad leader of Marines, as well as a tactical vehicle licensing non-commissioned officer. Every summer we do a two-three week training out of the state. We’ve been to California, Michigan twice, Vermont, and then this summer I will be going back to California from May 28th-June 17th. Being in the Marines has made me the man and leader I’ve always wanted to become. In college I joined the rugby team, having never played before, it was a strange transition from soccer and swimming, which I’ve done all my life. After the first year I became recruitment chairman. The second year I took the position of vice president, and the third and fourth years in college I was the president of the club. I joined a fraternity and became the scholarship chairman. All of these experiences stemmed from one point in my life where I decided to get out of my comfort zone and go on a mission trip. I have been yearning to go on one ever since I got back from Nicaragua, and I greatly anticipate Jamaica to be yet another powerful experience where I can make a difference in mine, and someone else’s life.