Homecoming queen yesterday, U.S. Marine today

Brianna Bighorse is a name I will not forget. Not because of the name itself, but because of the young woman who possesses the name.

“You just have to stay calm and it becomes mind over matter. The thing with boot camp, I came to believe,

At 19-years-old, Bighorse is a 2018 graduate of Northwest Classen High school in Oklahoma City, where she was the football homecoming queen just one year ago. But that seems like a long time ago for the now U.S. Marine.

Not knowing what to expect, I arrived at her mother’s home in Oklahoma City and as I was setting up for the interview in bounced this energetic, smiling, confident young woman. I can only compare her presence to being stuck in a hot, stale space until someone opens a window and a blast of fresh clean air hits you … it was that kind of feeling.