VOLGA — When Lt. Col. Riley Hestermann left for an overseas deployment with the 114th Fighter Wing of the South Dakota Air National Guard, his 13-year-old son Jackson had to grow up quickly. Jackson rose to the challenge, both helping at home and serving in leadership roles in the community. Now Jackson’s been recognized by the nonprofit group Our Military Kids with one of 14 national Courageous Kids awards.

“Last year, I was deployed to the IndoPacom region,” Riley said. “Knowing that I was going to be gone and (Jackson) would have to both help clear the snow and mow the grass — in South Dakota we recognize that season, right? — I said, ‘Hey man, I’m going to need you to step up. You need to help mom.’ He understood that, but it had been a few years since I had last deployed for an extended period. So I don’t know that he really anticipated what I was asking of him.”

Riley said Jackson exceeded all expectations.

“He’s got three siblings as well,” Riley said. “He really stepped up into the role of helping take care of them and also helping his mom. We live on an acreage outside of Brookings, and so there were a lot more animal chores that he had to pick up. He took care of all the yard work I wasn’t able to do. Then he just helped out a lot all these extra times when he had to watch his siblings while there was only one parent at home.”

He said Jackson did all that while maintaining a 4.0 GPA at Sioux Valley Middle School and continuing to volunteer in the community.

“We’re up at Sioux Valley and he loves school,” Riley said. “He’s not only a straight A student but he also does basketball, track, cross country and shooting sports. He’s involved in our local 4-H club. He plays the saxophone in band. He takes that same attitude that we saw during the deployment towards his school activities. I’m just proud of the way he works so hard in all of his endeavors.”

During Riley’s deployment, Jackson served as a 4-H mentor, a group leader at Safety Town and a junior counselor at a summer camp. He also received both Academic Student of the Month and Character Student of the Month recognition at school.

“He was nominated (for the Courageous Kids award) and got some quotes from teachers and community folks,” Riley said. “(Jackson) didn’t really know he’d been nominated, so that was fun. He was pretty humble about winning, but I could tell he was really proud as well.”

The Our Military Kids organization gives out 14 awards each year to kids throughout the nation with a parent away from home on a military deployment. Jackson won in the Air National Guard category, receiving a $300 prize.

“He’d like to buy a car, and he was actually excited the award came with a little cash prize,” Riley said. “So he’s going to put that towards his vehicle purchase. As a teenage boy, he’s got cars on the brain right now. … He’d love an old bronco, but I don’t know. The prices on those have gone through the roof recently.”

Riley said the best reward for Jackson was just having his dad finally come home.

“It was a relief for him,” Riley said. “Deployments are challenging — just talking through facetime and seeing them go about their normal business and missing things. But the homecoming is super sweet. That was a cool moment to come back to. I was able to surprise each of the kids individually, so that was fun.”

Riley said kids from military families face unique challenges.

“(Jackson) really showed up in a big way during that deployment, and I think that’s where his nomination came from — him stepping into a bigger, much more mature role,” Riley said. “He’s one of many military kids here in South Dakota. I think it’s great to celebrate them all and their resilience. We often ask those kids to grow up quickly and serve in their own way. We may talk about those who wear the uniform, but these kids play a big role in that as well. … (The Courageous Kids awards) are a good opportunity to just recognize the service of military kids, let them know we see them and thank them, and we are grateful for the families who raise them.”

Contact Jay Roe at jroe@brookingsregister.com.