National Guard program helps at-risk teens

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Shane A. Cuomo
  • Air Force Print News
KAPOLEI, Hawaii (AFPN) --  The Hawaii National Guard Youth Challenge Academy is a 22-week program designed to help troubled or at-risk teens. It gives the 16- to 18-year-olds a second chance to focus, get a high school diploma and acquire the skills they will need to lead a productive life.

Although the academy uses a military model for organization, discipline and values, it is not a boot camp. The volunteer program is drug-free and stresses academic preparation, leadership development, mentoring, physical fitness and post-graduate placement in jobs. Once in the program the teens are called cadets.

“When I go to the high school and do recruiting, (I hear a lot of kids say) ‘Oh, that’s the place for bad kids,’ or ‘I heard that only naughty kids belong there,’ and no, it’s not,” said Staff Sgt. Alika Kaahanui, a member of the academy staff.

“A lot of kids lose focus based on their lifestyle and their culture and ethnicity. It’s not always because they’re bad kids,” he said.

The cadets have experienced trouble in their lives that has prevented them from graduating on time or from conventional schools, usually as a result of drug abuse or negligent parenting. The program provides a way for them to turn their life around.

“This program really gave me a new life. It gave me a second chance, just like what this program is all about: giving delinquent teens a second chance. That’s what it did for me, and I would recommend this to anybody,” said Cadet Matthew Rash.

Each cadet has a volunteer mentor to turn to for help and advice following graduation. A good mentor can be the key to success when the cadet returns to his or her old environment.

“A lot of these kids come from families that probably aren’t the most well-disciplined and well-structured,” said Master Sgt. Alan Burgeson, a resource advisor for the Counterdrug Support Progam of the Hawaii Air National Guard.

“Being a mentor, sometimes you have to fill one of those shoes that the individual is missing, and that’s where I came into play. I just stepped up to the plate and said, 'Look, this is what we’re gonna do,'" Sergeant Burgeson said.

The National Guard has traditionally been involved in youth programs designed to help young people be productive in their community.

“Every staff member here feels like a parent. We feel like it’s very difficult to allow us to be effective in our job and at the same time give them the feeling of us being their (parent). It becomes challenging for every staff member here and there’s times when we need to take off our staff member’s hat, pull them aside and let them see that side of us,” said Sgt. 1st Class Francis Tau’a, the academy commandant.

“I make better decisions and more careful decisions about where I want to go and what I want to do. I’ll think about it. But before it was just ‘Oh, I want to do this, just because it sounds fun,’ but it definitely makes me want to do something with my life,” said Cadet Kayln Silvia.