HAMMOND, La. - The Louisiana National Guard not only provides the state with a first line of defense in the case of natural disasters and terrorist attacks, but also offers hope and a step in the right direction for teenagers, who face many social and educational challenges in today's society.
The LANG's Youth Challenge Program, which started in 1993, is a boot-camp-like program that challenges at-risk teens, ages 16-18, both physically and mentally by instilling self-discipline, leadership and responsibility.
Through this program, a select few are given the opportunity to receive valuable job-skill training from the LANG's Job Challenge Program, a 90-day residential training course geared toward helping cadets compete in today's tough job market.
These LANG programs are community-based organizations designed to support the governor and the residents of Louisiana. JCP, which is run under the guidance of the Workforce Development Commission, primarily focuses on preparing cadet for the job market and encourages cadets to further their education.
"We pick trades that are in high demand based on Department of Labor statistics," said retired Navy Chief Petty Officer Perry J. Whitney, JCP's program coordinator. "They tell us that in the future there might be a shortage in a certain field, and we provide training for that particular skill."
The Youth Challenge Program, which has graduated more than 12,000 students, provides most of the cadets for the job program, said Warrant Officer Jerry R. Burns, the JCP director.
"More than 80 percent of our graduates are now doing something positive for their communities," he said. "They have either joined the military, gone to work or gone to college. If these kids were still on the streets, where would they be, who knows?"
JCP, which is located at the Gillis W. Long Center in Carville, La., provides a curriculum that combines educational excellence, general equivalency diploma classroom work, ACT preparation, community service opportunity, skill training, and individual and team activities.
The cadets are also provided job search support from JCP upon graduation.
The program offers eight trade certifications including heavy equipment operation, welding, construction technology, arboriculture, landscape and turf management, firefighting and emergency medical technician.
The chance to be certified as an EMT has given 17-year-old Madie C. Denning the opportunity to further her life-long dream of becoming a nurse anesthetist.
"I needed JCP," said Denning. "I wasn't going to go anywhere after YCP, and I needed something under my belt to show I can be something; that I really have it."
Denning, who is scheduled to graduate from JCP Dec. 19, is studying a curriculum that is intended to prepare her as a medically-competent EMT. The course focuses on areas such as basic life support, enhanced medical terminology and weapons of mass destruction awareness.
"This program is nationally accredited and is a college level course," said EMT instructor Frances R. Kosak. "She can go anywhere in the U.S., and work as a medic."
Kosak, a certified civilian medic, explained that Denning's training through JCP is as intensive as EMT training in the civilian sector.
"This is the person who is going to save your life on the streets," she said. "She is the person who is going to start your baby's heart and save your momma when she is having a heart attack or stroke."
Denning realizes that YCP and JCP have prepared her for a career in which she will hold someone's life in her hands. "I know I have changed," she said. "I feel like I have grown up, like I have been through something. You don't go through this just to throw it all away."
She plans to attend L. E. Fletcher Technical Community College in Houma, La., Nicholls State University in Thibodeaux, La., and eventually Tulane University in New Orleans after completing JCP.
To date, more than 1,200 cadets have graduated from JCP and obtained jobs in the construction, administration and public service-related industries.