FORT MCCOY, Wisc. - A video detailing how the Wisconsin National Guard ChalleNGe Academy helped cadets overcome significant life challenges won a competition among ChalleNGe Academies nationwide.
In the video, "From Dreaming to Achieving Through Wisconsin Challenge," four cadets reveal their lives before ChalleNGe Academy and how their lives have improved since.
According to Erica Kalinoski, an admissions counselor for the past two years at the Wisconsin National Guard ChalleNGe Academy, the same determination that cadets exhibit to graduate the 22-week residential course at Fort McCoy could be seen in the five cadets who produced the video.
"Their commitment was unwavering from the start," Kalinoski said.
The video was produced by the Class 25 Connection Team, a group Kalinoski advises that produces web-based content such as slide shows or virtual tours to market the Wisconsin National Guard ChalleNGe Academy.
This was the first video effort by any Connection Team, and it came with a daunting deadline. Kalinoski said that guidance for the scope of the video was received Dec. 1, and a final product was due Dec. 17 - one day before the cadets would graduate.
Kalinoski said the team quickly came up with a vision for the video, and one of the cadets drafted a storyboard - a sequential visual narrative that details the types of shots and transitions to be used. The team combined on the script and filmed many of the video sequences in the evenings.
"These kids were so busy getting their ducks in a row before graduation," Kalinoski said. "They put everything they had into this video, and it shows. They did an amazing job."
The feat is all the more impressive considering that the Connection Team had to learn how to use the video software package on the fly, watching tutorial programs online. Kalinoski said some of the Connection Team cadets are considering media design as a career.
Each of the cadets on the Connection Team will receive a $2,000 scholarship as well as a camera, and the Wisconsin National Guard ChalleNGe Academy was awarded $5,000 in scholarship funds from the Youth Foundation.
But the story continues.
The Youth Foundation will send a professional video production team to Fort McCoy Jan. 24 to Jan. 28 to recreate the winning cadet video.
The professional video will debut at the Youth Foundation's annual ChalleNGe Champions Gala on March 1 in Washington, D.C., and be posted on the Youth Foundation's Facebook and YouTube sites.
"That video will bring more attention to Wisconsin's ChalleNGe Academy," she said.
M.G. MacLaren, director of the Wisconsin National Guard ChalleNGe Academy, was pleased with the accomplishment.
"As you might suspect, we are very excited and proud of our kids," he said in an e-mail.
Kalinoski said the Academy is working out the logistics to send the Connection Team to the event.
The ChalleNGe Academy reshapes the lives of at-risk 16- to 18-year-olds.
A structured, military-style environment and state-certified teachers and counselors build cadets' academic abilities, character, self-confidence and personal discipline.
To see the video, go to:
http://dma.wi.gov/dma/news/mediadetail.asp?id=170