ORANGE PARK, Fla. - After graduating from a rigorous five-and-a-half month military-style program led by the Florida National Guard Youth ChalleNGe Academy, 158 teens, mostly high school dropouts or at-risk youth, walked across the stage to accept their diplomas during a ceremony here Dec. 11.
"This program is not just about getting a GED or a high school diploma," said retired Sgt. Maj. James Ransom, deputy director of the Youth ChalleNGe Academy, as he addressed nearly 2,000 people in attendance. "It's about what these youth want to do with their lives."
The Academy, located at the Camp Blanding Joint Training Center in Starke, Fla., is geared for 16- to 19-year-old high school dropouts who encounter a community-based program aimed at promoting adult responsibility, values and basic lifestyle changes.
Each youth experiences a demanding, highly regimented, motivational climate based on a curriculum of academics, community service, job skills, leadership and physical fitness.
Ashley Elizabeth Jenkins, a Tallahassee teen, said that she was kicked out of school and later dropped out. Her father heard about the Youth ChalleNGe program and subsequently enrolled her.
"My first day was a very bad first day," she recalled. "They thought about sending me back the first week, but the cadre worked hard and got a better understanding of me. Knowing that I had to finish the program, leaving was not an option."
While in the program, she earned three college credits as part of a new partnership between the Youth ChalleNGe Academy and the St. Johns River Community College in which students can earn college credits while simultaneously earning high school credits.
Jenkins graduated the top of her class in the footsteps of her mother and grandmother.
She plans to attend massage therapy school and go to college to major in psychology. "I didn't picture myself here and it's not something that was in my plans, but it ended up what got me on the right track."
Her advice to other teens: "Sometimes it helps to get out of a situation and look at in a different perspective."
Another student, 18-year-old Jonathan Guzman, said that he hung out with the wrong crowds and got caught up in fighting, skipping school and smoking. When he did go to school, he said, the teachers didn't want him there.
"Where I was going wasn't a good road," he said. "The Academy taught me everything I needed to learn - how to use my head, how to think and how to analyze problems."
He is set to attend Florida State College Jacksonville, major in linguistics and plans to join the U.S. Navy.
"You can't help but get attached to these kids like they are your own," said retired Command Sgt. Maj. Brabham, director of the Florida Youth ChalleNGe Academy. "Some of them give the staff a hard time, but it's worth every minute to see them graduate."
This is the Academy's 19th class to graduate and more than 2,400 students from 57 Florida counties have graduated since the program began in 2001. Upon graduation, each student is assigned a mentor who further provides guidance and support.