ARLINGTON, Va. – For Ronny Colindres, attending the Maryland National Guard’s Freestate ChalleNGe Academy was a life-changing endeavor.
"I honestly thought that I would never be a leader," he said, referring to his viewpoint prior to attending the academy. "I used to think that I was just the kid in the back of the classroom, quiet.”
However, he discovered he was more than that.
“I'm a kid that likes to make a stand, be heard and be a voice of the people,” he said. “I'm definitely a leader."
Colindres also isn’t the only one to experience that change through Freestate, which is just one of 40 ChalleNGe academies that make up the National Guard’s larger Youth ChalleNGe program.
This month marks the 25th anniversary of Youth ChalleNGe, an education and self-discipline program for "at-risk" youth run by the Guard and conducted in a military-style environment.
More than 150,000 individuals have graduated from the program in the quarter century since it was funded as part of the annual National Defense Authorization Act. Most of those graduates have gone on to find greater successes, said Kim Folsom-Kuster, the national Youth ChalleNGe program manager at the National Guard Bureau.
“We’ve had youth who went on to become entrepreneurs and business owners, doctors,” she said, “to graduates who have joined the military or pursued college degrees.”
The individual pathway after graduating from the program isn’t necessarily the important part, said Folsom-Kuster. Instead, it’s the skills and tools the program gives graduates in order to succeed, however they define success.
“It really does more than just offer kids a second chance,” said Folsom-Kuster. “For some, it’s still their first chance. It just gives them that chance to succeed, which makes a difference in their entire life.”
The program started with 10 academies, with the first cadets graduating in 1993. Those original 10 have now grown to 40 academies spread throughout 30 states.
“The significance in that growth, and sustaining the original sites plus expanding, says a great deal about the program,” said Folsom-Kuster.
As the program has grown in scale, so too has its scope.
“It’s not exactly the same as it was when we first began back in 1993,” Folsom-Kuster said. “It seems to just improve with time. It’s very encouraging.”
During the early years the focus was on providing a structured pathway to earn a GED certificate, with the underlying military-style environment and discipline providing the overall day-to-day approach and framework.
At many ChalleNGe academies today, students earn a high school diploma — just as they would at a traditional public high school – or they earn credit recovery, giving them the opportunity to return to the school they came from and graduate with their class, said Folsom-Kuster.
“That’s something that we did not offer in the beginning years, it was GED [certificate] only,” she said. “We’ve come a long way in that regard.”
At the Kentucky National Guard’s Bluegrass ChalleNGe Academy, awarding diplomas, rather than simply GED certificates, is a recent change. The ability to offer a high school diploma, said Bluegrass officials, gives the academy a greater sense of purpose while providing a sense of completion for graduates.
“The legitimacy of awarding diplomas will tie us into schools easier and help those kids that may be slipping through the cracks,” said Troy Hampton, the Bluegrass Academy’s deputy director. “The future looks really bright for this academy.”
While the ChalleNGe program provides the overall structure, each state’s education department sets the academic requirements individual ChalleNGe academies must follow in that state.
“We’ll continue our work with the department of education in each state so that the academies and graduates are getting the recognition they deserve,” said Folsom-Kuster. “That partnership is key to [cadets] getting the credentials when they graduate that are needed to move on to the next steps in life.”
Many ChalleNGe academies also offer additional opportunities for cadets in the program. “They offer vocational skills [training] now in most of the academies, as well as the opportunity to take some [classes for] college credits,” said Folsom-Kuster, adding that those give academy graduates additional opportunities when they finish the program.
“They have something where they can start their career or already have a start on college or other classes,” said Folsom-Kuster.
At its core, though, the ChalleNGe program hasn’t changed much.
First is the five-and-a-half month residential phase, where cadets live in barracks and cadre members provide daily supervision and structure. The first phase is also where cadets work toward a GED certificate, high school diploma or credit recovery. Once they complete the residential phase, cadets move to the non-resident phase where they will spend another 12 months working with a mentor and academy staff to fulfill goals set during the residential phase.
During their time in the academy cadets focus on eight overarching components.
“It’s the same eight core components that are still there,” said Folsom-Kuster.
Those core components include responsible citizenship, academic excellence, life coping skills, health and hygiene, skills training, leadership, physical training and service to community.
Attaining each of those core competencies is a requirement for graduation from the program.
For many, one of the most important elements of the program is service to community. To graduate, cadets must take part in projects designed to give back to those in the local community. Throughout the next year, however, many academies and cadets are planning even bigger goals of community service as a way to celebrate the program’s 25th anniversary.
“They’re always doing community service,” said Folsom-Kuster. “But this year they’re doing it in a way that honors the 25th year anniversary and highlights it in a way that’s bigger and better than their typical community service [requirements].”
Additionally, anniversary plans also include spotlighting graduates from each year – starting from the beginning in 1993 – and highlighting their stories and successes.
“It’s really the graduates and their peers who we’re celebrating,” said Folsom-Kuster.
Some of those graduates include Dr. Joshua Logan, the first Youth ChalleNGe graduate to complete medical school, and Mario Chavez, who formed a merchant services company before being elected a parish commissioner in Louisiana. Or Kyle Stinson, a junior at Tuskeegee University who established a clothing line and is the first in his family to attend a four-year university.
Other graduates have had other successes, said Folsom-Kuster, adding that it’s important for those currently in the program to hear those stories.
“The current youth [in the program] really need to hear that,” she said. “They’re homesick in the beginning and often struggling to make it through those beginning days and weeks.”
The previous graduates, she said, provide greater motivation to push through the big changes brought on in those first weeks.
“We have youth who have come back to speak to [current] classes and talk about the success they have today and what [the program] meant for them,” said Folsom-Kuster. “[Many] say ‘enjoy it while you can. I was in class so-and-so and it was like family to me. It goes by fast, enjoy being there. Enjoy this time.’”
But for Folsom-Kuster, the staff and faculty at each academy is the heart of the program, and a large part of what contributes to the program’s success.
“The staff is so dedicated and so committed,” she said. “It’s just so amazing to me the patience and dedication the staff has to work with the cadets to get them from where they are in the beginning to where they are in the end.”
As celebrations of the program’s 25 years kick off, Folsom-Kuster said she sees the program growing even more over the next 25 years.
“We have a number of states [that currently don’t have a ChalleNGe academy] looking to come aboard,” she said.
With wait lists for many current academies, additional academies would add to the program’s continued success, Folsom-Kuster said.
“When I think of all the youth who want to come to our academies, I really wish there was a way we could make it available to everyone in the communities who wanted to give it a try,” she said. Regardless of future plans for the program, Folsom-Kuster said she’s ecstatic about the success of the past 25 years.
“I’m really proud to be affiliated with a program like this,” she said. “Each and every [cadet] has a thought in their mind that is truly a dream, and you want to do everything you can to give them an opportunity or a pathway to reach that dream or achieve their goals.”