Recently I became a proud parent of a graduate of the Youth Challenge Academy. I sat with the families of 214 cadets, and together we watched them walk across the stage of Bell Auditorium and become graduates.
Now there are 214 highly motivated young men and women who, if not for the cadre and staff of the Youth Challenge Academy, would be failures and throwaways. My son was one of those cadets.
Our son was a foster child who had been severely neglected. At age 4 he weighed a mere 28 pounds and was barely able to speak. He faced the most difficult odds, having attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, Tourette's syndrome, reactive attachment disorder and myriad learning disabilities. Each day he would go to school and struggle through the lessons, then come home and work for hours on homework. Through sheer guts he made it through middle school and two years of high school. He barely made it through the first half of his junior year at Westside High School, but he knew he wouldn't finish.
Enter Regina Thompson, a Westside guidance counselor. She was able to guide our son into the YCA program and help him reach his goal. It was hard, but he was up to the challenge. He excelled at the physical training that he received. By the end of the program, this scrawny little boy had the physique of a man. He finished a 14-mile run and, most important of all, he graduated from high school. He now plans to join the Army and become a wheeled vehicle repairman, and I am confident that he will do it.
So I salute the cadre and staff of the Youth Challenge Academy for a job well done. And multiply that by 214!
Eric Weber
Augusta
Congrats on the victory! Another good program for children as young as 12 is Civil Air Patrol. They have a chapter at Daniel Field my son is part of. Anything to get kids moving in the right direction, such as these programs and JROTC are a good investment.
A giant AMEN. I have had the privileged of working with groups of young people from the program. They teach them how to earn self respect, give them a purpose in life and most of all "a structure for living". A great program for youth.
Humans seem to have lost the basic "mammal parenting skills". Affection, discipline and most of all "life skills". YCA provides what the parents failed to give.
deekster - I think you're out of line. It sounds as though these parents did all they could to help their son. Sometimes parents need extra help for some circumstances and they lovingly found what they needed. It was a very rude and judgemental comment to make when you said these parents have lost their "mammal parenting skills."
My cat killed her kittens, is that mammal parenting skill loss too?
slide cylde, I was specifically singling out these parents. General observation. "A bit dog always hollers". Taylor B, what you are referring to is "a woman's choice". She had a brief noisy encounter outside your window and want to be saddled with a litter. Maybe they were retarded and she did the right thing. So she opted for planned parenthood. Her American Rights.
Discipline is all our society needs to be righted.
Brad, I agree. Lack of discipline and personal responsibility has damaged this country. That and the automatic transmission. Its made us into weenies.
As a former graduate of the YCA program it is definitely something that has changed my life for the better. It's rather offensive to see some of you make comments regarding YCA providing where parents failed. I do not fins that to be entirely true. My parents did everything in their physical and financial power to provide me with resources, but ultimately it was my environment (outside the home) that we couldn't just move away from. As a child I did not feel mentally strong enough to disassociate myself from those individuals and my family could not home school me. YCA was my out. Something I chose to write an essay of why I should be accepted. So please think twice about making comments that others may find disrespectful. This was a very nice editorial and I fully agree of the benefits it reaps.
It is an excellent program and everyone should be proud of the good job they are doing. YDA has a choral unit led by a fantastic lady (name escapes me) and they came to my church to sing and they were awesome. eroussos, thanks for setting the record straight!
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