Rising to the ChalleNGe

Since 1993, Preston County’s Camp Dawson has been the home of the Mountaineer ChalleNGe Academy, where West Virginia’s at-risk teens learn the skills and confidence necessary to reach for a future free from limitations.

By Amy Arnett

On a hot, humid West Virginia day in June, 137 folding chairs sit empty on the floor of a large gymnasium at Camp Dawson, just outside of Kingwood. Accompanied by the 249th Army Band, the procession begins, and 110 male and 27 female cadets walk in an X-shaped formation to fill the seats as hundreds of family, friends and staff look on proudly.

This is the graduation of the 44th class of cadets from the Mountaineer ChalleNGe Academy (MCA) since its inception in 1993, and it is, as MCA Director Kathy Tasker notes, the first day of their real adult lives. After a drill ceremony performed by each of the six cadet platoons, they will file across the stage and receive a high school diploma—for the majority, not an equivalent or substitution but a genuine diploma from their own high school—and a fist bump from Major General James Hoyer, West Virginia National Guard’s adjutant general.

The graduation ceremony is a big step for these student cadets. ChalleNGe requires students to be considered academically at-risk in order to be accepted into the Department of Defense-funded program. The 22 weeks that Class 1 2015 spent in Preston County increased some cadets’ subject learning more than nine grade levels, allowed them to prepare for ACT testing and offered a variety of courses designed to equip them for a transition into the work force, military or higher education after embarking on their post-graduation journey.

Visions Realized

In the United States, there are 37 ChalleNGe academies in 28 states and Puerto Rico. The Youth ChalleNGe Program began, in part, in the late 1980s when The Rockefeller Foundation began exploring service as a part of a long-range vision for engaging at-risk youth who were not likely to receive their high school diploma.

In 1991, Lieutenant General John Conaway, chief of the National Guard Bureau, presented “Vision 2020,” a summation of his views for the future of the National Guard. In it, he introduced the idea that the guard should serve a community role: to be active participants in domestic concerns and programs.

Conaway and The Rockefeller Foundation’s visions collided by way of ChalleNGe when the pilot program began at two locations—one in Oklahoma and one in West Virginia.

It is estimated that as many as four out of five adults in the United States don’t qualify for military service because of physical, mental or educational standards. Although not the primary goal, cadets exiting ChalleNGe academies across the country could qualify for service, creating a population of eligible young people who would otherwise have to rule out military programs, such as the National Guard, which assists with college tuition and offers good-paying jobs.

ChalleNGe is a quasi-military education program for disenfranchised youth. “The goal is to improve education, life skills and employment potential,” says Tasker. “The program accomplishes that by providing military-based training and supervised work experiences and advancing the program’s core components, including assisting participants in obtaining a high school diploma or equivalent.”

Cadets’ five and a half months at Camp Dawson are known as the program’s residential phase and is followed by a yearlong post-residential mentoring phase. All cadets are required to have an assigned mentor by their 13th week in the program. Mentors are chosen and trained with careful consideration for how they are able to fit into and help shape cadets’ futures after the residential phase is over. For many, their mentor is the difference between falling back into bad habits and moving forward into a promising future.

Building a Balance

“Their worst day should be any prior to attending the program,” says Tasker, who is the longest-serving ChalleNGe employee in the country. “MCA uses a whole-person approach to education and developing productive citizens. Coursework that is selected will help the cadets enter school and employment with the skills needed to perform.”

The curriculum is designed to give cadets options and applicable experience, including firefighting and hazardous materials classes, ACT preparation, an introduction to higher education courses courtesy of Pierpont Community & Technical College and introductory vocational courses in various skilled professions.

MCA works closely with West Virginia’s community and technical colleges, as well as employers throughout the state, to ensure cadets have the best possible route planned after graduation. Several employers visit ChalleNGe throughout the 22-week term, and a career fair is held for each class to give cadets a chance to learn more about positions that may be suitable for them.

Another aspect of the whole-person program involves health. Days at MCA begin at 5 a.m. with physical training and cleaning before breakfast. Meals at the academy are balanced; cadets are not allowed to consume excess sugar or caffeine. This kind of nutritional education is key for students who may not have had the best eating habits prior to coming to ChalleNGe. MCA has also added a food management learning course for those who might be interested in the culinary industry.

With all the fresh cooking and eating, MCA goes through $11,000 worth of lettuce alone each year, so ChalleNGe is developing an on-site agricultural program. Currently in the beginning phases, greenhouses are being built next to the dining hall where cadets will grow and use their own produce. The agricultural program is just a part of an ongoing effort by the National Guard to seek out elements of stewardship and responsibility opportunities in its communities. MCA recently started composting and has installed a water catchment system, roofline irrigation and gravel around the hoop house greenhouse.

Cultivating Leaders

Since the first ChalleNGe graduation at MCA in February 1994, 3,279 cadets have graduated from West Virginia’s program. To accommodate an ever-increasing interest, their staff has grown from 29 to 60 full-time teachers, administrators and members of the cadre, the name for the training staff that helps cadets in their ChalleNGe journey.

Squad Leader Michael Ayersman is now a part of the cadre, but his journey at MCA began 16 years ago when he graduated in 1999. “By chance, I came to a class reunion and had a meet and greet with the administration. They asked what I was doing and if I wanted to work here,” says Ayersman. “I had worked as a cop, and I said, ‘You wouldn’t want to hire me,’ but I put up the paperwork and was hired in about three weeks.”

Ayersman and the cadre take on a huge role for the cadets. They are crucial to the structure so many cadets crave, and they become mentors and instructors as well. “The most important part of my job is the kids,” he says. “One of the reasons I took the job was because when I was a cop, I kept seeing the same kind of people doing stupid stuff. If these kids can get on the right path here they’re not making bad decisions out on the street.”

Along with the cadre, the MCA’s teachers have answered the call to educate at-risk young men and women. Stanley DeCusatis taught social studies in Maryland’s Harford County Schools, where he frequently worked with at-risk youth. “After I retired, I felt like I was spinning my wheels,” he says. “I felt like I wasn’t done with kids, and I saw they had a job opening here.”

DeCusatis joined the staff in January 2014 and, since then, has taken on the role of social studies teacher and staff librarian. Cadets are required to have a book with them at all times, and without TVs, computers and cell phones, they learn to embrace reading as entertainment during their free time. “They start to learn reading is enjoyable, not a punishment. I try to find out what they like and pick out books for them based on that,” he says. “Here, the kids don’t have distractions. They come in a little more motivated. Teaching’s never easy, but there’s an opportunity to change these kids.”

And change they do. From staff to cadets and their families, there’s no denying the stark contrast between cadets on the first day of MCA to graduation day. For Ashley Pudder, a graduate from Class 1 2014, ChalleNGe has been the difference on the path to realizing her dreams.

Originally from Elkins, Pudder came to MCA as a quiet, reserved girl who wanted the opportunity to graduate early. She achieved her goal of early graduation while gaining so much more. “It gave me the confidence to speak out and stand up for myself,” she says. Along with that confidence, MCA gave her $7,500 in scholarships to help pay for her degree in medical assisting from West Virginia Junior College. When she completes the program next year, she will be the first out of seven brothers and sisters to not only graduate high school with a diploma but receive a college degree.

“I’m really proud of her,” says Joann Pudder, Ashley’s mother. “She has achieved a lot. She has goals, and she meets every one of them. Kids her age say they’ll do things all the time but never do, but I know if she puts her mind to something, she’ll get it done.”

Set Apart

Mountaineer ChalleNGe Academy stands out, not only from other schools but from other academies. In February 2015, MCA received the highest assessment score ever awarded to a ChalleNGe Academy program in the United States.

Their commitment to being the best stems from a passion for setting youth on the right path. That comes straight from the top, as Hoyer visits ChalleNGe frequently. He gets to know each cadet and encourages them to join the National Guard. As an advocate for positive growth in West Virginia’s jobs and people, Hoyer knows the significance ChalleNGe plays for the future of the Mountain State and thinks the work and dollars spent are well worth it. “Nothing changes unless someone makes the change,” he says. “These kids want and need to know what right looks like.”