A National Guard program aims to give at-risk kids a second chance.
About 20 miles outside of Washington nestled in the woods down the road from D.C.’s youth detention center in Laurel, Maryland, Capital Guardian Youth Challenge Academy cadets go through a rigid program designed to help youth between 15 and 18 years old get their high school diplomas and give them skills to succeed in life.
Blanca Santos and Zion Foster say they were heading in the wrong direction before enrolling in the academy.
“Not listening to my mother, so I came here to get back on track and get my own diploma,” Foster said.
“If I weren’t here I would most likely be off track in school with the same bad grades or at this point I most likely would have dropped out,” Santos said.
During the 17-month-long program, cadets spend five months living at the academy then 12 months at home with continued guidance from their mentors.
“We’re about discipline, we’re about structure, we’re about emotional growth,” director Phillip Burke said.
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Santos enrolled after her sister graduated.
“I saw everything that this academy had done for her and the ways that helped her be more disciplined, it helped her become a better person,” she said.
U.S. Marine Corps Pvt. Gabriel Ocampo Pliego is one of 6,000 cadets who have graduated from the program over the past 10 years.
“I want people to learn that no matter what mistakes you’ve done prior, it doesn’t make who you are today,” he said.
The academy is free to D.C. residents. The next class starts in late July.
The National Guard operates a total of 51 challenge programs across the country.
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