 |
Guard's Youth ChalleNGe Nears 100,000 Grads
(February 28, 2010) |
|
| WASHINGTON, Feb. 24, 2010 – With increasing government and
private support, a National Guard program that helps high
school dropouts transform their lives is closing in on its
100,000th graduate.
“The National Guard is proud of the success of the National
Guard Youth ChalleNGe Program,” said Air Force Gen. Craig R.
McKinley, chief of the National Guard Bureau. “It is
essential that we reduce the number of high school dropouts,
and Youth ChalleNGe is part of the solution.”
|
 |
|
Air Force Gen. Craig R. McKinley, chief of the National Guard Bureau, speaks with Indianapolis 500 champion Dan Wheldon and NASCAR's Dale Earnhardt Jr. at the fifth annual Youth ChalleNGe Champions Gala in Washington, D.C., Feb. 23, 2010. The gala honored advocates of the National Guard Youth ChalleNGe Program, a 17-month voluntary intervention program that has graduated more than almost 100,000 former high dropouts since 1993. |
|
McKinley was hosted by retired Air Force Lt. Gen. John B. Conaway, chairman of
the National Guard Youth Foundation, along with several other corporate and
military leaders, politicians and celebrities at the 2010 Challenge Champions
Gala last night.
“General McKinley and the National Guard are not only fighting our nation's wars
overseas and helping here inside the United States, ... but they have another
mission – helping to save America's youth, so they can be productive citizens,”
Conaway said.
Highlights for the nation's second-largest mentoring program in the last year
include a jump in the percentage of federal dollars contributed to each state
from 60 percent to 75 percent; an Office of Management and Budget-directed $20
million boost in Defense Department money for the program for the 2011 fiscal
year; and increasing private support despite a challenging economy.
“I'm not doing it for nobody else,” said Jameka Micchell, a 17-year-old
ChalleNGe cadet from Georgia, who was selected to attend the gala. She is in the
17-month voluntary intervention program and has her heart set on joining the
92,850 young people who have graduated since 1993.
“I'm doing this for myself,” Micchell said, “because I realize that I need to
change.”
About 1.3 million students drop out of high school each year, costing the nation
more than $335 billion in lost wages, revenues and productivity over their
lifetimes, Youth ChalleNGe officials said.
“This is a national epidemic, and it is a national shame,” said Louisiana U.S.
Sen. Mary Landrieu. “We must do something about it, and this program does.”
High school dropouts are more likely to live in poverty, receive public
assistance, go to prison and face health problems and divorce. Life expectancy
is nine years shorter than a high school graduate. Of the $50 billion the
federal government spends on incarceration, $45 billion is spent on individuals
who did not get a high school diploma.
“Not only does this dropout rate cost our economy billions of dollars each year,
but it means that fewer and fewer Americans are able to succeed in this
economy,” Landrieu said. “It is our responsibility to provide opportunities –
not guarantees, but opportunities.”
The National Guard has been doing that since 1993, when the congressionally
mandated program was founded.
Twenty-seven states and Puerto Rico currently have the program; another five
states and the Virgin Islands have requested to add the program, which targets
16-to-18-year-old high school dropouts.
At the gala, J. Randolph Babbitt, administrator of the Federal Aviation
Administration, gave out the first two pilots' licenses he has personally
presented since he took office to two graduates of the Youth ChalleNGe Program.
Rick Hendrick, owner of Hendrick Motor Sports – home of NASCAR driver Dale
Earnhardt Jr. – announced 10 mechanic internships for cadets. And WWE superstar
MVP told of how he got caught up in street gangs and served a nearly 10-year
prison sentence before turning his life around.
“Crime pays, but you have to pay it all back with interest,” MVP said. “It is
through dedication, hard work and sacrifice you can achieve your dreams – not
through crime.”
“The cadets are just very, very inspirational,” said Indy 500 champion Dan
Wheldon of Panther Racing. “It really drives us on to be able to represent the
National Guard and the Youth ChalleNGe Program.”
Earnhardt said he sees the cadets as the true stars. “Their paths in life are
inspirational to all of us,” he said. “I don't give them advice: I listen.”
| |
Article and photo by Army SSgt. Jim Greenhill
National Guard Bureau public affairs office
Special to American Forces Press Service
Copyright 2010
Comment on this article |
|
