Photo By Brandon Honig | McKenzie Sanchez tells fellow Sunburst Youth ChalleNGe Academy cadets to follow their...... read more read more
Subscribe
New cadets at Sunburst Youth ChalleNGe Academy are in for a rude awakening — a 4:30 awakening to drill sergeant-style screaming and physical training the first morning. The cadre push you, try to scare you, and eventually break you, according to recent graduate Christina Moreno, so then they can remake you.
“We couldn’t believe it was real,” she said June 11, after 22 weeks in the voluntary program for at-risk youths. “Our first week, we were like, ‘Oh my god, what did we do?’”
Moreno was one of many who almost pulled out of Sunburst in the early going, but instead, all 53 girls who enrolled in Class 17 also completed the grueling National Guard-run program.
“We had a lot of breakdowns, a lot of times we told them to call our moms, and we almost left,” she said. “I was so close to going home, but [I stayed] because of the girls. We kept each other going.”
In all, 201 of the 216 students who arrived at Joint Forces Training Base Los Alamitos, California, in January stayed for the full 22 weeks on base. With that 93 percent retention rate, Sunburst ranked at the top of the nation’s 37 Youth ChalleNGe academies, a position it has held continuously for four years.
Life Lessons
The cadre at Sunburst pushed the cadets through 154 days of hard physical training, discipline and academics. They demanded commitment and excellence, and they yelled until “everybody hated them.” In the beginning, Moreno said, “they’re so tough on you, it seems as if they don’t care.”
As the cadets learn and grow, however, the demands of Sunburst become easier to them. And as they mature, the interactions between cadet and cadre change.
“[After about a month], they start to ease up and talk to you, try to get to know you. And from then on, you make a bond and a relationship with them,” Noah Brooks said June 11, the day of his graduation from Sunburst. “They really care about me and what I’m going to be in the future. They want me to succeed in life, and I really look up to them.”
Giving students what Moreno called life lessons is a daily part of the job for the cadre, whose cadets often have criminal histories, came from unhealthy environments or endured abuse. Those quiet moments are often the most meaningful, according to Sunburst graduates, as they instill values that will last a lifetime.
“They taught me that integrity is one of the most important things you can have in life, because without integrity, you won’t succeed,” Brooks said. “Working hard is everything.”
The Work Isn’t Over
Over 78 percent of Class 17’s cadets made the Honor Roll, with a grade point average of 3.7 or higher. Twenty-five students also earned a high school diploma or equivalency credential while at Sunburst, and together the cadets contributed more than 10,500 hours of community service work. They also learned how to carry themselves professionally, prepare a resume and balance a checkbook.
But after 22 weeks, Sunburst has to let the kids sink or soar on their own.
“Don’t expect everything to be alright when you get out of Sunburst,” said Ivan Torres, who completed the residential program in December as part of Class 16. “Going in there and fixing yourself is the easy part. When you come out, everything [else] is going to be the same. It’s up to you to make the difference in your life.”
The same old problems may persist at home or in school, and the people who used to be your friends may look at you differently now that you’ve matured, he said. It can be a challenge, trying to do the right thing.
Torres was speaking Sunday, June 12, the day after the Class 17 graduation, at a youth resource fair organized to help Sunburst graduates — and other youths — as they transition to adulthood. Israel Siguenza, who also was part of last year’s Class 16 and attended the resource fair, learned about opportunities to earn his way through college with the help of programs offered by the Los Angeles Police Department and Long Beach City College.
“Financially, I’m good — my parents could pay for my education,” Siguenza said. “But I’d rather do it on my own, be my own man.”
Several other Sunburst graduates who attended the fair received job offers on the spot. There also was information available on a wide range of topics, such as mentoring programs, health care, LGBT resources, homeless assistance, addiction treatment and cadet programs.
In all, 60 organizations that provide free counseling and other services to youths in six counties came to Anaheim for the first My Brother’s Keeper SoCal Challenge Community Resource Fair. Sunburst plans to host a similar public event twice a year going forward, in conjunction with each class graduation.
The fair was presented through a partnership between Sunburst and the My Brother’s Keeper (MBK) initiative, which the White House launched in 2014 to address opportunity gaps faced by young men of color and to ensure all young people can reach their full potential. Sunburst’s student population is a diverse mix of boys and girls from different backgrounds, though most are young men of color.
“We work intensively with the cadets for nearly six months, instilling them with the values, work ethic and skills they need to excel later in life,” said Lt. Col. Joel Armstrong, director of Sunburst. “One of the most difficult things we have to do is watch them leave after graduation, knowing we can no longer provide daily guidance. By gathering together in one place a wide swath of resources to help all our graduates, we can further set them up for success after high school.”
A Beginning, Not an End
Before Sunburst, McKenzie Sanchez was tired. She was tired of sneaking out, tired of fake friends, tired of seeing disappointment in her parents’ eyes. And she was tired of seeing friends die or get pregnant. But most of all, she was tired of being told she would never graduate or become the person she aspired to be.
That’s why she entered Sunburst.
“We can now walk with a greater sense of accomplishment,” she said graduation day. “Nobody, not even our blood, can tell us that our dreams are unachievable.”
Sanchez, who was chosen by her Sunburst peers and faculty to speak on Class 17’s behalf at graduation, said the cadets’ achievements at Sunburst proved they can attain any goal with hard work.
“Sunburst didn’t just hand us a uniform and the strength to do push-ups,” she told an audience of more than 2,000. “The school, along with the sergeants, have also given us the tools to strive for better, to not just settle for something below our expectations.”
Sanchez urged the graduates to take the lessons learned at Sunburst with them. She praised the academy for the values it instilled and reminisced about the lifelong memories and friendships it created. Finally, though, she warned the cadets not to be complacent or too proud of their achievements thus far.
“We used to live by the limitations of others. Now we’ve met the challenges of Sunburst,” she said. “Yet don’t allow Sunburst to be the best thing that has ever happened to you, because this is not the end, but the beginning.
“Today is the first day of the rest of your life. Stay true to yourself and be all that you dream of being.”
| Date Taken: | 06.16.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 06.16.2016 16:30 |
| Story ID: | 201430 |
| Location: | LOS ALAMITOS, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 227 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
This work, 'Be all that you dream of being': Sunburst Academy shows youths their potential, by Brandon Honig, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
