BATTLE CREEK, Mich. — School is in session on the grounds of the VA Medical Center in Battle Creek. At first, it looks like basic training. Instead, it's a second chance for teenagers.
"I really didn't want to come here, if I'm being honest with you," admitted Cadet Jaiden Shorter. "But at the end of the day, I looked at the options. And really, this was my only option."
Jaiden lost both of his parents to cancer in 2021, an unimaginable path for anyone, and Jaiden needed help.
"So that's my story," he added. "My anger just built up. I started doing things I wasn't supposed to do."
He found help at the Michigan Youth Challenge Academy. The MYCA is a five-and-a-half-month residential program for at-risk youth. Though, they prefer the term "at-promise."
"They're good kids; they just need a chance," explained recruiter Joan Miller. "They need an opportunity to get things going in the right direction."
Miller meets with future cadets at informational sessions around the state. Youth come from all over Michigan.
"There's just a big melting pot of different kids," she said. "Usually they're struggling in some area of their life."
Miller explains the academy targets young adults struggling to stay in the traditional educational system and those who can't stay out of the justice system.
It's not easy here but it takes work to truly transform.
Miller said, "They have to be willing. We have to have something to work with to help them get it going in the right direction."
The program uses a military model with the teens learning how to be a cadet at Fort Custer.
"They're in the barracks over there," Miller said. "They're getting up early learning their code of conduct, how to make their bed, how to fold their clothes, how to march, all of that."
Once school starts, it's an all-day thing with career and technical education in the mix. The cadets have the opportunity to earn their high school diploma, a GED or credit recovery.
None of what happens sticks without proper support from a mentor in their community. The cadets have a post-residential action plan with a mentor identified before session even begins.
"And then when they go home, that mentor is going to stick with them for 12 months," Miller said. "That mentor is going to follow along with them on that PRAP, and hopefully help them transition back home or to whatever's next and keep that momentum going."
Sometimes that includes higher education or a job. Jaiden, for instance, has a better idea of his path forward now.
He said, "I want to go to a college and get a degree in mechanical engineering and use that to become a jeweler."
Graduation for Jaiden and the rest of his platoon is June 15. One hundred eighteen cadets will graduate.
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