August 5, 2010 Page 11REVEILLE (CS)

By SGT. DAVID LANDRUMCamp Shelby Public Affairs

The boys stared at the obstaclein front of them. Four stumps,each with two notches in them,stood before them. Armed withfour pieces of 4 x 4 post, the teamhad to navigate the obstacle.

“You better come up with aplan, Mighty Joe Young is com-ing,” the instructor shouted. “Youare about to lose a lot of people.”

The team huddled together for afew moments. Then, armed with aplan, they attacked the obstacle.

Thirty-seven cadets from theMississippi Youth ChallengeAcademy traveled to Camp Tiakin southern Forrest County July 27to take on the ChallengingOutdoor Personal Experience(COPE) course. COPE consists ofa low course and a high course. 1stSgt. (ret.) Bill Taylor, assistantplatoon leader for Alpha platoon,said the course focuses on bring-ing out the best in each cadet.

“The low course events are forteam building exercises and prob-lem solving,” Taylor said. “Highcourse events are for confidencebuilding.”

Attacking such events as thethree-wire traverse and the spiderweb, the cadets had to form a planand implement it using teamwork.Norman Huggins, a cadet fromTupelo, said their initial attemptsto work together did not go overwell with each cadet.

“A lot of them come from badplaces and it’s hard to get every-one to do it because everyonewants to go out on their own,”Huggins said. “This is probablythe first time they’ve had to worktogether as a team and it’s hard toget them to work as a team.”

In 1993, more than 4.3 millionpeople in the United States,between the ages of 16 to 24, werehigh school dropouts. InMississippi alone, more than8,000 kids drop out of theMississippi public school systemeach year. For young men andwomen over age 25, the numbersof dropouts are rising. More than40 percent of Mississippians overage 25 did not graduate highschool and 87 percent of the peo-ple behind bars in the state alsodid not graduate high school.

To combat this issue, Congressprovided funding, through the1993 Defense Authorization Act,to start a pilot program aimed atdetermining whether or not thelives and skills of kids who dropout of school can be improvedthrough military-based training,including work experience incommunity service and conserva-

tional projects. Formally called the National

Guard Civilian YouthOpportunities Program, this pro-gram was implemented in 15states by the end of 1994.Currently, the number of YCPshas grown to 26 states with everystate in the nation petitioning tohave this program. SinceMississippi adopted its youth pro-gram, more than 6,100 young menand women have graduated fromits doors.

“The biggest thing they get outof (The YCP) is it breaks down theindividual nature that they come inhere with because we are an at-risk youth program,” Taylor said.“A lot of our kids come in herewith issues (and the program)allows them to look beyond theirown personal issues and work as ateam.”

“When I got here at first, it was

a big shock for me,” Huggins said.“The longest I’ve ever been awayfrom home is a week. I got a littlehomesick, at first, but then I madefriends and, once you makefriends, it got a lot easier.”

Taylor said kids come to theprogram from all over the state ofMississippi.

“We have kids from Jacksonworking with kids from Soso,” hesaid. “We’re getting a good bal-ance of kids that have spent theirlives in the woods with kids thatspent theirs on concrete and theyhave a chance to share their indi-vidual knowledge and build thegroup.”

There are two phases to theYCP – a residential phase and apost- residential phase.

The Residential Phase is a 22-week military-based training andeducation program. This phasefocuses on developing the cadet

from the ground up. “It’s kind of like Basic

Training,” Taylor said. “We tearthem down and build them backup to become better people.”

In the Residential Phase, theNational Guard developed anintervention model using eightcore components: leadership andfollowership, service to the com-munity, job skills, life copingskills, education excellence,responsible citizenship, health,sex education, nutrition and phys-ical fitness.

The Post - Residential Phase isthe one year period followinggraduation. This plan calls for theassignment of a mentor to provideadvice and assistance, regularmonitoring of the graduate’s sta-tus, progress in obtaining employ-ment and/or pursuing further edu-cation, and providing supportwithin the means of the program.

Huggins said he has a plan inplace once he graduates from theYCP.

“I’m planning to join the AirNational Guard. My brother anddad did it,” he said. “Right now,I’m just trying to get through andget my GED, hopefully get myhigh school diploma. I want to goto college as well. I will take col-lege courses that they offer outhere so that when I go to the mili-tary, I will have a little bit of col-lege behind me.

“It’s very beneficial to anyonethat has a problem in school anddoesn’t think they’re going tomake it anywhere in life. Theycome here, they’ll make some-thing of their lives,” Huggins con-tinued. “Anything they think theycan do, they will be able to dohere. Anything you set your mindto is a possibility.”

Obstacles don’t stop Youth Challenge cadets