My Little Cruzer Update

[Mark B]

I've been on again off again in my diligence to the Cruzbike Forum. I claim Obcessive Compulsive Disorder as my excuse. Please allow me to elaborate.

On July 19th, I took my little cruzer and dropped her off at the Youth challenge Program http://www.ngycp.org/site/. It's a five and a half month program, plus a one year follow-up.... 17 1/2 months of instruction and follow up. It was a tough thing to do, but it was her choice and I think a good one. The program is for at-risk youth.... At risk of dropping out, or already dropped out of school. It's not just a credit mill, though. They have excellent instructors and they teach a lot of life skills. It's sponsored by the Naional Guard and takes place on a National Guard base, but there is no military commitment involved. There is, however, a lot of military type training and discipline. The best thing is, this program is free of charge! Well, sorta. You do have to provide the clothing and things they require. I think I spent $450 dollars on stuff, but if she sticks it out and makes it worth it, the money will have been well spent.

As I said, this program is sponsored by and run by National Guard personnel on a National Guard base. The first two weeks are hell weeks, they make no bones about that. These two weeks pass and after that, it levels off and they get more into schooling. This isn't a fly-by-night program, this is the real deal. We checked the program out pretty thoroughly and went to an orientation several weeks beforehand. We had been in contact with students past and present and knew fully what we were walking into. There wasn't any contact other than letter writing for the first two weeks. Why? Because the position we are in was either caused, or made possible by us. We need help and we have to step aside and let these people do what they do; we stayed out of it. My daughter ccould have quit if she wanted to. We left bus money there and they will put her on a bus if she quits. That's probably scarier to her than completing the work. Otherwise, you get a phone call from your child at the completion of the two week "shark attack" that signifies she is a full fledged cadet.

I made a pact with my daughter. The morning before we left her off, we did some beach combing and I picked out a likely looking rock out of some she had gathered. I promised her I would carry that rock with me everywhere I went for the next five and a half months and would rub it every time I was thinking about her. Also, everytime I put my hand in my pocket and felt that rock, I would think about her and give the rock a rub. When she comes home to stay, I will give the rock back to her. I think if she bails without completing the program, handing her that rock will be way worse than anything I might say to her. OTOH, five and a half months of polishing in my pocket and rubbing on it will be significant when I hand it to her on graduation day. That's what I'm looking forward to the most.

These first three are from PreChallenge graduation, sort of like graduating from boot camp to the real deal. She was selected as her platoons first guide-on, which is a pretty big honor.







These are from their field trip to Morro bay, during the first week of classes:

[img]http:







More later....

Mark

[Mark B]

We got the first report card and Mariah is pulling all A's! As I said before, she made color guard and in September, marched in the Pinedorado parade in Cambria, I believe. Here's some pictures of that. She's the one on the right side, with the rifle.




Here's a video I found while rooting around on the Web. It doesn't have the color guard, but it shows all four platoons marching:

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=62834867

We got to go up the very next weekend for family day. That was pretty cool. It was a lot of fun with bbq and lots of games for the little kids. They did raffles and other fund raising things and netted over $20,000 for the day! Family day is the one and only time the academy holds their hand out to raise money for things the NG doesn't fund, like field trips and uniforms. When you see the change in the kids, you don't mind anteing up a little. They were all so polite and respectful;they have really grown up in a short period of time. Mariah said she really likes it there and it shows. When 4:00 came around and it was time for the kids to return to formation, we got our last hugs and she trotted off. She felt her pocket, stopped suddenly and sprinted back for one last hug and to return her cell phone, which we had taken up to her for the day. The old Mariah would have tried to secret that phone away, but the new Mariah didn't want to get in trouble for having "contraband". I was impressed with the changes I saw in her; shes growing into a beautiful, nice young lady. Here's a pic from Family Day:



Being in color guard keeps her very busy. Drill Team and Color Guard get to go off base a lot. The day we were there, she said the night before they had been at a high school football game performing. They go to area high shools and will be doing some competitions, as well. Between all that and studies, she stays so busy that letters have slowed something fierce. We get our bi-weekly phone call, plus she has figured out how to work one of the Sgts into letting her sneak an extra call now and again. Actually, she has to get allergy shots and when she does that, she has to sit there for awhile to see if there is a reaction. She sometimes can convince the Sgt in charge to let her call. That's real nice of him.

On October 9th, we went up for open house and get to meet all her teachers, tour the school and see all her work. Then, we got to bring her home for the weekend, returning her on Monday. This was the first time she had been home since July 18!

More Later!

Mark

[Mark B]

The trip up to get my daughter went really fast for a four hour drive. I was at the gate about an hour early and they sent me packing. That was OK, though, because I needed more coffee anyway.

The place was packed with parents anxious to see their kids and kids that were anxious to see their parents. As usual, we couldn't go near the kids as they were going about their duties. They actually had class that morning and when they got done, they formed up and the cadre had us get off the walk as they marched the kids back to the barracks to change clothes and do some barracks maintenance before they locked down for the weekend. After the kids vacated the school buildings, they marched us in (OK, we really just kind of schlepped in), talked to us a little bit about what was going on and what to expect. Then, we got to go around to the classrooms, meet the teachers and look at some of the kids' work. In my daughter's homeroom, the kids wrote on the white board little messages for us. On one side were "Please Do" messages and on the other side were "Please Don't" messages from the kids to the parents. Some were funny, some were sad, most were very good.

After a few minutes of that, you could look around and just see that parents had seen enough and were ready for their kids. They made the announcement that the kids were on their way back over to the school area and that we should take up positions around the perimeter of the central area where the platoons would form up. The translation here; they marched the kids in, lined them up and tortured us for another ten minutes. They gave out awards to the kids for student of the month and physical fitness awards. They awarded the platoons ribbons for their overall improvement in three areas. Finally, the released the kids to us. My goodness was that fun!!!

The drive home was great. We got to talk a lot about things, catch up on lots and lots. We made a mistake in stopping for a late lunch. By the time we got on the road, we hit rush hour traffic in LA which took a couple extra hours. It was OK, though, as we got time to talk some more. It seemed to go by really fast but mom and sister kept calling, wanting to know if we were getting close. We rolled into the driveway and they were out front of the house for a round of hugs and tears. Our little house dog got all kinds of wired up when he saw Mariah. He was jumping around and excited to see her. I thought the poor little guy was just going to bust!

We had fun while she was home, even got to go for a bike ride with her. Here are some pics from home pass:





The drive back to camp was pretty uneventful. We left in plenty of time to make it back in the drop off window. Mariah was kind of antsy to get back, which I thought was good. She mostly wanted to assure she would be there in time so she wouldn't get "smoked". I got her in a little bit of trouble as I carried her things to the building for her. One of the sargeants stepped out the door and yelled at her to carry her own stuff and told her she's nothing special. I was kind of shocked, but she didn't hesitate with a prompt, "Yes, sergeant!" and snatched the things from my hands. They don't play at the adademy. Inside the door, the cadre had a table for check in. They searched her things, signed her in, checked her homework packet and took her temperature. Then, it was hugs and kisses before she marched upstairs to have her person searched.

I was amazed that the goodbyes were not as emotional this time. Just a little, but not bad. One of the sergeants said for me not to worry, they would take care of her and I replied I knew she was in good hands. We headed on down the long road for home and talked at length about the changes to our daughter. We made a stop at Firestone Walker in Buellton for a beer and some dinner. It was a late night and lots of miles on the car for the weekend, but well worth it.

More Later!

Mark

[Mark B]

I think you can all see why I have been so..... absent around here. This is the first of my children to go very far frrom home, let alone tackle such an ambitious undertaking. We are very proud of her and extremely happy in the program and what it has done for our family. It's the greatest program you never heard of. There are 33 such programs here in the States and let me tell you, they are doing fantastic work. If you know of kids that are struggling, or have dropped out, this program is one you can recommend with a clear conscience. The kids have to want to be there and you have to commit yourself, as well. This was huge for our family, but we are so happy and now that we're halfway through the program. The changes in the kids are astounding. People that knew Mariah and saw her over the weekend were amazed. Not that she was a bad kid, but she had attitude like a lot of teens do. They know it all and you can't tell them much. Now, they learn that they don't know much and are around people that will show them the way, sometimes the hard way. Pushups have a way of making you see the light, I guess!

Anyway, here are a few facts about the program from their website:

*The National Guard Youth ChalleNGe Program is an intervention program for at-risk youth consisting of a 22-week Residential Phase followed by a 12-month Post-Residential Mentoring Phase.
*The Residential Phase, set in a quasi-military environment, focuses on basic lifestyle changes approached through a rigorous program of education, training and service to the community.
*During the Post-Residential Phase, graduates are mentored by a caring adult who is a consistent and positive role model who works with the graduate to sustain his or her new positive lifestyle changes.
*ChalleNGe is administered by the National Guard Bureau (NGB) on behalf of the Department of Defense (DoD).
*There are 33 program sites located in 27 states and the territory of Puerto Rico.
To qualify for ChalleNGe, applicants must be drug-free high school dropouts between 16 and 18 years of age.
*On a daily per capita basis, ChalleNGe is
85% less expensive than High School
320% less expensive than Job Corps
433% less expensive than Juvenile Corrections
600% less expensive than Adult Corrections
660% less expensive than Private Military-style Programs
*ChalleNGe programs graduated 7,003 Corpsmembers for the current reporting period.
*Graduating Corpsmembers improved 1.7 grade levels in reading and 1.8 grade levels in math during the 22-week Residential Phase.
*Seventy percent of graduated Corpsmembers were awarded GED's, nearly double the 41% average pass rate for the same age group in reporting Adult Education programs
*Communities surrounding ChalleNGe facilities received the benefit of 590,665 hours of volunteer service to the community. This represents a value of $3,041,925 based on the Federal minimum wage.
*The ChalleNGe program's unique Friendly-Match Mentor model for all graduates has demonstrable benefits over conventional Stranger-Match mentoring models.

That's it, I'm done! Thank you for taking the time to read through all this.

Mark

[JonB]

Red flag + bad uniforms, that looks so North Korean

[John Tolhurst]

Dear Mark,
A big thanks for sharing a really wonderful story. Ain't family the most?

[Mark B]

Dear Mark,
A big thanks for sharing a really wonderful story. Ain't family the most?

Yes, John, family is the most and in the end, all there really is!

Mark

[buyagain]

Precious!!!!

[Sylvain]

*On a daily per capita basis, ChalleNGe is
85% less expensive than High School
320% less expensive than Job Corps
433% less expensive than Juvenile Corrections
600% less expensive than Adult Corrections
660% less expensive than Private Military-style Programs

How can something be more than 100% less expensive than anything else? 100% less expensive than anything means free...

[John Tolhurst]

*On a daily per capita basis, ChalleNGe is
85% less expensive than High School
320% less expensive than Job Corps
433% less expensive than Juvenile Corrections
600% less expensive than Adult Corrections
660% less expensive than Private Military-style Programs

How can something be more than 100% less expensive than anything else? 100% less expensive than anything means free...

You probably need to read that the other is x% more expensive than ChalleNGe.