For the Reporter

The Washington Youth Academy celebrated the graduation of 16 students from the Kent and Auburn areas during commencement ceremonies on June. 20.

The students who have completed the program include Kent teens Luis Contreras Sanchez; Ana Garcia; Damian Hill; Tholman “T.J” Polling Luey; Diego Munoz Alegria; Jose Francisco Romero; Carlos Santos Palma; Siomara Siguenza; and Jon Smith.

Also graduating from Auburn were: Sha’Lyn Chelly; Braulio Cruz-Chavez; Cassandra Del Toro-Franco; David Odarchuk; Abner Ortega Pacheco; Sergio Padilla; and Faith Ruelas.

The students were among 140 graduates, the second largest graduation class since the academy was established in 2009. The students will all return to high school to get their diploma, some enrolling in summer school, or seek an alternative path to finish their high school education, such as a GED or by joining Running Start.

The mission of the Washington Youth Academy is to provide a highly disciplined, safe and professional learning environment that empowers at-risk youth to improve their educational levels and employment potential and become responsible and productive citizens of the state of Washington.

The academy is a division of the National Guard Youth ChalleNGe Program. Established under authority of both federal and state law, the WYA is a state-run residential and post-residential intervention program for youth who have dropped out of high school or are at risk of dropping out.

The free program places cadets in a 22-week intensive residential phase. For the following year, the youth receives intense mentoring and placement followup. The school is in Bremerton, but anyone from around the state can apply.

Students can earn up to eight credits. The average number of credits eared by cadets who completed the program this cycle was 7.9 – achieving a 98.5 percent credit retrieval rate. Comparatively, a full year at a high school is six credits. That means students earned more than a year’s worth of credits in just 22 weeks.

Graduating cadets had an average GPA for academy courses of 3.6, which is a high B-plus. As a comparison, 52 of the graduating cadets had a grade point average less than a D before coming to the academy.

Only 14 of the cadets who entered the program had enough credits to be classified as seniors. After commencement, 92 graduates of the program have the credits needed to be classified as seniors.

Students volunteered 7,800 hours of community service to the local community, valued at $67,000, according to Washington Youth Academy director Larry Pierce.

“We had 140 cadets of diverse backgrounds and situations come together to become one cohesive unit,” Pierce said. “They overcame obstacles and shared both dreams and setbacks, as well. They shared laughter and tears, but they changed together and they prevailed together.

More than 1,500 students have gone through the program since its inception.

For more information, visit mil.wa.gov/youth-academy.

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