{"id":28341,"date":"2023-09-21T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-21T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=28341"},"modified":"2023-09-22T06:42:13","modified_gmt":"2023-09-22T06:42:13","slug":"puerto-rico-guard-youth-program-develops-future-leaders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=28341","title":{"rendered":"Puerto Rico Guard Youth Program Develops Future Leaders"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Cadets with the Puerto Rico National Guard Youth ChalleNGe Academy celebrate their graduation at Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico, Ponce, Puerto Rico, Sept. 15, 2023. More than 220 cadets received their high school diplomas after completing a 22-week program. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by 2nd. Lt. Eliezer Soto)
\n (Photo Credit: 2nd. Lt. Eliezer Soto)<\/span>
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PONCE, Puerto Rico – More than 220 cadets with the Puerto Rico Youth ChalleNGe Academy graduated from the 22-week educational program with their high school diplomas and certificates in vocational or technical courses Sept. 15.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Youth ChalleNGe Academy Program has changed the lives of thousands of youths who \u2014 for one reason or another \u2014 abandoned their studies and saw in the Academy the opportunity to grow and develop, acquiring life skills and technical skills,\u201d said Maj. Gen. Miguel M\u00e9ndez, adjutant general of Puerto Rico. \u201cI congratulate each of these 223 youths who have taken this important step toward their future. \u201c<\/p>\n

The academy has graduated more than 8,000 young cadets in 24 years. It provides 16- to 18-year-olds who are dropouts or at risk with discipline in a quasi-military environment by focusing on academic education, leadership, physical training, personal growth and community service.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur academy is focused on rescuing youths from becoming school deserters or who are at risk, transforming their lives with useful tools so that they may continue studying or to help them join the workforce,\u201d said Matilde Almod\u00f3var Acosta, Youth ChalleNGe Academy director.<\/p>\n

\u201cFamily is an essential part of our training,\u201d said Edgardo Soto, the academy\u2019s public affairs and community coordinator. \u201cWe integrate parents through workshops about diverse topics while we train their children, which promotes a family and community environment in our academy that provides the necessary support to our cadets.\u201d<\/p>\n

Senior Airman H\u00e9ctor L\u00f3pez Rosa, a financial management technician with 156th Comptroller Flight, Puerto Rico Air National Guard, said the program had a positive impact on his son, Cadet Jan L\u00f3pez.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am extremely happy and proud of him and know that great things are coming for him in the future,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Cadet L\u00f3pez said he experienced frustrations at the beginning of the course but persevered, thanks to the support of his family and academy mentors.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing away from my family was my biggest challenge during this program, but it also motivated me to overcome any situation and complete the ultimate goal: graduating,\u201d said Cadet L\u00f3pez.<\/p>\n

\u00a0For more National Guard news<\/a><\/p>\n

National Guard Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n

National Guard Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cadets with the Puerto Rico National Guard Youth ChalleNGe Academy celebrate their graduation at Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico, Ponce, Puerto Rico, Sept. 15, 2023. More than 220 cadets received their high school diplomas after completing a 22-week program. (U.S. Air National Guard photo by 2nd. Lt. Eliezer Soto) (Photo Credit: 2nd. Lt. Eliezer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28343,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28341"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28341\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28344,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28341\/revisions\/28344"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}