BREMERTON, Wash. - Amy Crigger's future was in jeopardy. Struggling in school and life, she made the life-changing choice to apply to the Washington Youth Academy, a decision she says was the best she ever made.
"I think that it has saved my life," Crigger said. "I do not regret coming here, and I appreciate all the cadre for pushing me through this."
"From the day operations planning began at the Washington Youth Academy in January 2008, the WYA adopted a continuous improvement philosophy," said Larry Pierce, WYA director from 2010-2019. "We continue to live that philosophy and embrace positive, meaningful change that improves services to our cadets and graduates and working conditions for our employees."
The WYA is a division of the National Guard Youth ChalleNGe Program. This program established under the authority of both federal and state law is a state-run residential and post-residential intervention for youth who have dropped out of high school or are at risk of dropping out. Youth ChalleNGe incorporates a highly structured quasi-military format emphasizing self-discipline, personal responsibility and positive motivation.
In 2011, the Rand Institute conducted a study and found the return on investment for students involved in ChalleNGe brings in a $2.66 for every dollar spent. Academy graduates are more likely to graduate high school, earn college credits and get jobs with a higher wage.
The WYA welcomed its first class in January 2009. By Class of 2018, it had more than 2,600 graduates.
However, there is a disparity in cadets from the eastern side of the state. "The Eastern Washington counties aren't applying in numbers equal to the western side," said Amy Steinhilber, the current WYA director. "I would also factor that around 50 to 70 percent of our youth applicants are impoverished in some capacity."
Finances are an essential factor as families do have a small monetary responsibility, including providing transportation for their student to attend the academy. It's a burden too significant for some, which Steinhilber says is unfortunate because they've seen a burgeoning recruitment population from the Tri-Cities area.
Considering that applications are already double what the WYA can accept, even without a campus located more centrally to the eastern side of the state, it's easy to see the need for a second location.
Steinhilber also highlighted the fact that the families have to drive the applicants to Bremerton for the on-site orientation and then, if they are accepted, will have to travel to and from the program four additional times. Often this can be a physical, psychological and financial barrier for the students and their families, especially in the winter months.
"Imagine if we're getting twice as many applicants than we can take now. If we'd open an academy on the eastern side of the state, there's no doubt in my mind that number would quadruple," Steinhilber said.
The WYA includes a 22-week intensive residential phase and a 52-week (one year) post-residential phase where the youth receives intense mentoring and placement follow-up. A class cycle is 154 days, including up to seven days for a home pass and placement activities for the post-residential phase. Placement activities include job search, educational appointments, vocational/technical training and a return to high school classes.
Program activities include academics, service to community, leadership, mentoring and personal development. Some small unit training and educational enhancement activities supplement the program including an additional 7th period in the academic program to assist individuals in need of extra assistance and limited special education services.
Students attend classes to learn life-coping skills. All graduates are trained in Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training, earn a food handlers card, and get certified in First Aid/CPR/AED. In further preparation for the post-residential transition, all cadets tour two of the three campuses for Bates Technical College and experience hands-on activities related to various trades and vocations.
In the 10-year history of the youth academy, it's easy to see its impact on students throughout the state of Washington. Melissa Welsh, a former cadet, commented that the academy was able to teach her things she felt she wouldn't have learned otherwise.
"It helped me get better as a person," Welsh said. "Ever since I got back home to start post-res I was mentioning the academy to any students that were having grade issues or was at risk of dropping out. I loved talking about it. I am also thankful for my nature science teacher for taking me on the career day fair trip that had me find out about this place."
With a retention rate holding at more than 12 percent better than the national standard of 70 percent (the program achieved 90 percent in December 2016), the WYA has maintained an average of 138 cadets graduating each class cycle over the last five years.
The key to any ChalleNGe program's longevity and success is building and maintaining supportive partnerships in the state it serves, beginning with the educational infrastructure. In Washington where education is designated as a "paramount duty" in the articles of its constitution, the founders were keen to position the WYA as a partner with the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI).
In establishing the WYA as a credit recovery program, OSPI ensured it would always strengthen and never compete with its primary referral partners -- the schools. In sharing the goal of on-time graduation with more than 300 school districts and jurisdictions statewide, the program engendered a multitude of instant youth applicant referral partners.
Demand for the program continues to result in qualified, target applicants being turned away over the last four cycles due to space limitations. The WYA maintains a "future candidates" and "waiting" list to address this demand.
At no point during the last ten years in operation has the academy failed to exceed the national retention standard of 70 percent. The average retention rate over the past five years (current class levels included at week 11) is 85 percent while the average for the past two years -- 87 percent - attests to the Academy's continual drive toward excellence in serving the youth of Washington state.
"[It's] one of the greatest places on earth for young men and women that would like to make changes in their life," said Kathy Russell, a grandmother of a former cadet.
Russell said that she had seen firsthand all the incredible changes to her grandson, from more self-esteem, confidence, new skills, and a very respectful attitude and school grade improvements.
The interaction between the cadets and staff at the WYA does not end after they graduate the residential phase. After the cadets finish the residential aspect of the WYA, they begin a post-residential mentorship for the next year.
"Back in the early '90s when they were building the skeleton of this program, they didn't have a mentorship piece," Steinhilber said. "When they finally tacked on the mentoring initiative it was so we could build a lifeline back to the skills that they were learning here at the academy and keep them connected."
The academy staff entirely empowers the mentors involved in phase two of the WYA. They fill out paperwork, get background checks and receive training from the WYA staff.
Steinhilber believes mentors are the key to success for the cadets.
The mentors help WYA staff stay in contact with the cadets and get visibility on their successes after graduation from the residential program. The WYA foundation provides opportunities for jobs and scholarships and presents the various stakeholders of the organization a quantifiable result from the academy.
Ten years of success at the Washington Youth Academy is made possible by the relationship between staff, cadets, mentors, and parents, working in concert with the school system, allowing more than 2,600 students to recover credits and get back on track to graduate. Imagine how many more students could benefit from this resource through a second campus.
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