“Never be defined by your past. It was a lesson, not a life sentence.”
– Sunburst Youth Academy quote of the day
Author unknown
Victor Rodriguez’s shot at redemption was first spotted on a discarded flyer on the restroom floor of his high school. With white block letters and folded neatly in thirds, the Sunburst Youth Academy pamphlet read, “Your Best Chance at a Second Chance.”
Rodriguez was skipping fourth-period history at Montclair High School. Although the flyer caught his eye, he didn’t pick it up from the floor.
“Eww, that’s just gross,” he said.
A period later, 18-year-old Rodriguez was called into the dean’s office to discuss his grades. Except for an A in math, he was failing everything. When the dean asked what his plans were for the future, he had no answer. He did know he felt isolated and like a failure. He was estranged from his family, flunking school, stoned on drugs much of the time, working at a fast-food joint and scraping together $500 a month to live in a room at his friend’s parents’ house.
There on the wall in the dean’s office was that pamphlet again. He asked to see it.
He read about a program that offered struggling students like him a government-funded chance to get back on track. Sunburst Youth Academy, which operates at the Joint Forces Training Base in Los Alamitos, pulls approximately 200 kids per session from six surrounding counties. It requires students to make a choice that takes them away from family, friends and even their phones for nearly half a year – but can drastically improve their futures.
More than 85% of those who make that choice and its accompanying commitments finish Sunburst.
U.S. Rep. Grace Napolitano, D-El Monte, of California’s 31st Congressional District is founder and co-chair of the bipartisan Congressional Youth Challenge Caucus. She calls the program “California’s best-kept secret,” because it is promoted mainly through word of mouth.
“For every…
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