The Alaska Military Youth Academy will celebrate the 55th class of students and more than 26 years of service to the State of Alaska as Class 2020-3 graduates 91 cadets from its ChalleNGe program on Wednesday, Dec. 23 at 9 a.m.
Due to JBER COVID-19 restrictions and community gathering limitations, the graduation ceremony will be available on Facebook Live at www.facebook.com/GOAMYA for families and the public. In-person attendance is limited to the Alaska Military Youth Academy staff and cadets.
During their 22-week Residential Phase at the AMYA ChalleNGe program, the corps of cadets focused on academic excellence, leadership and followership, physical fitness, life coping skills, responsible citizenship, vocational training and service to the community.
Class of 2020-3 provided more than 1282.5 hours of community service; 55 cadets earned their high school credentials; and others earned 7.0 to 7.5 transferrable credits each. 35 cadets donated 29 units of blood potentially saving 87 lives. 68 cadets completed financial literacy training, and all cadets completed training in financial responsibility.
Class 20-3 cadets will join nearly 6,100 previous graduates since 1994. The graduates come from communities all over Alaska including Grayling, Nome, Kotzebue, Sitka, Juneau, Fairbanks, North Pole, the Kenai peninsula, Municipality of Anchorage, and the Mat-Su Valley. The program is co-sponsored under a cooperative agreement between the National Guard Bureau and the State of Alaska, at no cost to those selected to attend.
All cadets participate in a year-long, post-residential phase where graduates return to their communities to put into practice the life skills principles they received at AMYA, and to continue their education (high school, college or vocational schools), enter the workplace, or enter the military. The goal of this phase is for graduates to sustain and build upon the gains made during the residential phase while serving as productive members of society.
The Alaska Military Youth Academy continues to fulfill its mission “to help intervene in and reclaim the lives of youth and produce program graduates with the values, skills, education and self-discipline necessary to succeed as adults.”
