Youth Challenge Pt. 2: The Tough Early Days

They’ve made it through Day 1, but there’s still five months to go.

The first two weeks of the Oregon National Guard Youth Challenge Program greatly determines who makes it, and who calls it quits. And For five Central Oregon cadets, their first week has been anything but a walk in the park.

These teens are used running the show back at home, but now, they’re the ones following orders. It’s a foreign world to cadets like 18-year-old Mele Carson of Prineville.

?You have to do everything by the numbers the first few weeks, so when you’re in the shower they say, ‘Right arm, 15 seconds, go!’ Or when you brush your teeth, they say, ‘Top right, go!’? said Carson.

For the cadets, gone are the days of televisions, cell phones, iPods or surfing the Internet.

?They do have computer accessibility, but it’s strictly for school needs,? said program director Dan Radabaugh.

During these first two weeks, the cadet’s focus is strictly on learning the rules of the program and trying to make it to Week 3, when school starts.

The intense discipline and structure is taking it’s toll on 19-year-old Nicole Eytchison of Bend.

?I miss my parents so much. And I’m not used to this structure because they’re so strict,” said Eytchison. ?It’s just so embarrassing when you’re on the spot.?

Anthony Reed, 18, of Redmond also struggled, and wanted to quit on the third day, but his family and friends helped convince him otherwise.

?I feel like it’s kind of like karma or payback,? said Reed with a sly smile. ?Maybe I kind of deserved this because I was never really on the straight and narrow the last four years.?

Seventeen-year-old Frank Ayson’s struggles are much deeper. He hasn’t spoken to his family yet about wanting to quit, but he is convinced it’s the right decision.

?I’ve already almost broken a couple times over the past couple of days,? said Ayson. ?And I think if I get out now, I think I’ll still have a chance, you know? If I break while I’m in here, I’ll either go to juvenile hall or something else bad will happen.?

Most cadets who quit the program will do so in the first few weeks.

At the end of Week 2, the intense Pre-Challenge part of the program is over, and school is right around the corner.

But before school, Oregon Youth Challenge officials honor the cadets with a ceremony, where cadets get their name tags and ribbons.

Many of these kids, like Jared Hettick of Culver, haven’t experienced an accomplishment like this before.

?I thought I felt proud before, but this is — I didn’t really work then,” Hettick said. ?I like, did it halfway. I’ve been giving it 97 percent on this. Some parts I slack off, but I feel pretty proud of myself, making it through that.?

Some cadets have dropped out of the program, but one who didn’t is Frank Ayson.

?Talked to my mom, and she said, ‘You need to stick it out, there’s a lot of people that you’ll let down,’? Ayson said.

Anthony Reed found out recently what might have happened if he had dropped out.

?Four or five of my friends were driving around and got busted with a bunch of drugs,” Reed said. “And I realized if I wouldn’t have made the choice to be here that I’d have been in that car, and I’d be in jail right now with them.?

Now all five of these Central Oregon cadets will join with more than 100 others and begin the school phase of the program.

This is why many have come.

The challenge has just begun.