CAMP DAWSON, W.Va. — Seventy cadets graduated in a Friday ceremony at the Mountaineer ChalleNGe Academy North at Camp Dawson near Kingwood.
It was the 60th graduating class in program history, pushing the total number of graduates to 5,432.
The Mountaineer ChalleNGe Academy takes at-risk youths and puts them through a 22-week quasi-military program where eight core components are taught.
Cadets recognized Friday represent 27 counties statewide, and at 10 each, Monongalia and Kanawha counties had the highest representation.
More than half of the class will move straight to the work world, 20% into vocational fields, 14% will continue in the Mountaineer Job Challenge, 6% are headed to college, and 4% are military bound.
MCA North Director Dianna Trickett said over the past 22 weeks the cadets have had good days and bad days but they’ve been very similar to the challenges of being an adult by design.
“It is their grit. It is their determination that just drives them like nothing else,” Trickett said. “As staff here, we get to see it two times a year, and it’s the greatest job on earth.”
West Virginia National Guard Major Holli Nelson, director of Strategic Communications and Government Affairs, delivered the keynote address to cadets and families. Nelson is also an MCA graduate and told cadets they made the same difficult choice she did, and their future is only limited by how hard they work and persevere.
“What I see here today are bright, talented, confident, and courageous young men and women who have made the same choice,” Maj. Nelson said. “You chose the path less followed among your peers. You dug down and found confidence in yourselves. You stuck it out, and here I am today about to walk across the stage for graduation.”
Cadet and Corps Commander Eric Farkas, the son of Gerald and Rhonda Farkas of Tunnelton, was recognized as the top overall cadet with the Robert C. Byrd Distinguished Cadet Award. Farkas also earned the “Iron Mike” award for physical fitness excellence and was also the winner of the Hawken Challenge, which tests cadets physically and academically.
Farkas joined because he wanted a “head start,” he plans to attend the Job Challenge Academy to learn welding before joining the West Virginia National Guard with hopes of earning an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point.
“Not because I was struggling in school or anything like that,” Farkas said. “I wanted a fast track ahead of everybody—faster to college, faster to the military, about two years ahead of everybody.”
Over the 22-week period, cadets are put in situations to test limits, encourage teamwork, and take initiative to solve problems.
“Strive for leadership and try to get ahead of others, lead them, show them the way through, and help them as much as possible,” Farkas said.
Farkas also delivered remarks during the ceremony and told his peers they had learned to find something positive in every situation during their stay at Camp Dawson.
“I learned not everybody is in the same condition I’m in,” Farkas said. “Everybody is in their own world; they have their own things to live up to and their own standards, but either way, they’re all the same people.”
“It truly is a transformational program,” Maj. Nelson said. “Our kids come in, and in 22 weeks they’re completely different people, and they believe in themselves.”