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Jul 16, 2006

EDUCATIONAL BOOT CAMP HELPS TEENS GET BACK ON TRACK

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KHON-TV, HI
By Gina Mangieri

Teen-agers with academic or behavior problems are getting a second chance at a military-style educational boot camp. Nearly 150 teens age 16 to 18 will live and work like soldiers at Barber’s Point for several months. They’re trying to get back on track with school, and with life.

After flunking 2 years of high school, Ernest Jackson was about to give up.

“I felt like I couldn’t change, like it was too late,” says Jackson, a Kapolei High School student starting the Hawaii National Guard Youth Challenge Academy. “I couldn’t really do anything to proceed—I wouldn’t be able to catch back up. So I just stopped doing my work.”

But Jackson hopes this educational boot camp will get him to graduation.

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