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Aug 4, 2006

AT-RISK TEENS GET SECOND CHANCE

Bakersfield Californian, CA
By Marilee Shrider

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One more second chance. That’s all Richard Core wants. He’s only 17 but knows he’s already used up his share of second chances.

It’s a story we parents have heard before. Richard started hanging out with the wrong crowd his freshman year at North High School. He stopped confiding in his mom about what he did and where he went. He made the wrestling team, but was cut because of poor grades. He made it to school in the mornings, but never to class, preferring to hang out in the bathrooms, where he whiled away the hours laughing and joking with friends.

He started independent study classes last year, but was on track to drop out. His exasperated parents were looking “anywhere and everywhere” for help, and wondering where they would find the money to pay for it, when a friend of a friend told them about the California National Guard Grizzly Youth Academy.

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