Valley students among academy grads

September 5, 2006

The Alaska Military Youth Academy Challenge Program graduated 180 students, 24 of them from the Mat-Su Valley, Friday morning at Fort Richardson.

The graduates are part of the academy's ChalleNGe Program Class 2006-01, and have put the total number of graduates from the program at more than 2,000.

&#8220The men and women who graduated today have successfully completed more than five months at the most demanding school in Alaska,” Academy Director Tim Jones said in a press release.

The academy provides an alternative high school to volunteer applicants at risk of not achieving success in adulthood, according to the academy's Web site.

Members of this graduating class also put in more than 10,000 hours of community service while at the academy.

&#8220If you multiply the hours of community service performed by this class by the current Alaska minimum wage, the cadets gave more than $75,000 in service to Alaska,” Jones said.

Friday's graduates will still be working with the program, however, during a year's worth of required reporting to academy staff members and volunteer mentors.

The academy, which is accredited by the Northwest Association of Accredited Schools, is currently accepting applications for the next class of ChalleNGe beginning April 2007.

Valley students among the graduates:

From Palmer: Christopher Butters, Samir Chettfour, Andrew Eppelshmeimer, Dylan Gurney, Case Huston, Andrew Imhof, Kenneth Michlig, Jason Nolin;

From Wasilla: James Beall, James Boensch, Clayton Bonty, Shyla Callaway, Aubrey Equevilley, Calvin Gardner, John Hollen, Stephen Lofton, Jacob McRee, Joseph Ortega, Christopher Sandoval, Jobie Kittson;

From Sutton: Joseph Gadola, Matthew Gadola;

And from Big Lake: Ryan McDonald.

- Michael Rovito