An Effingham County teen graduated from the National Guard-sponsored Youth Challenge Academy at Fort Stewart on Saturday at commencement ceremonies to be held at the Macon City Auditorium.
Jared Lancaster of Rincon successfully completed the 22-week, in-residence youth development program for at-risk youth located at Fort Stewart.
The National Guard’s Youth Challenge Program helps to reclaim the lives of “at-risk” youth to produce graduates with the values, skills, education and self-discipline necessary to succeed as adults.
A preventative rather than remedial program, YCA targets youth who are unemployed, drug and law free high school dropouts ages 16-18 years of age.
The Georgia National Guard operates two YCA campuses, the original at Fort Stewart near Savannah and a second campus at Fort Gordon near Augusta. Since its first graduating class, YCA can boast of almost 10,000 graduates.
Georgia State Rep. Ben Harbin was the commencement speaker at the Dec. 18 graduation.
