Georgia Legislators and VIPs visited Fort Stewart to tour the Youth Challenge Academy, Tuesday, April 19, 2005. (Photo by Staff Sgt. Shaleata Johnson)

Georgia VIPs Visit Youth Challenge

Georgia Department of Defense and Maj. Gen. David Poythress showcased Georgia’s Youth Challenge Academy with a VIP trip for more than 100 state legislators, employers and friends to the Fort Stewart-based campus April 19.

Two hundred twenty six Youth Challenge cadets put on a full day of activities for the visitors that included visits to cadet barracks, physical fitness venues and classrooms, and the newly completed dining hall. 

An afternoon of rotating between various YCA venues allowed guests a chance to hear the cadet’s individual stories of how they entered YCA and their ambitions upon graduation in June.

The day of activities began and ended with a flight from Dobbins aboard an Air National Guard C-130 to the Savannah IAP where guests boarded Ch-47 Chinook helicopters for a short flight to Donovan Field at Fort Stewart.

While many legislators have supported appropriations for Youth Challenge for many years, this visit was the first chance to visit the South Georgia campus and to talk with students from their home districts.

“I came to view the campus, but I also wanted to meet with students from my district,” said a state representative .

“Each cadet’s story is different,” said Col. Frank Williams, YCA Director. “We seek to develop the whole person at YCA – academically, physically, and socially. Williams indicated more than 5,000 formerly ‘at risk’ teens have graduated from the 22-week program. 

Among the special guests accompanying the VIP visit was syndicated radio personality Clark Howard who is producing a news story on the twelve-year old program. Howard is also a member of the Georgia State Defense Force.

Senator John F. Douglas, Chairman of the Senate Veteran and Military Affairs Committee and Representative John Yates, Chairman of the House Defense and Veterans Affairs committee toured YCA for the first time. Among other VIP guests to YCA was Georgia’s Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin, who spent time with the Academy’s only female Platoon.