WEBVTT

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The impact of a program that's been in

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existence for 25 years . That has had

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hundreds of young people to come in to

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meet that challenge to persevere

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through the program and benefit from

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the goodness of the program . Our job

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challenge cadets have already completed

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the youth challenge and have come back

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and they're part of our job challenge

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program where they take classes at

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Midlands Technical College Program has

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demonstrated time and time again .

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Those cadets who completed come out

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with a greater sense of pride about

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their own self , greater confidence in

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themselves . Most come out with a G E

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D and they come out with other skill

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sets that help them acclimate back

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into society . So I'm choosing maybe

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later to go into the military . So I'm

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choosing maybe to follow educational

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opportunities like to assess to the job

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challenge program and then others

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straight into the job program . We

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provide them in an environment that

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they can learn and grow . Our program

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cannot be court ordered or they cannot

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be made to come to . The program is a

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voluntary program and the youth

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themselves have to want to come to this

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program . Our program is based on eight

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core components . Academic excellence ,

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life coping skills , health and hygiene ,

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Just to name a few but were based on

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those eight core components and we take

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them through different things . For

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instance , community service . We

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partner with outside organizations

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because they have to have four 40 hours

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of community service in order to

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complete our program . So this allows

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them the opportunity to know how to

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give back to the community and how to

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be a part of something bigger than just

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themselves . So that's what the

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community service allows them to do .

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Leadership followership . We give them

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opportunities to become a leader , but

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we also teach them how to be a good

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follower and you have to be a good

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follow in order to become a good leader .

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And so we teach them these things based

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on these eight core components . And so

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the program is a great program . By the

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time they start the program and finish

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the program , you have two totally

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different people . If you can see it

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from the beginning and come back at the

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end and see the same child , they

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become a different person . And at the

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end I can see parents at the graduation

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shaking our hand , telling us thank you ,

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thank you , thank you for what we have

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done to help their child . That

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transformation in those young people is

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very significant when they are

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committed to it and complete that

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program . They walk across that stage

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with a sense of pride , they accept

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that diploma and they give a handshake

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and they're different people but we

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leave them with one simple message .

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Your future in great part is dependent

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upon you , your attitude

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and your willingness to work hard