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VIEWPOINT OF A TEXAS CHALLENGE ACADEMY CADET
“I’m nervous, but also pretty joyful,” I said to myself on day zero.
I didn’t come to Texas ChalleNGe Academy because I am a “bad” kid. In fact, my mindset is that anybody and everybody has the choice to do the right thing. No matter their past circumstances Over the past four to five years, I have enjoyed living in the heart of Texas, a city named Waco. Waco is a pretty historic city with a population of about 150,000. I was involved in many things like marching band, junior ROTC, youth group at church and many more.
But about five years ago, I set a door in my house on fire. The police found the lighter outside my window, so I went to a juvenile correction facility for about three days. After that, I went to a RTC for about one year to figure myself out and to have family therapy. I’ve gotten so much better since then, and we’ve had a much better time together as a family.
About two years ago, I began thinking about a military career, so I went to the ROTC program at my high school. I was a cadet corporal before I got here to TCA.
Being here at TCA is actually changing my life mentally and physically. We do two PT workouts a day, one in the morning at 04:45 and one after school at 16 30. Yes, it’s tough, but not that tough. They yell a lot, but it’s not to hurt your feelings. It’s to toughen you up.
Overall, the program is really great if you don’t mind people yelling at you every day, all day.
I want to end on this note. “Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Ephesians
