Idaho Youth Challenge director named
|
|
February 8, 2013 |
By Colonel Tim Marsano
Idaho National Guard
 The
Idaho Adjutant General, Major General Gary
Sayler, announced today that the first director
of the new Idaho Youth Challenge Academy is Mr.
Derek Newland.
This program, which will build its cadet body
with Idaho youths aged 16 to 18 years old, will
give high school dropouts a second chance to
earn their high school diplomas or GEDs.
Newland comes to the position with a strong
military background and vast experience working
with youths.
Prior to accepting this role, he flew and
instructed new military pilots in how to fly and
perform the mission of the Idaho Air National
Guard, in several different aircraft. He later
assumed senior management roles as one of the
124th Fighter Wing’s commanders and recently
retired from his military career as the
comptroller/chief financial officer for the
Idaho Air National Guard.
He was educated through the Boise and Meridian
school districts and earned a bachelor’s degree
in business management from Boise State
University in 1981. In his free time, he spent
over 18 years coaching and mentoring young boys
and girls thru the Boise Noon Optimist football
program.
Newland and his wife, Marcie, are native
Idahoans who currently reside in Boise, where
they raised their three sons. The couple will
soon relocate to Clearwater County.
“I am passionate about the Youth Challenge
Program coming to our state,” said Newland. “It
will provide over 200 16- to 18-year-old high
school dropouts throughout the state each year
with the opportunity to apply and attend an
in-residence academy that offers a safe,
professional, structured and disciplined
environment.”
The mission of the Idaho Youth Challenge Program
is to intervene in and reclaim the lives of 16-
to 18-year-old high school dropouts, producing
program graduates with the values, life skills,
education, and self-discipline necessary to
succeed as productive citizens. By the end of
the 5½ month in-residence program, the cadets
will have earned credits preparing them to
reintegrate back into public schools or attain
either their high school diploma or their GED.
Along with education, they will learn to respect
themselves and others, work as a team, exercise
daily, and learn accountability. The program is
in keeping with U.S. Congress directives to the
Department of Defense to manage it.
“I’m proud of General Sayler and his team for
consistently advocating so strongly and
effectively for the Youth Challenge Program,”
Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter said. “It has my
admiration and my support for its focus on
helping to turn around the lives of at-risk
teens. They need the kind of guidance,
discipline and direction that the Youth
Challenge Program offers, and it’s great to see
the program starting to move from the drawing
board to reality.”
The program is currently located in 27 states,
overseen by each state’s National Guard's senior
officer. Federal-to-state spending for the
program is at a ratio of 3-1. The school is
considered an alternative high school, and
Orofino School District #171 donated the former
Pierce Elementary School - built in 1979 - for
this project in 2011.
When it’s up and running, the program will
provide more than 50 new jobs centered in
Pierce.
“It is an outstanding program and I’m excited to
get it started,” Newland said. “Marcie and I
look forward to being part of the Pierce
community.”
Among the first people to be hired for the
program will be a lead recruiter, whose role it
will be to seek eligible student candidates from
around the state. This lead recruiter will soon
be contacting school district superintendents
and school counselors.
More information can be found online at
http://youthchallengeidaho.org.
Staff members will be hired through the State of
Idaho Military Division's Human Resource Office.
Job announcements and application forms will be
posted online at
http://inghro.idaho.gov/Jobs.htm. |
|
Questions or comments about this
letter?
Click here to e-mail! |
|
|
|
|
