By Staff Sgt. Crystal Housman
For the Event-News Enterprise
When the 71st cadet crossed the stage at Sunburst Youth Academy’s commencement ceremony Thursday, U.S. Army Command Sgt. Maj. Richard Aller broke away from the line of dignitaries, stepped to the microphone, and called Cadet Andrew Ochoa back to center stage.
Fireworks burst on video screens surrounding the stage as the surprised teenager, clad in the school’s coyote colored cadet uniform, learned he was the academy’s 5,000th program graduate.
“Wait, wait, stop right there Ochoa. Face the crowd,” Aller called on the mic in front of a packed auditorium of more than 3,000 people gathered to celebrate the academy’s 33rd graduating class.
Aller, the senior enlisted advisor for California National Guard’s Task Force Torch youth and community programs directorate, stepped forward to present the tall dark-haired cadet with the task force’s command coin “as a symbolic gesture of the 4,999 cadets who came before and the thousands and thousands of cadets who will come after him,” he told the crowd.
Started in January 2008, Sunburst Youth Academy is one of 39 National Guard Youth Challenge Program campuses in the country and is operated in partnership between the Cal Guard and the Orange County Department of Education.
The tuition-free military-style academy focuses on high school credit recovery for Southern California teens, ages 15.5-18 years old, and gives students an opportunity to earn up to a year’s worth of credits in half the time while living and going to school on Joint Forces Training Base, Los Alamitos for five months.
For more than 16 years, teenagers have come to the academy for a chance to catch up on credits, step out of their comfort zones, learn life coping skills and spend time focusing on their goals and dreams.
“I think it’s remarkable,” said California State Guard Chief Warrant Officer 3 Ashlea Medina, who joined the academy staff with Class 1 as an Air National Guard Staff Sgt. and rose through the ranks to serve as the academy’s acting director during Class 33. “It’s amazing to think of how many kids have been given a second chance at life.”
Medina has seen the academy grow from two small platoons in the first cycle with a graduating class of 47 cadets to four platoons with 170 program graduates in Class 33.
This class marked the academy’s largest graduating class since the pandemic created a need for social distancing and cut the number of students the academy could enroll. It was also the academy’s first COVID-free class since 2020.
The class earned a cumulative total of more than 11,000 high school credits leading to 25 high school graduates, more than $10,000 in local scholarships, three small business grants, and a $44,000 Army ROTC scholarship for Cadet Alexis Martinez to attend New Mexico Military Institute.
Students come for the credits, Medina said, but leave with much more.
“When I think about Sunburst and where we were to where we are,” she said, “the Sunburst staff have always had the heart to give, but we’ve learned how to give so much more when it comes to the experiences, opportunities, and credits and really learning how to support the kids when they leave.”
Class 33 ventured off base to volunteer in the greater Orange County and Los Angeles areas. The cadets logged more than 6,800 hours of service to community at 5Ks, marathons, a Chinese New Year parade, equine therapy center, and other community events.
They enjoyed an Angels game, Disneyland, sailing in Dana Point, and a 10-mile run along the strand in Huntington Beach. They went to Los Angeles to visit the Columbia Memorial Space Center and the Holocaust Museum and completed a Spartan Race on the field at Dodger Stadium.
Class 33’s competitive teams traveled throughout Southern California and returned with eight JROTC Raiders trophies, a state championship for color guard and a prime time colors presentation for the Anaheim Ducks professional hockey team.
Standing in the wings of the Cottonwood Church auditorium moments before marching with his platoon for the last time, Ochoa reflected on his Sunburst journey.
“It feels great,” he said. “All the hard work paid off and I got through it.”
Ochoa, who served as a peer advocate and earned awards for academics, community service, test scores, citizenship, and excellence while serving as a squad leader, plans to move out of state this summer. He will continue his education at a new high school as a junior and is focused on joining the U.S. Air Force.
He’s leaving with credits and a host of experiences, but what he’ll miss most is the other cadets.
“My favorite memory is probably just hanging out with all the other guys,” he said, “all the bonding and the brotherhood.”
Ochoa, like the 4,999 cadets before him and the thousands who will come after him, is leaving with a grasp on his present and a plan for the future.