Youth Serving Tomah Veterans
Photo: Left to right Back row – Cadet Richardson, Cadet Barber, Cadet Ashley, Cadet Marsh, and Cadet Kafar Front row – Cadet Bugarin, Cadet Bernal, Cadet Lennox Stika, Cadet Norling and Cadet Richards
Many in the community believe that service to community is a much-needed practice for the youth.
At the Tomah VAMC, cadets of the Wisconsin Challenge Academy learn firsthand the importance of giving back by volunteering to assist Veterans.
“I like taking care of people and helping them out,” said 18-year-old Cadet Ashley. The Watertown native spends time also visiting with his grandfather at the Milwaukee VAMC. “This is great experience and there’s a lot of hard work involved,” said Ashley. He hopes to one day be a Navy Seal.
Ashley and nine other cadets from Class 40 are involved in assisting Veterans for two hours each Monday. Their duties include assisting Veterans during activities and transporting them to appointments or just around the campus.
Cadet Barber of Lac du Flambeau in northern Wisconsin, grew up on an Ojibwe or Chippewa reservation and recommended the academy to his parents.
“My mother took care of the World War II Veteran and I was glad I was chosen for this detail,” said Barber. “I like it, it’s helping me a lot.”
According to the Wisconsin Challenge Academy, in 1993 Congress created the National Guard Youth Challenge Program, a civilian youth opportunities program and authorized the Secretary of Defense to use the National Guard Bureau to conduct the program for at risk youth. Located on Fort McCoy, the Wisconsin Challenge Academy is administered by the Wisconsin Department of Military Affairs and offers youth the opportunity to change the direction of their lives and develop the strength of character and life skills necessary to become successful, responsible citizens. The Program consists of a five and a half month-long residential phase followed by a year-long post-residential phase.
Not only are the cadets providing a service to others, they are receiving something as well.
“A Veteran is teaching me to play chess,” said Cadet Bernal of Milwaukee. “We learn good social skills, resilience and not to quit on ourselves.”
Bernal enjoys meeting people from diverse cultures. He grew up in the home of his Puerto Rican mother, his father is Mexican.
“It is interesting learning from different points of views,” he added. “I thought it would be much harder but it’s fun.”
For more information on the Challenge Academy go to https://www.challengeacademy.org/ or the Cindy Rogge, Tomah Youth Coordinator at cindy.rogge@va.gov.
