INDIANAPOLIS – Seventy-five young people from 32 counties recently graduated from Class 34 of the Indiana Hoosier Youth Challenge Academy (HYCA), in Knightstown. Established in 2007, the academy has graduated 2,600 students throughout the state.
Included in the 2024 Class were three Johnson County students and one from Bartholomew County.
Maj. Gen. Dale Lyles, the adjutant general of the Indiana National Guard said, “The lifelong lessons of discipline and determination students learn at the academy, combined with the credentials that demonstrate their skills and knowledge are an empowering combination.”
HYCA offers military-based training to at-risk youth, 16 to 18 years of age, who have not yet graduated from high school. The free program offered by the Indiana National Guard is not used for recruitment. HYCA trains and mentors teens to develop the values, skills, education, and self-discipline to become successful young adults.
The 2024 graduates experienced a two-week acclimation phase, a five-month residential phase, engaged in service to the community, and now participate in a yearlong post-residential mentorship phase to help them achieve their career and life goals.
The local youths who graduated from HYCA were:
- Dayton Asbury (Johnson County)
- Jordan Campbell (Johnson County)
- Alayna Hohlstein (Johnson County)
- Corey Stepper (Bartholomew County)
