Second chance

A few months ago, Megan Johnson was ready to give up on high school.

She wasn't doing well in classes. She wasn't getting along with her parents. She was in trouble constantly.

So Johnson, then a sophomore at Flathead High School, decided to drop out.

"It was just kind of an 'I don't want to be there' kind of thing," she explained.

She found out a friend had applied to join the Montana Youth ChalleNGe Program in Dillon. The program, sponsored by the National Guard and State of Montana, provides at-risk youth a structured, disciplined environment in which they can work on GED and college classes and learn how to be productive citizens.

Johnson did a little research and decided to join her friend. The choice, she said, changed her life.

She graduates from the academy on June 17. After the ceremony, she will work at the Salvation Army in Kalispell. Come spring, she'll go to Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston, Idaho, where she plans to major in elementary education.

JOHNSON LEFT Kalispell Jan. 23 for the two-week "prechallenge" phase at Fort Harrison in Helena.

"It gave them time to evaluate us to see if we were good candidates for their program," she said.

When they arrived, the 99 cadets lined up against a gym wall, where they said good-bye to their families. It was "really hard," Johnson said, to say good-bye to her parents.

After the farewells, cadets filed into the parking lot where staff members rifled through their belongings, checking for items that shouldn't be there.

"There was a big guy yelling at us," Johnson remembered. "'You only need seven pairs of socks!'"

The prechallenge went quickly, and soon she and the cadets who'd survived the first fortnight were on their way to Dillon. Nearly half the youth who started the program left before it ended.

The program's residential portion takes place on the University of Montana-Western campus. Cadets live in a dormitory, take classes and go through military-style fitness training.

Days are jam-packed and "really chaotic," Johnson said.

Cadets wake up at 5:30 a.m. for breakfast at 6:15. After breakfast, they have until 8 a.m. to clean their living quarters and get to class.

The first session lasts until lunch at 10:45 a.m. After lunch, cadets go back to class until 2 p.m., when physical training begins.

For two hours, cadets swim or lift weights and run.

Dinner is at 4:30 p.m.; after the meal, cadets get their mail, do homework, shower and go through drill and ceremonies. They're in bed by 9:30 p.m. so they can do it all again the next day.

Classes include "core classes" based on the program's eight key components: academic excellence, life-coping skills, job skills, health and hygiene, responsible citizenship, service to the community, leadership and followership, and physical fitness.

FOR THE first four months of the program, she and the cadets also took high-school equivalent classes, then took the GED exam. Those who don't pass continue to take GED classes; those who do, like Johnson, may enroll in college classes. Johnson is taking an English writing class and an art class on masks.

Johnson also was appointed "academic warrant officer." She helps a teacher organize GED scores and helps her peers put together packets with cover letters and job applications.

It's an impressive turnaround for a girl with a previously dismal academic career.

"My grades were horrible," she said. "I think math was my worst grade, and that was my best score on my GED.

"I just needed to pay attention more and do a little more homework."

Johnson recently spent five days in Kalispell - the first time she had been home since January. She spent much of that time volunteering at the Salvation Army and touching base with Carla Brandt, who will serve as her mentor for one year.

The program requires cadets and mentors to make four contacts each month, half of which should be face to face. Brandt will submit a monthly report and help Johnson meet the goals she's made.

It's a role Brandt, the Salvation Army's youth director, seems comfortable in. She has long been Johnson's confidante.

"She's always looked out for me before, but now it's even more," Johnson said.

"We're really close. I go to her for everything. I went to her before for everything. Whenever I was having problems, she would help counsel me through them."

BRANDT IS amazed at the changes she has seen in Johnson.

"It's been a major thing to turn this child around," she said.

"We've really seen a lot of growth, as far as wanting to achieve things for herself rather than make everybody else happy. … She uses a lot of maturity in what she's doing."

Johnson sees some of those same changes in herself.

"I guess I'm more mature than I was," she said. "I learned to be an adult and take care of myself."

It's a result, she said, of her work in the program - and a firm decision to turn her life around.

"I wanted to change my life for the better. I wanted to have a future instead of ending up in a trailer park for the rest of my life," she said.

"I was going to drop out of high school. I just found the next-best thing," she added. "It works if you want it to work."

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com