Well, this past Thursday was Zack's orientation in Knightstown, IN at the Hoosier Youth ChalleNGe Accademy. Knightstown is a beautiful little town, and I do mean little, about thirty miles East of Indianapolis. The population there can't be more than 800 people, and if you blink while driving through, you'll miss it for sure! HYCA is a state funded camp to help troubled youth in Indiana become better, productive members of society. It is also run by the Indiana National Guard. It was a two hour ride down, and for the three of us... a little scary at first. Zack was scared because he didn't really know what to expect and... Amy and I were scared too, for him though. And yes, because we didn't know what to expect either. Pulling up to the campus, you are viewing some of the most beautiful old buildings ever constructed. It looks almost like a smaller version of Harvard University. Just beautiful! Once inside, it becomes all business. We had some last minute paperwork to fill out and of coarse, I had asked Zack three or four times before the start of the orientation if this was what he wanted. He said yes, so we continued on to the orientation. If your wondering, HYCA only accepts children from the ages of 16 to 18. They can turn 19 while they are there, but not within the first two weeks of the program. And they are very well equipped to handle children who have all kinds of problems! Kids like Zack, Blind kids, you name it, they are very well staffed and equipped to handle them! Knowing this put me a little more at ease with sending Zack down for this. The program runs 18 total months. Six of those months are spent on campus and the other 12 are at home with a Mentor who helps Zack achieve his goals outside of the Academy and reports back to them through out this time. Zack will do all of his studies on the campus and be prepared to get his GED when he arrives back home. After his birthday in January, he will then be eligible to test for it and go to college.
The orientation started right on time and the campus Counselor was the first to speak to us and the kids. The parents all sat in the bleachers, while the kids got the main floor in folding chairs in front of us. There was a screen set up for us to view some pictures of the campus and a video. This gave us somewhat of an idea of what the kids will be learning and doing. To show us what the kids first two weeks would be like, they had one of the Cadre's come out and give us a little insight. This was a very big guy! All full of muscle and very loud! He started out talking to us and the kids in a normal tone. Then within seconds, it was like instant Bootcamp and he was all up in the kids faces! Screaming at them to the top of his lungs! Just like Army Bootcamp! It almost made ME pee myself! And I'm not kidding! Within seconds the Cadre' had these kids doing what he wanted them to do and made them repeat it if they couldn't get it done within his time frame! No kidding! All at once, I started to feel very at ease with all of this and so was Amy. We were even wondering if we could bring one of these guys home with us! This guy got more out of Zack in 10 seconds than we've been able to get out of him in two years! This was the moment that I began to think that this was the right choice for him to make. This was going to be good for him in so many ways. The best part is that Zack was very responsive to it! After the Cadre' was done with his part of the orientation, the kids were off to view the campus and us parents were left behind to tie up some loose ends. They also interviewed Zack for about 20 minutes alone to make sure that he was ready for this. He passed the interview and we were on our way.
Now, they are going to be very strict on these kids. They CAN NOT have their cell phones, MP3 players or access of any kind to the internet. So no emails either or Facebook & MySpace
Now, enough about Zack and on to the little ones! The girls graduated Pre-School Friday night! This is their last year of Pre-School before moving on to Kindergarten this Fall! Yup, I said Kindergarten! Believe me, I've been asking myself for weeks now where the heck the time went! There was a Graduation Ceremony at the Pre-School Friday night, and believe this, Amy's eyes were not the only ones tearing up! All the Grandparents and myself teared up as well! It was official at that moment. Our girls were no longer Toddlers. They are now officially just little girls. Beautiful little girls. The girls will be starting All Day Kindergarten this Fall. I'm not so much worried about what the girls will do with that. I think they will be okay. It's Amy I'm more worried about! For the last 5 years, she's taken them all over. Doctor appointments, Tumbling classes, Music Of Oz classes, Soccer, you name it! All day Kindergarten means that she will have a whole bunch of free time on her hands! I don't think she'll know what to do at first. But if I know Amy like I do, she will very quickly fill that time and turn it into something productive! She's already discussed a few ideas with me that are very ambitious and I'm behind her 100%. Heck, there might even be a little room for me in those plans to help out a little! I'm as excited as she is about it. What is it you wonder? Well, I'll let that be a surprise for now and leave it up to her to announce it to the world! Things that make you go Hmmm... lol!
Soccer season is over this coming weekend. It's been a wonderful season and Amy and I can't believe that it's almost over already. The kids will now have the Summer off until the Fall when we start back up again towards the end of August. Amy and I will once again be back to Coach. This coming week will be the last practice and this weekend will be the last game for the Spring 2011 season. Amy, Jason and myself have a little something planned after the little Awards Ceremony after the game. We don't want the kids to ever forget how much fun they've had or that we've had with them. I hope they like what we've done for them! Here's to a fun and productive Fall season! Stay tuned for more updates!
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