Celebrating new Youth Academy graduates of 24-1

Damien Staatz of Olympia said when he arrived at the Washington Youth ChalleNGe Academy in Bremerton, he didn’t expect to see anyone he knew. But across the room from him on intake day, he suddenly saw his cousin.

“I had no idea he was even applying to be here,” said Amaya Tinoco, 18. “It was just so random.”

“We do have a big family, lots of people,” Staatz adds.

At 16, Staatz was assigned to first platoon Wolfpack. Tinoco was in third platoon Eagles. They rarely interacted because of the platoon assignments.

“But it was good to know someone else was here with me from the start and now we both get to walk together,” Staatz said shortly before walking across the stage at commencement in June to shake the hand of Brig. Gen. Gent Welsh, the state’s new adjutant general and director of the Washington Military Department.

Staatz and Tinoco were among the 139 graduating cadets of cycle 24-1, which took place June 14 at Pacific Lutheran University. 

The cadets of Class 2024-1 earned 963 combined high school credits, graduating with an 86.6 percent credit retrieval rate.

The average grade point average at intake was a D. Flash forward to commencement and those who completed the Academy ended up with an average of a B minus. Students who stayed at the Washington Youth Challenge Academy for the entire session had an average 34.4 percent increase in their cumulative high school grade point averages.

Cadet Koen Webring of Lacey says the Youth Academy helped change his life’s direction – and helped give him good grades.

“It showed me I was smarter, braver and more mature than I would have thought possible,” Webring said during his commencement speech. “Before coming to this place, I was your basic hard-headed teenager. I wasn’t making the best decisions. I was hanging around the wrong crowd and just focused on having fun.”

Webring said he used to mull over mistakes he’d made consistently. He learned forgiveness – to forgive himself and others.

“People here taught me techniques to teach me about my feelings that normally would have kept me up at night,” he said. “Whether it was something big or small, this place helped me realize if it’s not bothering me or affecting me, then why would I need to worry about it?”

Cadet Amour Jamison Jones of Seattle says she was ready to go home by week three.

“Day by day, I began to work on myself – and so did all of the cadets you see right now,” she said during commencement. “We all learned quickly that attention to detail and how you do things are the keys to success. We learned not to judge everything based on how we feel but by what is right and what is wrong. As the weeks went on, we learned to embrace the suck as Sgt. Ramshaw likes to say.”

Jones said most of the cadets came here just for credits, but, instead, the Academy became a place to learn how to deal with the roller coaster of life.

“The credits are just a bonus,” she said.

Cadet Salvador Jimenez of Yakima said without the help of cadre, teachers and even kitchen staff, he wouldn’t have been as successful at the Academy.

“Those chow meals were what helped me find motivation at the Academy to keep going,” Jimenez told those at commencement.

Cadet Ben Trent of Benton City said he ran away from the Academy during those first few weeks on campus. But then Academy employees came and got him.

“I ended up a squad leader,” Trent said. “I didn’t think I’d last. If someone is looking to apply here, give this place a chance. Make relationships during the first couple of weeks. Don’t give up.”