Garyk Davis started making news while he was still in grade school, and not for the right reasons. A drug user, he was not yet a teen when he was in trouble with the law and placed on a five-year probation.
Codie Cornejo says he too was headed down the wrong path. They were “both up to no good,” says Codie’s mother. Without the right program, Codie would probably be in jail now, says his grandmother.
For both Garyk and Codie, the right program seems to have been Montana Youth ChalleNGe Academy (MYCA). The 17-month program modeled on the Montana National Guard uses a highly structured environment to assist at-risk youth aged 16-18 in developing skills and abilities to become productive citizens. Focusing on the physical, emotional and educational needs of the youths, the program operates on the campus of the University of Montana-Western in Dillon.
Describing himself as someone headstrong with sticky fingers before joining MYCA, Garyk says he “really didn’t care where I ended up.”
Now midway through the MYCA program, Garyk says his life has changed. Still only 16, he has goals and a support system. And he vows to achieve those goals.
Codie says he too has changed. Before going into the program “I didn’t really listen very well and I didn’t do what I was told,” he says.
He went into the MYCA program pretty certain he would not last there. He did not have any self respect or any respect for authority he says.
But the structure and discipline at the program was a good fit, both young men say.
MYCA Outreach Coordinator Ron Carroll describes the “hands off” program as “quasi-military.” Referred to as cadets, the participants wear uniforms, cannot have a felony record or be on probation, march to and from locations and have to be self reliant.
“Nobody’s going to clean up for them,” he says, to laughter and nods from the two Boulder youths.
That was a “360 degree turnaround” for both of them, says Codie’s grandmother.
They were “very disrespectful” before and she found herself having to tell them to do something 15 times “and then you’ve got to get up and do it yourself,” she says.
Now Codie does not even have to be asked sometimes when there is a task to do, she adds.
Codie says he was not an immediate success in the program. While everyone else was earning a visit from family members, he was messing up. He got to watch alone as others on campus had parents and grandparents rolling in, family visits they had earned.
That serves as a real motivator, says Carroll.
So too are the phases that require gradual improvements, he says. For the first eleven days, the cadets stay in an acclimation phase with only cots and sleeping bags. They have to earn the right to a mattress and linens.
Recalling that, both Garyk and Codie say they were glad to get out of the initial phase.
Over the next four and a half months, the cadets engage in physical fitness, academic classes, leadership-followership training, responsible citizenship exercises, community service, guidance in life-coping skills, job skill development and health and hygiene training. Each of the roughly 100 cadets at the program must perform at least 40 hours of community service and can work toward earning a high school equivalency certificate or recovering high school credit.
Carroll says about 75 percent of the cadets earn their GED and about 25 percent return to high school.
The residential portion of the program includes growing privileges and responsibility. It also includes developing a “post residential action plan” designed to help the cadets get back into school, enter the labor force, join the military or find another route to success.
“There are three things young people are not getting enough of – sleep, nutrition and exercise,” says Carroll. While on campus at Dillon, they get a “solid eight hours” of sleep, three nutritious meals and a snack each day, and 1 to 1 1/2 hours of exercise. Just those simple things can make a huge difference, he says.
After graduation from the residential phase, the students enter a 12-month phase in which they return to the community and maintain ongoing contact with a volunteer mentor. The mentors must make weekly contact with the MYCA grads and write a monthly report on their progress.
“That’s proof of how much they believe in these youth and how much they want them to succeed,” says Carroll.
Since their December graduation, Garyk and Codie have been in the mentor phase. The relationship with the mentor actually starts in week 14 of the residential phase, and by the time the cadets graduate they have become accustomed to their mentor, says Carroll.
For Codie, his mentor Pat is from Dillon. She says she was immediately impressed with Codie.
“I just saw him being nice and kind and very knowledgeable,” she says.
Codie says Pat reminds him of one of his grandmothers, who would “take time out to help me.”
The pair bonded over an Oreo Blizzard, Codie’s favorite flavor, they say.
For Garyk, Jefferson High Principal Greg Liedle is his mentor.
“He’s always been like an extra parent to me…He wants me to succeed,” says Garyk.
Liedle, who has watched six JHS students go into MYCA, says the program is “not magic, but it sure does help a lot of kids.”
Since going through MYCA, Garyk “has a shot at picking a better life for himself,” Liedle says.
Garyk’s plans include getting a job and later joining the military where he hopes to become a combat medic. He took part of a certified nurse anesthetist training while at Dillon, a training he says he really liked, but he did not finish.
Codie says MYCA enabled him to “see the big picture” and now “I know what I want and I know how to get it.”
Saying he knows now that he fares better under structure and routine, he says he intends to earn his GED and go into a mechanics program in Wyoming before joining the military.
Carroll says the CNA training is only one of many cooperative programs the MYCA has in Dillon. Others include training in the culinary arts and in retail sales, he says.
Looking back at how they were before, Codie says, “I wish I had tried sooner.”
“I wish I had tried 100 percent all along,” adds Garyk.
Both say they built strong friendships at MYCA that they hope to retain.
Asked about the length of the program, Garyk says he thinks it is “about the right amount of time” for him, but Codie says he would have liked a little more time in the residential phase.
“If I had a choice, I’d make it a month longer,” he says.
Garyk says the staff was wonderful. “I miss everyone there. They’re like some of the best role models I have ever had.”
“They really don’t give up on you. That’s for sure,” says Codie. “Even when you’ve given up on yourself.”
Both say it was chance that they found the program. Codie’s mother says she learned about the program through the grapevine and Garyk heard about it while at a training facility in Wyoming.
Carroll says MYCA works hard to get the word out about the program, through radio, television, newspapers and social media.
“We want to make sure that 100 percent of the kids who need us can find us,” he says.
The program is funded 75 percent with federal funds and 25 percent with state funds. “It is virtually cost free to participants and their families,” he adds.
While the cost may be nothing, the benefit is everything, say the families of Codie and Garyk.
Codie’s grandmother has high praise for MYCA, and says the two young men are now very respectful. “I’m very proud of them,” she says.
“My dad says it’s changed me completely,” says Garyk. “He says I went into it as a boy and I came out a man.”
