Camp News : Campers : Hard work and hope symbolize boot camp for dropouts

Date Added: 16-10-2007

Commonwealth Challenge provides teenage dropouts with discipline and rigor.  Read the excerpt below.

The Virginian-Pilot - Norfolk,VA,USA

By LAUREN ROTH

October 8, 2007

VIRGINIA BEACH

Staff Sgt. Lloyd Muldrow flipped over the rolling black suitcase, dumping white socks, underwear, flip-flops, envelopes and detergent in a small mound on the carpet.

The pile was all that 16-year-old Christopher Mahoney would have for the next six months.

With glasses and a round belly, the teen didn’t appear to be cut out for Commonwealth Challenge, a six-month quasi-military training program based at the Camp Pendleton National Guard installation.

“He wants to work. He doesn’t want to do well in school,� said Mahoney’s mother, Lisa Morris, who learned about the program from another parent. “He’s not real responsible.�

More than 200 dropouts age 16 to 18 converged there in July, each with a parent or mentor who cared enough to try to change the trajectory of their lives.

Read the entire article:

http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=134192&ran=55504&lpos=spot3&lid=homePO