Tarheel Challenge Academy Gives Students Second Chance

Tarheel Challenge Academy Gives 100 Students Second Chance in Stanly County

BY Hilary Powell Stanly County

PUBLISHED 2:25 PM ET Mar. 15, 2019 PUBLISHED March 15, 2019 @2:25 PM

CHARLOTTE — More than 100 teens in Stanley County are celebrating a second chance.

They’re the 51st graduating class of North Carolina National Guard’s Tarheel Challenge Academy New London. Some students have overcome personal challenges or quitting high school.

Parents say they’re proud.

“This young lady has turned into something I can’t even believe myself," cadet mother Ameika Small says. "This program has took her a long way. She came here with an attitude and she came and she’s disciplined. The discipline she’s got here is amazing. I’m so proud of her!”

The school’s motto is, "dream, believe, achieve.

NOW | “Having a second chance works.” — Lt. Col. (Ret.) Maury A. Williams.

Cadets of @NCNationalGuard TarHeel Challenge Academy are set to graduate. Parents here tell me they’re proud. Williams says after this class, more than 5500 cadets will have graduated this program. pic.twitter.com/FVtlQPiPYn
— Hilary Powell (@mshilary) March 15, 2019