Cadet Scott's Story | Cadet Prouty's Story | Cadet Gibb's Story
Dear Tarheel Challenge Academy, This is Former Cadet Stephen Arthur Scott II From class 17, team 2, MIGHTY DUECE. I wanted to take time to drop you a line to let you and anyone else who is considering coming or sending a child to the Academy know exactly where I stood before the program and now where I am after the program. I am also going to share my story of the downward spiral I called life that was experienced before the program. So, here goes. Well, lets start with what got me here. For each cadet there is a different story. For me it had some common points but no two stories are exactly the same. Ok well I was 16 years old....a sophomore...after two freshman years. I was having problems in school and problems at home. I wouldn't do anything in school and when I did it was half way done. I could have made it straight through with no problems had I applied myself, but I wasn't motivated. I know a lot of people are thinking now of how familiar that sounds....be it from themselves or through their kids or someone else. Anyways, the things between me and my father were getting unbearable. I can recall one incident where Me and my father had got to arguing and I ran out. I was barefooted, and it was raining. I had no jacket and no where to go to. All I was thinking was that I wanted to get out of the house where the problem was. ! Instead of trying to fix the problem, I decided to run away from it. I ended up walking to the gas station and sitting in plain view hoping that my parents had called the police and the cops would find me, pick me up and take me somewhere. Well it happened. The police officer told me that I could either go home, or to the cumberland county mental institution. I told them that if I were to go home, that I couldn't be held accountable for my actions and so they hauled me off to the institution. But I didn't make it there. They took me to Cape Fear Hospital where my mother worked at the time for a mental evaluation. There the doctor gave me a clean evaluation and said I just had a problem with authority figures. So with a clean bill of mental health they sent me home. I didn't stay long at all. I went to work that night and talked to a friend of mine who told me of a place he was thinking of renting and needed a roommate.! So I told him to get it. I would end up leaving home. Thus beginning the downward spiral I knew as life. Well I got in and with a new sense of freedom, splurged my money and time in new found freedoms never before known to my 16 year old mind. Drinking, Drugs, staying out all night and partying just to get up, continue to half way complete my work in school and go to work and then back to the night life. I had no car. I had a bike and worked across the way from where I was living. Working at foodlion, I made barley enough to make rent and cigarette money. So I was failing in school and since I just knew that I had all the answers and didn't need school, I dropped out. Well I went out and picked up a second full time job and kept a lil side work at an automotive shop for cash. It was a sight I tell ya. I was working 3 jobs, Living off of ramen noodles and marlboro cigarettes. Thats all I could afford even with the three jobs. I was making minimum wage and all my splurging in the beginning had gotten me into some serious trouble. So with my money left from rent, I bought my food, which was all ramen noodles, breakfast, lunch, dinner all ramen. Sounds fun huh? Well I tricked myself into thinking there was still some variety left in my life. I bought different flavors of noodles every week. Sad really. Well It got to a boiling point after a while. My life had become nothing more than working 18 hours a day at three jobs that I hated equally as much as the life I was leading. I got to be so filled of hate and distrust that the girl that was i! n my life for three and a half years left me for my roommate. Well at that point I felt I had no lower to go. I went out to lake rim, which was about a mile from the trailer I was staying in. I sat at the end of the dock thinking of everything that was happening and everything that wasn't. I can remember thinking I needed to do something before I got to where I had to start stealing, or something else just to get money for those ramen noodles and marlboro cigarettes. So After spending the night on the dock for fear of catching assault charges when I went back to my trailer and found my roommate with my now ex-girlfriend of 3 and a half years, I called home and asked to come back. When I got there, things were good for a little while. I started working security, making 1200 a month....still no high school education, still a drop out, still a loser, still full of hate. About this time my brother dropped out of school. His councelor gave him a Tarheel Challenge packet. Well I came home one night and read it at dinner and said you know, that might be good for my brother. I hope he does it. I was on my way to watch the class I should have been with graduate that night. That night I watched on in sorrow and jealousy as every friend I knew since grade school walked across the stage and get their High School Diploma. Over the P A system I heard " Jennifer Nicole Fermin plans to attend college at East Carolina University and study nursing" "Amornchai Brockway plans to go to Appalachin State university to study business" and I teared up part of me proud, part of me jealous. Do you know how it feels to watch every single one of your friends move on and leave you behind? All that went through my mind was "I should have been with those friends who are now moving on to greater things in life...passing me by....not sitting at idle waiting for something to happen. I cried the whole way back to the house all by myself as I liked to be. When I got home, I took the last hit of that Marlboro cigarette and went in the house. On the dinner table was that Tarheel Packet. I sat down and filled it out for myself. Now, things start looking up. July 15, 12:30 pm Sunday, I am standing in line 326 pounds, wearing gray sweats, in the middle of July, sweating like I had the hoover dam in the back of my sweater. I reported for duty for a program that would change my life, my parents life, and my destiny. After the shaving of the head and issuing of the equiptment was over we had a bus ride from Salemburg to Ft. Bragg. We arrived at the Barracks and unloaded the buses and the personnel carrier which contained our clothes and equipment. We came inside for the first time and things set in. I was here. I was about to become a cadet. First thing in my head was what in the hell am I doing?! I can't do this! I decided to give it some time. Well we started physicals and then PT. 326 pounds is a hard weight to come in to a program with daily PT and stay encouraged about staying around. I tried my hardest....I couldn't keep up with the formation....But I wouldn't stop running. All I could think of was how my friends were sitting in college classes moving forward and I couldn't go back to where I was. So I said to myself...Do your best and they will leave you alone. OHHHHH! NOOOOO it can't be that simple. I kept running and running and felt like I was going to die and didn't even notice that the formation was stopped waiting on me, and a Black hat and shirt was coming my way. A Cadre, a big scary looking guy with stubble running my way. I just knew I was about to get it. I felt like private Pyle on full metal jacket. When Mr. Schmitt got to me he started running beside me. Instead of telling me what a failure I was for not staying with the pack, or a loser or not worth his time, he said c'mon Scott, us big guys got to stick together....you can do it just keep up with me. At this time....I was crying. No one else had ever, ever talked to me like that. Now everything I did I put 110% into. I wanted more of that feeling. I wanted to so badly prove to everyone that even though I'd made mistakes I could be the best I ever had been and find the new me. Well I made it through Ft.! Bragg. I got to Salemburg, I was a squad leader for family day. I was in a leadership position and I was marching for my family. I had excelled to that point. From nothing to something. Seeing everyone's expressions as we marched made me want to go so much farther. So I pushed myself harder...still never giving up, never surrendering to the cat calls of the other cadets telling me to chill and quit taking my positions so seriously, and i worked my way up the ranks. A squad leader, to an asst. Team leader, to a team leader, then my big promotion. The top three cadets were caught passing notes between the teams....a big no no. They were all fired and I was moved up to First Sgt. and had no one else up there with me. I preformed all the jobs. I had done it. I had proven myself worthy of being put into command of the very academy that changed my life so drastically. As the top ranked cadet, and a ! member of the Cadet advisory board, I made many new policies and set the standard for the rest of the cadets. As all things do, my time at Tarheel ended. Its the big day. Graduation. And now its my turn to walk across that stage to graduate. My friends Jennifer and Amornchai Heard Mrs, Hall say "Stephen Arthur Scott II plans on attending college for his bachelors in criminal Justice" along with witnessing me win a total of 7 awards including 2 scholarships and the coveted Directors Award. Now here we are, present day. I lost a total of 82 pounds while at Tarheel and more since graduation. I am on my way to UNC-Pembroke to study Criminal Justice, go to the North Carolina Justice academy and begin living the dream of mine since childhood of becoming an officer of the law. I just hope I can have half the impact tarheel has had on me. Stephen Scott II Raeford, NC USA - Wednesday, January 16, 2002 at 23:01:19 (EST)
North Carloina Tarheel ChalleNGe graduate, Mathew Prouty,graduates the Georgia Military College to attend the United States Military Academy at West Point. Mr. Prouty began his cadet response for Tarheel ChalleNGe Academy's Class 22 graduation with a quote from William Proust "The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes." Mr. Prouty's "new eyes" will soon see the gates of the United States Military Academy at West Point. After graduating as the Distinguished Honor Graduate from the North Carolina Tarheel ChalleNGe Academy on Jun 11, 2004, he entered the Georgia Military College at the young age of 16. While at GMC he continued to shine landing himself on the Dean's List and Treasurer of the Student Government Association. Mr. Prouty also excelled in many extra curricular activities including: the GMC Chorus (quartet, solo), Color Guard, Guidon Bearer, Rifle Team, Shotgun Team (Captain), and Chess Club. During his last semester at GMC, Mr. Prouty sought entrance into the United States Military Academy at West Point and the United States Air Force Academy. With the help of the staff at Tarheel ChalleNGe, he obtained a congressional nomination from the United States Representative Sue Myrick. To his surprise he was accepted by both institutions. He chose to enter the "Long Gray Line" of West Point. The Academy's "Long Gray Line" includes some of our nation's most famous leaders: Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, George S. Patton, Omar Bradley, Douglas MacArthur, Dwight Eisenhower, and Norman Schwarzkopf. Mr. Prouty graduates GMC on May 27, 2006 and reports to West Point on June 26, 2006. During this transition time he will return to TCA to once again address the cadets, but this time with his "new eyes" as the commencement speaker for Class 26's graduation. He has truly applied the lessons he spoke of to Class 22 "As we embark upon this great adventure called life, I hope that each of you remembers all of the lessons that we have learned here and apply them to your lives."
My Story I came to Tarheel ChalleNGe on a bad foot. It was really my only option in hopes for a good future. Most of the cadets were there because of discipline problems but I was not. I ended up at Tarheel ChalleNGe after I realized I would end up on the streets or worse dead if I didn't do something with my life. Being 18 with no place is hard but I was accepted to Tarheel ChalleNGe. Tarheel ChalleNGe has taught me a lot, mostly the cadre there taught me to trust in myself. I've been let down most of my life by family that I hard to trust people. Sooner or later at Tarheel ChalleNGe I began to make friends and communicate. I still had trouble finding trust in people, but that was something I had to overcome. I have to be completely honest and admit that before Tarheel ChalleNGe I was ready to end my life. I didn't believe in God, nor did I have faith in anything. TCA helped me to restore my faith in myself and my faith in others. I now attend church on a regular basis and I am slowly but surely putting together a relationship with God. Soon I will be going into the Air Force to continue with my life. I chose the Air Force because I wanted that, not only that I loved the structure that I received while at TCA so the Air Force will have that same sort of structure. I would go into detail about my life but that might bore you. Let's just say I haven't lived a great life. Unlike most teenagers my parents were not there most of my life. They were either to busy or just weren't around. I received exactly three letters from my biological mother while at TCA. It was almost as though she wanted nothing to do with me. My parents moved to Ohio before my eighteenth birthday, and left my brother and me to go into foster care. I had problem with getting close to people, so I felt to stay away I had to hurt them and that caused me to get kicked out. I soon ended up in Harbor which is a secret home that no one knows the location. It is a place where women and children go who were abused. But yet again I began to get to loose and became rude and was soon thrown out. That's when I ended up at TCA! The whole thing about getting close to people started when I was a kid. There had been so many times where I would run away or try to kill myself. TCA has helped me get past that part in my life. I will never forget the past because it is hard to forget that sort of thing. Another thing while at TCA although I had no family support, I did have a church support. Letters rolled in from friends and other people that attended my church that I attend now. If it had not been for those letters and cadre support I doubt I would have ever made it through the program. There's another point I would like to get across. Most people when they get to TCA they think the cadre are mean. I know because I thought that to. The cadre to me was like family. I will never forget all they did to help me through life. Ms. Glover most of all was there to talk whenever something bad happened. I will forever be grateful to all the cardre at TCA. Even the ones that I didn't know because even though I never talked to them, but just watching how they handled certain situations just made me see life in a different view. The cadre were my family while at TCA, there are some you get along with and some you don't. But they will never give up on you and that's what I like most about them. They are there for you when you need them and they are there for you when you do not. I came to TCA wanting to end my life and give up; I left a whole new person! You see it's hard to believe that the whole first week at TCA was my bad week. I hated everything, the cadre, no television, no phone! All of it, I thought I would never be able to last at TCA another day. But I held out and I actually graduated. Most of the cadets start out with the same attitude that I did. Man I hate TCA, and everything in it. But they soon come to see the Academy as a home. It takes a while to get used to everyone but as soon as you do it's hard to part on graduation day. I still visit the TCA often and stay in contact with all my firends. If I could say one thing to sum up Tarheel ChalleNGe Academy it would be "miracle", because that is exactly what Tarheel is, a miracle that can change your life around. The only catch to it is that you have to be willing to turn your life around also. If you refuse to change then all TCA can do is discipline you. But trust me going to TCA is the best thing I've ever done. It may also be the best thing you can do. So if you ever find yourself in a situation that is hard to get out of, think about those who have gone to TCA or any other challenge program, think about what I've just said. Life isn't hard unless you take it that way. My grandma played me song once to show me that nothing is impossible. The chorus goes: Unsinkable ships sink Unbreakable walls break Sometimes the things you think would never happen Happen just like this Unbendable steel bends When the fury of the wind is unstoppable You can learn to never underestimate The impossible Therefore nothing is impossible if you believe in youself and God. Because HE is there to help you through life. He helped me through TCA and I am forever grateful to Him and everyone at TCA. Finally Mr. Hornbrook, I will never forget all his talks with team 1, he really opened a lot of doors for me and I will never forget him or what he has done. He may seem mean when you first go to TCA but he really isn't he's trying to help. Just believe me every bit of TCA was a miracle worker for me and I hope it is a miracle worker for you.