The Mississippi National Guard is now taking applications for earning a General Education Diploma in January for teenagers in the area.

The National Guard’s focus on the Youth Challenge is to help refocus the lives of 16- to 18-year-old high school dropouts and program graduates with the life skills, self-discipline and education necessary to succeed as productive citizens.

The time to submit applications is anywhere from today until the start of the classes, which is Jan. 17, 2015.

The classes, held at Camp Shelby near Hattiesburg, are through an organization referred to as the Mississippi Challenge Academy. The program has been successful in its past 40 classes and has graduated 7,884 students to date.

Cammi Allred, former student of Bogue Chitto, is one of the most recent graduates of the program and explained the students who go through the program learn more than just a general education.

“We learned job skills, physical training and leaderships skills,” Allred said.

The program provides students and cadets with essential elements of scholastic instruction, but also an individualized instruction approach to each student. It provides the four areas tested on the GED certificate test: math, science, social studies and language arts.

Much more than a prep class for a test, the program has core components in addition to the courses and curriculum required to be completed. The eight components are academic excellence, life coping skills, job skills, health and hygiene, responsible citizenship, service to the community, leadership/followership and physical fitness.

Allred added she would recommend the classes to anyone.

The program goes as far as to provide mentors, matched to a specific cadet midway through, to aid a student in the class as he or she is striving for a better future.

To apply to the program, submit a cadet application as early as possible. Every application is screened and after the application passes the initial requirements, an interview is scheduled. The interview will require the prospective student to take the Test of Adult Basic Education to evaluate their approximate grade level, be drug tested and have a personal interview with one of the National Guard recruiters.

For more information, and more detailed instructions on how to apply, contact the Mississippi National Guard at 1-800-507-6253.