Breanah Fields: A Challenge and a New Direction

“The program is a five-month unforgettable life experience that helps build yourself up.” That’s the description Breanah Fields, 17, of Stockton, California, provides of the SJCOE Discover ChalleNGe Academy. In case you’re wondering, the capital letters indicate the National Guard.

“I went to school at Village Oaks High Continuation School. What I like about the Discovery ChalleNGe Academy is the importance of success, development, discipline, drive and personal growth,” Breanah continues. “At DCA, both the California Army National Guard and educational staff work hard every day in helping us push ourselves to improve in all aspects of life little by little. They put in a lot of effort and time to help us learn and set goals for ourselves.”

It’s a diverse environment that she hadn’t experienced before. “I’ve always doubted myself and, in a way, excluded myself, but here, I feel found, seen and heard. We have cadets from all types of backgrounds that come here to fuel a fire that some never knew they had. The academy teaches cadets the importance of little things that turn out to be not so little,” she continued.

Academic excellence, job skills, physical fitness, leadership/followership, health and hygiene, life coping skills, responsible citizenship and service to community are crucial to the curriculum. “We are taught respect and bearing and identification of healthy and professional relationships with people older than us and those of the opposite sex. Sometimes I don’t want to leave at all. The girls in my platoon are like family to me and I can’t wait to watch them walk the stage. The growth from day one and now is impeccable. We work very hard and partake in teamwork from sunrise to sunset. That’s how we’re getting through this, together.”

Breanah describes an opportunity that has changed her life. “It has brought me closer to the person I want to be, who I always was but that I didn’t get to be due to my environment. At home I never really understood the importance of health or boundaries, nor did I really know what I wanted to do in my life. I didn’t put in the effort to even try because I was so distracted by things.”

In retrospect, she sees that what held her back was in many ways out of her control and unimportant. “I was lacking discipline, time management, self-accountability and certainly drive and motivation. As an unmotivated teen taking a turn to use substance as an escape, I couldn’t even picture the future I wanted.”

She described a feeling of being helpless and powerless over her life and its outcome. It became clear to Breanah that something needed to change, and she had the power to make the change if she wanted it. Clarity came with this understanding: “You can’t control the things around you or the situations but one thing you can control is your response and choices,” she says of this personal revelation. “This was my life. I knew I had potential talent inside of me still waiting to reveal itself again. The things I’d given up on like my writing, poetry, goals to go to college and singing had to mean something in my character. If I’m going to make it, I wasn’t going to settle for less than if I knew I could do better. This path was self-sabotaging so I decided to take a challenge, make a change and be better.

“To reach your dream you have to make a sacrifice, before your dream becomes that sacrifice. I took a chance. I’m happy I came to ChalleNGe Academy. Now I’m nearly set on what I want to do in the future with a post residential action plan even though I want to do a lot,” she concludes.

“I want to be an artist and a writer, possibly a botanist or a nurse or architect. DCA has made me reach my full potential, teaching me I can do whatever I put my mind to. I went from having a .96 GPA to now being recognized as one of the many cadets with a 4.0 GPA! I never thought I could do it. But look at me now. It’s only up from here. I took the challenge at Discovery ChalleNGe Academy.”