Sunburst Academy Celebrates 11th Graduating Class

By Amber Chao

Salina Carrillo had been lost. 

But then, she said, a Los Alamitos military academy changed her life.

“I found myself,” the Whittier resident said, tears streaming down her face.

Carrillo was one of 193 cadets who graduated from the Sunburst Youth ChalleNG Academy during a ceremony at Cottonwood Church in Cypress last week.

Families and friends of the cadets gathered for the 2.5 hour ceremony Friday to honor the grads and celebrate with them.

In a speech, California Congresswoman Grace Napolitano spoke to the gathered cadets and urged them to never give up.

“Say to yourself, ‘I’m valuable to myself, I’m valuable to my community and I can do it,’”  Napolitano said.

Located at the Joint Forces Training Base, the voluntary academy trains high school dropouts and expelled students between the ages of 16 and 18. Since its establishment in 2008, staff said, Sunburst has graduated more than 100 students a year on average. It also has a retention rate of 90 percent.

Carrillo said the people at Sunburst encouraged her and helped turn her around.

“I didn’t know I had so much dedication, and they helped me realize that,” Carrillo said.

Upon graduating, she plans to attend Cypress Community College and transfer to a 4-year university. Eventually, she hopes to join the United States Air Force.

Father Efren Carrillo said he remembered how Carrillo’s studies took a dive a few years back before she attended the academy.

“She used to be real good in school, until her mother and I got separated,” said Efren Carrillo.”

However, after his daughter joined Sunburst, he said, he was stunned at the changes made in her daughter’s life. 

For more information on Sunburst click here.

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