AUGUSTA, Ga (WJBF)- “I was, yes I was scared,” said Mykel Jordan, participant of class #44, Youth ChalleNGe Academy.
The Youth ChalleNGe Academy is a military-style program that takes in youth who are 16 to 18-years-old. Some are working towards their GEDs.
The members of Fort Gordon’s class #44 say they were sent home after multiple fights broke out, causing the Georgia National Guard to cancel the program.
Erica Franklin tells NewsChannel 6, what was supposed to be a five month program for her son Mykel, lasted for four days. Mykel says he called his mother while locked in a classroom with another participant, not allowed a cell phone, he used a landline.
“A sergeant got on the phone with me and the words from the sergeant was ‘come get your child, if you can meet me at a Circle K I will bring him to you but you can’t come on the base.’ I asked him what was the problem and he told me he couldn’t discuss it over the phone,” said Franklin.
Jordan says the chaos started after a game of football. He says weapons were being made by participants, from medals used for construction on the base.
“So one person got into a fight and then the whole other Paton’s got into a fight at the same time and then my sergeant ran out there and all of us followed him to the fight and that’s when we seen everybody being poked up and stabbed and my sergeant got knocked out,” said Jordan.
Jordan was put into the program to get high school credit, Franklin says now that the program has ended, they’re back to square one… with no answers from organizers.
“My son can’t sit at home for nothing for all these days and we don’t know what’s going on so yesterday I did decide to reach out to them just to see if I can get the transcript back to enroll my son back into his regular high school,” said Franklin.
Franklin says even though she expected more from the program for her son, she doesn’t plan to send him back, if they were to continue.
“I just want them to be careful with bringing in any student because I understand some of these students are coming from jail or having to go down there based off probation and really want to go and it’s not fair to the ones who really want to go down there this is not supposed to be a jail,” said Franklin.
It’s not certain if class #44 will be able to continue the program.
The Georgia National Guard did release a statement saying they “look forward to welcoming the new class very soon as we continue to prioritize the safety of cadets, cadre and staff.”