"On a sunny Friday morning in a Cal Poly parking lot, families from across California gathered to watch 164 Grizzly Youth Academy cadets at the culmination of an intensive program intended to change their lives.
As the uniformed cadets marched proudly in military-style unison, chanting with heads high, it was hard to imagine that six months ago these same youths were at risk of or had already dropped out of high school — some with histories of drug or alcohol abuse or brushes with the law.
In a ceremony that followed at the Performing Arts Center at Cal Poly, about 55 students were presented with high school diplomas. An additional 10 earned GEDs, six achieved high school proficiency, and the rest will carry 55 high school credits home with them."