Sunburst graduates 28th class

Story and photos by Staff Sgt. Crystal Housman
California National Guard Public Affairs

Dec. 13, 2021

IRVINE, Calif. – Geographically speaking, Sunburst Youth Challenge Academy is only 124 miles from the city of Indio, but it's a lifetime away from the experiences 17-year-old Melanie Cisneros walked away from over the summer.

"I was introduced to Sunburst at a time in my life when I wasn’t doing too well," Cisneros said Friday during a graduation ceremony in Irvine for the academy's 28th class.

"I started failing all my classes in school due to the poor decisions I was making," she said. "I surrounded myself with the wrong crowd and did things I know I shouldn’t have been doing."

Eventually, she hit a breaking point.

"I hit rock bottom emotionally," Cisneros told the audience. "I remember sitting at home thinking to myself, 'Damn, do I really want to keep feeling this way?'"

Cisneros and more than a hundred other teens found their way to Joint Forces Training Base, Los Alamitos, in early July.

They said goodbye to their friends and families, their homes and their phones. They moved into the Sunburst dormitories and moved on with their lives.

"I chose Sunburst because it gave me the opportunity to get away from everything and start fresh," Cisneros said. "I needed to find myself again and figure out what I wanted to do with my life."

Over the last five and a half months, she found herself and she found her voice.

Standing at the podium, addressing hundreds of people as the cadet speaker and recipient of the academy's Distinguished Leadership Award, Cisneros reflected on the journey.

"I started off by raising my grades up from Fs to straight-As," she said. "I even got involved in school by becoming a homeroom rep."

She set her sights even higher, and pushed herself to perfect the drill and marching movements needed to lead the academy's 36 female cadets and eventually interview to lead the entire class.

At the academy, first sergeant is the highest military position a cadet can hold, and serves as the liaison between the cadets and the academy's military cadre. The high profile position also requires a cadet to lead academy formations and ensure proper bearing and discipline among his or her peers.

Cisneros set a lofty goal for herself, and focused her efforts on making it happen.

"I gave 110% to everything that I did," she said.

When U.S. Army Sgt. Maj. Peter Gutierrez, the academy commandant, called her name as first sergeant, Cisneros said was surprised and excited.

"I had the same feeling you get when you accomplish a goal," she said. "On top of everything, I was amazed of the person I had become: a leader."

Sunburst gave her an opportunity to process the past and focus on her future.

"I reflected over my errors and forgave myself," she said.

The comparison of her life before and after the academy is stark.

"Everyone around me doubted me. They said I wouldn’t graduate high school, and now here I am graduating early," she said.

Wearing a purple cap and gown over a khaki Sunburst uniform, Cisneros was one of 23 cadets to receive a high school diploma or high school equivalency credential during the ceremony.

While most teens were on summer vacation, Cisneros and the rest of the cadets hit the books and worked to earn a year's worth of high school credits between July and December.

Diploma in hand, Cisneros has her sights on the next goal.

"I already made myself proud, but that doesn’t mean I’m done," she said.

After Sunburst, Cisneros plans to enlist in the U.S. Air Force, and hopes to become an attorney down the road.

"Sunburst is just the start to my success, and the end of one chapter of my life," she said. "From this moment on, I’m now in control of my future."