Volunteer service takes Sunburst cadets to Catalina Island

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

April 9, 2022

CAMP EMERALD BAY, Calif. – When Kaden Carpenter reported to Sunburst Youth Challenge Academy on Joint Forces Training Base, Los Alamitos, in January, he never thought he’d wind up at a Scout camp on Catalina Island.

“It’s a funny coincidence,” Carpenter said while clearing brush in the backcountry of Camp Emerald Bay during Sunburst’s weekend community service trip to the island, April 8-10.

Carpenter, 16, is an avid Scout who started as a youngster and currently holds the rank of Star with Troop 442 in his hometown of Huntington Beach.

When the COVID-19 pandemic pushed his high school classes online in 2020, Carpenter struggled with the change and fell behind in credits. As the pandemic began to wane, he put his scouting career on hold to become a cadet in Sunburst’s Class 29 and get his academics back on track.

“It’s going great,” Carpenter said. “I’m making up the credits I missed in school because of COVID and stuff.”

For five and a half months, Carpenter and his classmates are living and going to school at Sunburst. They study at an accelerated pace and will plow through a year’s worth of high school credits in half the time.

As part of the National Guard Youth Challenge Program, each Sunburst cadet is required to log 40 hours of volunteer service during their time at the academy.

The service requirement gives students a chance to give back to local communities, and it provides a reprieve from Sunburst’s rigorous weekday schedule.

“It’s a change of pace because everything we do with them is kind of demanding,” said California State Guard Master Sgt. Ty Edwards, who serves as Sunburst’s cadre supervisor.

Academy students, teachers and military staff boarded a ferry boat Friday morning at San Pedro Harbor and headed for Camp Emerald Bay in a remote part of the island. For three days, they helped the camp staff prepare to open the grounds after it was closed for winter.

From clearing brush in the camp’s backcountry to reduce fire danger, raking fallen tree bark, clearing walkways, pulling weeds, and setting up hundreds of cots and tents, Sunburst cadets completed tasks in hours that would have taken the camp’s four person maintenance staff months or longer to complete.

“We have a 66-acre camp, so as you can imagine it’s a lot to take care of on our own, especially living here year round,” said Nick Lapple, the camp's site manager. “Them coming out is a force multiplier for us, and it really helps us set up all the program areas and tents for the kids coming in.”

As Carpenter and the rest of the academy’s 1st platoon piled up tree trimmings and dried brush Saturday morning, the scout could see the impact he and his 96 classmates were having on the camp.

“It feels good, like I’m giving back,” Carpenter said. “We’re getting a lot of work done in a short amount of time.”

Lapple estimates about 10,000 young people will cycle through the camp between spring and fall. School-based outdoor education programs are scheduled to visit soon, and the camp will fill with Scouts once summer arrives. The camp plans to return to pre-COVID numbers and expects to host 600 Scouts weekly for ten weeks. Outdoor education programs pick up again in the fall.

This is Sunburst’s fifth volunteer trip to Camp Emerald Bay since 2019. The collaboration between the academy and the camp is a win-win, Lapple said.

“What a beautiful partnership to bring out kids that need a little bit of structure in their life and are going through this program,” he said.

“It’s just an awesome opportunity to have them go to a different place – somewhere outside of Los Angeles – to a remote island and see the ecosystem, the environment and see that there’s more out there than just city,” Lapple said. “What a cool environment for them to be able to come out and do a good community project.”

Even though the cadets are doing volunteer projects at the camp, being away from the academy and away from school is good for them, said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Kristen Spence, a Sunburst counselor.

“They’re out in nature. It’s not the city. It’s not the noise,” she said. “There’s something about being out here that slows things down.”

The weekend provided multiple bonding opportunities and morale boosts during longer-than-normal meals, evening campfires, skits, charades, and an afternoon of swimming, kayaking, paddle boarding, fishing and snorkeling.

Camp Emerald Bay is a nonprofit camp owned by Scouts BSA and operated by the Western Los Angeles County Council.

Sunburst is a voluntary high school credit recovery program facilitated in partnership between the California National Guard’s Task Force Torch and the Orange County Department of Education. It is open to all California teens, ages 15.5 - 18, who are behind in high school credits. The next class begins in July.