Parents of 25 students from American Samoa attending the Hawaii National Guard Youth Challenge Academy have been told that their children are being sent home tonight.
The reason being that they “do not meet eligibility requirements to attend the program.”
Specifically, that they are not US citizens but US nationals.
In her letter, which was emailed to parents, Sinaitaaga Atanoa, Academy Director of the Hawaii Youth Challenge Academy-Kalaeloa cites: “The National Guard Policy, according to the Department of Defense Instruction 1025.08 of December 31, 2020 states that all program participants must be a citizen or lawful permanent resident of the United States.” And adds that this policy is currently under review by the National Guard Bureau, Youth Programs, and future adjustments to the policy is anticipated.
A mother with two daughters in the program, Carmen Matuu, said that the academy called her at 4:30 on Friday, and an email from Atanoa was received Saturday saying that her daughters will be sent home tonight. Matuu told KHJ News, that her daughters called her crying about their demise.
They are doing well in the program and want to stay. They don’t want to return, as they were pulled out of high school here to go for this program. “If they return, they will be labeled as having failed,” said the mother.
In a letter to the Academy Director, Atanoa, Matuu said that the students are going through week 6 out of the 5 ½ months training “and you extract them, as if they have no feelings.” She asks, “If a US national can join the military, what makes this different? And why now?”
As soon as she was alerted about the situation, former House representative Andra Samoa, who was involved with the recruitment of students for the academy, began contacting government leaders to intervene and prevent the students from being sent home tonight. Among those she wrote to were Acting Governor Talauega Eleasalo Ale and Congresswoman Uifaatali. She said that, last night, parents of 11 students contacted her, pleading for help for their children.
The group left in January and their parents paid for their airfares to Hawaii. 75% of the cost for each participant throughout the 5 1/2 months of their training is funded by the federal government and 25% is funded by the state.
She followed up again with the leaders, and this time wrote directly to Governor Lemanu, who’s now in Honolulu. It’s understood that a meeting will be held this morning, concerning the students from American Samoa and why their US national status doesn’t qualify them for the Hawaii National Guard Youth Challenge Academy.
