One of the 11 cadets who returned to Honolulu last night to continue training at the National Guard Youth Challenge Academy, has been barred from the program.
The 17-year-old was left at the airport after their flight arrived at Honolulu International, while the rest of the group returned to the Kalaeloa campus.
The cadet’s mother said, it was lucky that a niece came to the airport to pick up a package that her daughter carried from here, her distressed daughter had somewhere to stay.
According to the mother, after her daughter received her electronic ticket to return with the other cadets to Honolulu, the Director of the Program, Sinaitaaga Atanoa, notified her that her daughter will not be accepted back into the program because she was involved in a fight.
The mother told KHJ News that this was the first she heard of the fight and questioned her daughter about it. The girl said, two weeks into the program she was involved in a fight with another cadet. “My daughter explained that she was punished according to the academy rules, she also apologized to the cadet that she fought with and there was no other problem.”
The mother added that, according to her daughter, there were other fights involving non-American Samoan cadets but they were not punished the way she was.
The mother said, when Atanoa informed her that her daughter will not be allowed to return to the academy, she questioned why the fight was being brought up now and whether it was Atanoa’s way of getting even because of the decision to allow the students from American Samoa to return. After all, said the mother, Atanoa led the effort to send the local cadets home.
Since the daughter had already received her ticket, she was on last night’s flight to Honolulu.
Two people from the academy were at the airport to meet the local group. “My daughter was with the other cadets she traveled with but was told by one of the staff that picked them up, that she couldn’t go with them,” the mother related. “A call was put through to Atanoa and she insisted that my daughter couldn’t return with the other local cadets to the academy.”
The mother said, she manage to talk to Atanoa last night and questioned how she could leave a minor at the airport and not allow her to the academy until they sort things out.
“So, if my niece wasn’t at the airport to pick up her package, my daughter would not have anyone, and she’s only 17,” complained the mother.
She said, when she contacted her daughter, “she was crying and so embarrassed” with the treatment she received.
The mother said, her daughter had already contacted former Faipule Andra Samoa to explain what happened and she is praying leaders will intervene so her daughter can be allowed to continue her training at the National Guard Youth Challenge Academy. She said, if there’s no intervention her daughter will be sent home tomorrow night.
Photos of cadets on Monday flight at the airport.
