My first cadet...Chris
I have known Chris since he was 12. I helped him attend a summer camp and an alternative school
program. I took him swimming and I helped him hunt for a job. But, my biggest gift for Chris was when I helped him get
into Lincoln's Challenge Academy.
When his family moved from Springield
to New Berlin, Illinois, he became 
a well-accepted sports player. His favorite sport and his most
successful sport was football. All was initially great. Later,
things changed...girl-friend breakup, tumbling grades and some depression.
It wasn't a pretty picture.
The day he graduated from LCA, he had a party in his backyard for family
and friends. I was there with my camera.
After his L.C.A. graduation, he worked a while as a detailer at a car
business. Then life began turning "bad" again. It was in this
period of time when I got "stung" by Chris with a loan that has just sat
unpaid.
He ran for The Ilinois
National Guard and then, a bit later, to The U.S. Army
He returned home early from the Army. Now he's a daddy. He's
been saved from a few close calls but he never grabbed his dream or saw
himself as a problem solver.
