PEARL CITY — Graduating from high school. Going to college. Believing in themselves and what they could achieve.

Those once were foreign concepts for the 96 students in the 28th graduating class of the Hawai'i National Guard Youth Challenge Academy.

All of the young people at one point were in danger of not graduating. Some were on drugs. Others were members of gangs.

Yesterday, they were on stage, standing at attention with arms rigid, shoes spit-shined and their blue uniforms crisp as they accepted accolades from the beaming crowd of family and friends.

Yesterday, they were no longer at risk. They were on their way.

In the parking lot after the ceremony, surrounded by her family, stood a smiling Jennifer Lambatsos, a Mililani High School student who graduated from the program.

Lambatsos said she skipped most of the ninth grade, choosing not to attend classes. By her sophomore year, when she decided to try to catch up, she was too far behind. Her only option was to quit school.

Until she learned about the youth academy.

"The time went by really fast," Lambatsos said. "I wouldn't have graduated without this."

Now she's looking ahead to college in San Antonio, Texas.

Her father, George Lambatsos, knew all along that his daughter could make it.

"I'm extremely happy for her," he said. "She started something so challenging and she finished. The program caused a dramatic change in her as a person. So many more doors will be open to her now."

Posing for pictures after graduation was Allen Meade, who now has a plan for the future: Come fall, he will enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps.

"It was a big accomplishment for me," Meade said. "I didn't think I'd make it. I thought I'd get kicked out or go AWOL. But I got through it with my friends."

U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie, who delivered the keynote address at the graduation, held at the Pearl City Cultural Center, said, "It's a happy day."

"Yes, you can clap for them. When they came in, they didn't believe. They didn't feel. They didn't see or think. They came in thinking they were losers," Abercrombie said. "Now they can walk away knowing that they have achieved what they started out and stand on the cusp of their life."

They are graduates of a program that provides 16- to 19-year-old at-risk teenagers a second chance to obtain a high school diploma. The program began in 1994 and has graduated more than 2,000 students in Hawai'i and a total of 74,000 nationwide.

The students all volunteered for the 5 1/2-month residential academy, which doesn't end at graduation but continues for a year with mentoring.

The Hawai'i academy is one of 25 such programs in the United States that are governed by the National Guard Bureau in Washington, D.C. The community-based program was launched in 1993 as a way to deal with the 10 million young Americans who drop out of school each year.

The academy, which graduates two classes a year, emphasizes eight core components: coping skills, educational excellence, responsible citizenship, health and hygiene, physical training, job skills, leadership/followership, and community involvement.

Additionally, it helps participants get their General Education Development Program, or GED, diploma.

Students must voluntarily apply for admission. Those who are accepted live at the academy, where they are supervised around-the-clock by military-trained supervisors.

Despite their rocky histories, about a third of the students were going on to community college. Several received scholarships from local businesses, including the Outrigger Duke Kahanamoku Foundation.

National Guard Col. Stan Osserman told graduates that they deserved to be proud of themselves for not giving up and sticking with their plan.

"It's been a long, tough road," Osserman said. "Now you really know the value of self-discipline. That will serve you well throughout life."