February 2, 2022 – The Murray Associates Architects Team is honored to design the Keystone State Challenge Academy’s new multipurpose building and grounds, a new National Guard Youth Challenge Program that will positively impact the lives of hundreds of Commonwealth teens.
The National Guard Youth ChalleNGe Program (NGYCP) was established in 1993 to assist young men and women between the ages of 16‐18 years old who are having trouble completing traditional high school. The program is funded by the National Guard and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and is open to permanent legal residents in each of the participating states and territories. The Program is a voluntary 17‐month alternative education program that helps at‐risk students change their future and earn their high school diploma or GED. Led by a staff of educators, counselors, and military professionals the program empowers participants to embrace responsibility, achievement, and positive behavior. It instills self‐confidence, fosters ambition, and increases opportunities through job skills training, service to the community, and leadership. The program uses discipline and structure similar to military training to encourage students to become productive and achieve personal and professional goals. The program is active in 28 states and Puerto Rico and has graduated more than 145,000 students since its inception.
Murrays has designed the 24,000 gsf center that is designed be the hub of these students activities and education which houses a multi-purpose area for recreational sports, a Health Suite, dining, and large assemblies; a kitchen with a scullery, food preparation area and food line service; multipurpose classrooms; a physical fitness/training room, restrooms, and storage rooms. The project is currently under construction and on track to welcome the first class in August 2022. This is the first of two projects that Murrays is completing at the Fort Indiantown Gap, in Lebanon PA. We have also been selected to create a Masterplan and design multiple buildings to increase Soldier Readiness Processing on a ten-acre site on the base.
