Teens Get Academic Help While Serving Time

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico – They broke the law and did the time, now three teenagers from Las Cruces will face the world armed with skills they learned at their detention center.

While serving time at afacility in Las Cruces Michael Todd, Derek Parrish and Aaron Rojas attended the Aztec Youth Academy. Thursday they donned their cap and gown to receive their GED or high school diploma. Aztec is an academy that teens who are sentenced to a detention center can attend while doing time. It’s a program that gets them ready to join the professional world when they are released.

Todd, who will soon turn 18, told ABC-7 that he’s learned tough lessons about consequences, but he said he never plans to break the rules again. He said he plans to enroll at New Mexico State University in the Fall to major in computer science.