Ryan Luurtsema was angry as hell.
He was angry at his parents, angry at his teachers, and angry at life. Period.
And why not? Life had dealt the 18-year-old what he called “not an outstanding childhood.”
He had become a self-described “hooligan,” whose anger issues and unruly behavior had forced him from high school and into New Jersey’s Challenge Academy. This unique educational institution for high school dropouts and at-risk youth uses military-like training and discipline to educate its students.
But Luurtsema had not changed his ways during his time at the academy.
As he lay in the academy’s hospital, recovering from a severe panic attack, the combative teen believed his days at the Challenge Academy were numbered.
When one of the institution’s staff sergeants entered his room, Luurtsema braced for the word of his expulsion.
Instead, the sergeant began talking with Luurtsema and asked him one astoundingly simple question which changed Luurtsema’s life.
That was in 2006.
Fast forward to 2025.
The same Luurtsema now works as the Family Readiness Program Manager for the 177th Fighter Wing stationed in Atlantic City. He married his wife Erin in 2013, and they have two young children.
The journey that brought Luurtsema from the despair of his near expulsion at the Challenge Academy to his current life is extraordinary.
It is filled with movie-script worthy twists and turns, brutal challenges and inspiring achievements.
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Luurtsema was born in Waldorf Maryland in 1988. He described his very early years as a “regular home life in a regular town” and Waldorf as a “village in the forest.”
The family moved to a rooming house in Ocean City in 1993. By then, the wheels were beginning to come off. His parents, both troubled souls, were in a deteriorating marriage.
“Both of my parents were alcoholics and there was not a lot of parental supervision for us at that time,” Luurtsema said. “Dad had anger issues, and I sometimes took the brunt of it because I wanted to stop him from bullying my siblings.”
His parents engaged in a contentious 3-year divorce that was finalized in 1999. Two of his brothers went to live with his dad.
“Mom worked second and third shifts at Bally’s in Atlantic City and we all started living and adulting then.”
Luurtsema recalls earning money “by any means necessary.” He remembers selling lemonade on street corners and finding old bicycles to refurbish and sell.
Things went from worse to horrible in 2001, when Luurtsema’s mother lost her job at Bally’s. And though she successfully applied to be a substitute teacher, there was little demand.
The family moved to Somers Point, then Linwood and finally to Egg Harbor Township.
“We were pretty displaced,” Luurtsema said. “We were always moving and living in a rooming house or a motel or a friend’s house or my aunt and uncle’s house. I never had a true home. I was not doing well in high school. I was skipping class and getting into fights. I was doing and distributing paraphernalia. I was a hooligan.”
Luurtsema recalls the day the Egg Harbor Township High School principal delivered him an ultimatum.
“I was on the verge of being expelled,” he said. “The principal gave me a choice: Instead of being expelled, I could agree to go to the Challenge Academy. I agreed.”
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Luurtsema recalled the Academy, which at this time was located at Fort Dix, was not a nice place to live.
“There were leaks everywhere, the building was falling apart, and black mold was common,” he said.
The academy has since moved to a new facility in Sea Girt.
Luurtsema’s conduct at the academy did not change or improve.
“I had a deep well of anger – about my parents, my homelessness and having to grind on the streets,” he said. “had almost no connection to reality. I did not want to be in life anymore. I didn’t understand life, but I was aware of death. My sister’s boyfriend hung himself a few years earlier and I helped break into the room where he did it, so I knew what death was.”
After a few months, it all became too much for Luurtsema, and he suffered a severe panic attack. That put him in the academy’s hospital where he experienced his “a-ha!” moment while waiting to be told he was expelled.
“The staff sergeant came in and looked at me,” Luurtsema remembered. “We talked for a short while. Finally, he looked at me and asked, ‘What are you doing at the academy and why?’
“Believe it or not, I had never appreciated the word ‘why” like that before. Sergeant also knew a lot of my anger was aimed at my parents and my energy had been spent protecting my siblings. He asked me, ‘How do you want to use that?’ He and the commandant told me I could use it to reshape my life.”
In the soul searching he did to answer the sergeant’s question, Luurtsema ultimately decided to direct his energy in a new direction. He soon joined the Academy’s government affairs committee, the drill team, and the public affairs office.
“They broke down my anger and helped me figure out why I was acting the way I was,” said Luurtsema. “No one gives the institution the credit it deserves or appreciates the work it does unless you go through it.”
***
Luurtsema’s older sister, Shane, always had been there for Luurtsema. She took on a lot of the parenting responsibilities while they were growing up and she helped support the family by working in a local bakery, where she eventually got Luurtsema a job.
He credits his sister primarily (also one of his brothers and an aunt and uncle) in teaching him about family values and what was needed in life.
Shane enlisted in the U.S. Army and was stationed at Fort Lewis in Washington when Luurtsema graduated from the Challenge Academy. He drove out there to visit her in 2009 and decided he too wanted a piece of army life.
“I had always been enamored of what I saw in army life,” he said. “I joined because of my sister, and I took to military life because I did not have anything holding me back.”
Luurtsema enlisted in the U.S. Army at Fort Dix in 2008 and became an ordnance specialist and later a human resources manager.
He deployed overseas, first to Iraq and later Kuwait. While in Iraq, his unit came under mortar fire and the blast from one particular rocket slammed Luurtsema hard. He would later be diagnosed with both PTSD and a traumatic brain injury.
His therapy, counselling and treatment continued for three years, and he took a medical discharge in 2016. He left the army with three Army Achievement Medals, the Army Commendation Medal, and the Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal as well as a variety of ribbons and additional acknowledgements for his service.
His next challenge was the transition to civilian life.
“Transition is always difficult,” Luurtsema said, admitting to bouts of depression and anxiety. “You think of yourself as an asset in the military but after your discharge, it is ripped right out of your control.”
Luurtsema recalled one specific job interview that stuck in his craw.
“I applied for work as a line manager at a local franchise of a well-known national fast-food chain,” he recalled, “but I didn’t qualify. When they don’t know you or your qualifications and tell you that you aren’t qualified for a job at a fast-food restaurant – and after everything I had done in the army – that was devastating to me. It rips your soul out.”
Miffed, but not discouraged, Luurtsema eventually attended Stockton University where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in hospitality, tourism and management. He landed a position later that year with Ocean County College, first as Veterans Coordinator and then as Assistant Director of Military and Veterans Affairs.
Not coincidently, in 2020, OCC was ranked by Military Times eleventh in the nation as “Best for Vets.” OCC was also recognized as first in the state for county colleges for military-affiliated students.
***
Today, Luurtsema supports thousands of Air National Guard members as the Family Readiness Program Manager for the 177th Fighter Wing in Atlantic City.
He has racked up a plethora of recognitions and awards including the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award from Marquis Who’s Who and the 2021 Veterans Champion of the Year from GI Jobs.
Recently Luurtsema added a master’s from Colorado State University Global in organizational leadership to his resume.
When Luurtsema thinks back to the Challenge Academy, he is convinced it saved his life.
“I would say without a doubt, had I not been forced to enroll there, I would be dead or in prison now. It truly saved my life and put me on the trajectory of who I am today.”
When he thinks about the angry youth waiting in the hospital for expulsion from the Challenge Academy in 2006 – the kid who had “grinded” his way on the streets of Egg Harbor Township and who had fought his way in and out of public high school – Luurtsema says he would tell that kid “life is all about trials and tribulations. You need to know you are going to fail sometimes but learn from it. When you fail, don’t fall backwards. Move on; always forward.”
