Presenting Challenge Day
Friday, September 7, 2007
Presenters might have outnumbered spectators at a meeting to provide information about Challenge Day. The program was held Thursday evening at Emporia High School.
A team of teachers from Emporia Middle School, led by Barbara Clark, is working to bring the Challenge Day program to Emporia in April. One of the program’s founders, Yvonne St. John-Dutra, attended to help with the presentation.
The program is intended to boost self-esteem, appreciation for others and give tools to youngsters and their parents to cope with — or avoid doing — bullying, teasing, “put-downs,” fear of coming to school, eating disorders, drug abuse, depression, suicide, violence, absenteeism, racism, succumbing to peer pressure and other negative behaviors.
Clark said she learned about Challenge Day after coming home from school and seeing a feature about the program on “Oprah.”
The Challenge Day Web site promotes a world “where every child feels safe, loved, and celebrated.”
“Cyber bullying is a big issue,” Clark said. “It’s getting worse all of the time. Texting, e-mails. ... I had two students who did not want to come to school within the first eight days of school.”
Clark said the team needed to raise about $12,000 to bring the program to Emporia, and fundraising efforts have begun. One of the three days will be spent arranging logistics and preparing for the program, which will be presented on two days to EHS students and some EMS students and parents who will be chosen to participate.
Challenge Day was created 10 years ago by Rich and Yvonne St. John-Dutra, who base their program on a variation of a quote from Indian philosopher and teacher Mohandas Gandhi: “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”
“Our challenge to people everywhere is to commit to doing at least one intentional positive act of change each day for the betterment of the planet and its people,” the “Be the Change” Web page states.
Challenge Day events bring together students, parents and educators with a goal of breaking down barriers that separate students. They play games to “loosen up” before the serious sessions begin. Students may line up on one side of a gymnasium and, as different “labels” are announced, they cross a line on the far side if they have been affected by a particular label. They are told that every time they cross the line, they are stepping into a group that has less power because of differences: color of skin, clothing, body size, disabilities, having been humiliated in class by a teacher or a student and a variety of other subgroups.
An excerpt from a film about Challenge Day at Yuba City High School showed youngsters and adults crying and embracing each other as walls of differences crumbled.
Teenaged presenters Thursday night all had gone through a Challenge Day workshop sponsored two weeks ago by the Flint Hills Girl Scout Council. A number of agency leaders from the community also attended to lend their support. Most wore red T-shirts with Be the Change Movement logos.
The girls talked about changes Challenge Day had made in their lives the past two weeks. One girl described being bullied and bullying others since seventh grade; her Challenge Day experience changed that, she said.
Another said that she had learned that she misjudged people.
“Most of my friends, I talked trash on them. Even if they weren’t my friends, I’d still talk trash on them,” she said. “That Sunday night when I got home, I called about 10 of my friends” to apologize.
“All but one accepted my apology. The one that didn’t accept my apology was my best friend.”
Another girl, who also said she had learned not to judge people, said that the same benefit came back to her.
“I’ve never felt so accepted and loved for who I am by everybody in that group,” she said.
“Like, if I get called a slut or something ... all I say is ‘Ouch! That hurt,’” one girl said, describing the new way she has learned to react to name-calling.
An 18-year-old described herself as having been fat, wearing glasses, being poor,and not having the “best clothes.”
“I was spit at, called names, pushed down. ... I felt very alone,” she said. “It’s been pretty hard growing up, feeling that way.”
A 15-year-old went into the Challenge Day event a little skeptical.
“There’s no way I’m going to spill my guts to these people,” she said, recalling her thoughts before the program started. “I told them absolutely everything.”
A mother of one of the students who attended the Girl Scout workshop said that she saw a change in her daughter’s behavior that brought on a corresponding change in a second daughter.
“I have two girls, total ends of the spectrum different,” she said, “... and since this has happened, they have become so kind to each other.”
The approximately 20 girls who lined up in front of the stage Thursday evening said that they had become family and supported each other. Throughout the evening, they exchanged hugs and flashed “I love you” to each other in international sign language.
“This kind of energy ... is the best kind of fertilizer for this program,” a parent in the audience remarked.
“I like that,” St. John-Dutra responded, and joined the audience in laughter.
Pollyanna (anonymous) says...
Thank you for reporting this story. One clarification however. Yvonne St.John-Dutra was not present last night at the Community Night. The woman asking questions of the students was a participant from the workshop who offered to facilitate the Q and A between the students. Yvonne was there, however, at the 3 day Community Workshop held two weeks ago at the Girl Scouts building. Thanks
September 7, 2007 at 2:59 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
elplayero (anonymous) says...
Your numbers don’t add up –Challenge Day.
$12,000 for 200 students to go through 2 workshops of 6 hours each!?
Three weeks ago the number was $9,000 according to this newspaper:
http://www.emporiagazette.com/news/20...
Check out an article from by hometown newspaper.
http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2005/n...
Sound familiar? The Challenge Day people in Naples, Florida raised $14,000- per school - over $40,000 for only three workshops. The problem is that Challenge Day charges $2,700 plus expenses. Where did the rest of the money go? Why does Challenge Day need $12,000 for two workshops in Emporia?
This article (no byline) reports that 20 girls recently attended a "Challenge Day workshop sponsored two weeks ago by the Flint Hills Girl Scout Council."
I hope not!
That workshop was actually called Next Step® and it cost $300 for each of the 40 adult participant and perhaps $100 for each of the 20 girls. That is a lot of cookies.
Next Step® claimed "funding for the program was made available through a grant from GSUSA and US Department of Justice."
http://www.gsflinthills.org/Forms/Cur...
Last time I checked DOJ had never heard of Challenge Day.
Challenge Day has revenue well over 2 million dollars each year. It is big business.
They try to create the illusion of a groundswell of local support and cloak themselves with mainstream organizations like Girl Scouts, United Way and Department of Justice.
This group is far from mainstream. On of their board of directors and both of the founders are advocates of Human Awareness Institute - a company that produces clothing optional sex workshops.
Check out their paid "leaders"
http://challengeday.org/meet-the-peop...
If your teen children are "lucky" they will get to spend a day with two of these leaders at either Emporia High School or Emporia Middle School next April.
There is still time to stop this travesty.
The low attendance at this well-publicized informational meeting is a reflection of the level of support for Challenge Day in Emporia. Ask the Girl Scouts, United Way and The "Department of Justice" why they are sponsoring these expensive encounter sessions with money that was so hard to raise - money that many Emporians donated in the hope that it would be used for other causes. Tell the school administrators to keep this California company's workshops out of your schools.
Fool me once -shame on you. Fool me twice -shame on me! They fooled us once in Naples before our school board banned the workshops here. Don’t make the same mistake in Emporia.
Frank Schwerin, MD Naples, FL
September 7, 2007 at 3:55 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
methinks the 253 school board needs to look into this. The whole thing is fishy. The only sign I can see being flashed is this one -- $$$.
September 7, 2007 at 4:29 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
MisterO (anonymous) says...
Well, apparently this is still on....my child brought home a letter from the school saying, "Congratulations, your student has been selected to represent your school/community in the Challenge Day Program!"
The letter also says, "I further understand that Challenge Day and the sponsoring school/organization, its officers, employees or agents assume no liability either directly or indirectly for injury or accident resulting from or in any way connected with this event..."
If this is such a good program, why do they need such a broad waiver of responsibility?
I can't even begin to say how AGAINST this nonsense I am!
March 28, 2008 at 7:56 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
MisterO (anonymous) says...
EqualRights posted (in another thread that got buried on the "hide the topic page"):
"I'm not trying to be rude either, I really am curious as to why you are opposed to this?"
The simple answer is that group therapy has it's place, and that place is NOT in school during school hours.
Group therapy needs to be held in an appropriate environment and conducted by licensed mental health professionals.
Once again, I ask: If this program is such a good thing, WHY are parents required to sign such a broad release of liability for their children to participate? If this is such a good thing, what could possibly happen during, after, directly, or indirectly related to the sessions that would require such a waiver?
Hmmm?
March 30, 2008 at 3:02 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )