Comments by elplayero
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Posted on September 7 at 3:55 p.m.
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/2007/...
Check out an article from by hometown newspaper.
http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2005/nov/...
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/Curren...
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-people/...
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
Posted on August 31 at 4:21 p.m.
Citizen and Create. Great posts. However, try raising $27,000. That is the total of the recent Next Step (in which 20 girls participated) and the $9,000 that has been published as the estimated cost of the April 2008 Challenge Days at Emporia High and Emporia Middle.
You can buy anything these days -including a Ph.D.
Sometimes they have a Ph.D. and sometimes they don't. Check out Rich Dutra, the founder of Challenge Day, at the following link.
http://www.agpa.org/mtgs/2006_annmtg/200...
Does he still have his Ph.D. or was that a mistake?
Ph. D. or not, they are smart people. They made more last weekend in Emporia than most Ph.Ds make in a month.
How do I sign up?
Posted on August 29 at 5:35 a.m.
Khristin, Thanks for your input. Adults hog the discussion. Student input is very valuable. It seems that Challenge Day worked for you.
Any suggestions to improve the workshops for other students?
How did the other student participants feel?
Was anybody upset or in tears during or after the workshops?
What is Be the Change? Is that a club?
Do you share e-mail addresses or phone numbers with Be the Change?
Did Challenge Day or Be the Change invite students or adults to participate in future workshops? (Perhaps in California?)
Was there any hugging of the adult volunteers? Was there any other physical contact?
Where did these adults come from?
Did some come from out of town? (Or out of the state?)
Posted on August 28 at 4:56 a.m.
If President Bush made a mistake in his speech, it was in falling into the leftist trap of linking the war in Iraq with the Vietnam War.
It looks increasingly like a win for the good guys in Iraq. (That means us, Craig)
Iraq is no Vietnam.
Our victory against despotism (and our impending victory against Radical Islam) in Iraq is having enormously positive consequences. Consider our new alliance with the French and Western Europe against the Iran’s nuclear ambitions. (Remember, the French voted for Sarkozy, the candidate who was outspoken in his support of America.) Consider yesterday’s accord between the leadership of the various factions in Iraq. All sides are uniting against Al-Qaeda and its unspeakable atrocities. That means they are siding with us. The enemy of my enemy…
None of this would have been possible without American resolve and the enormous sacrifices of our volunteer fighting force.
The President was correct to point out the consequences of retreating from the battle against tyranny. Why not look at our experience in Korea? Did we win or is it a quagmire? We are still there 50 years later.
In the south: 49 million people living free in a trillion dollar economy. In the North: 23 million people living in a .04 trillion dollar economy on the edge of starvation. Without American resolve what would the entire Korean Peninsula look like? What would Europe look like. Remember the Berlin wall.
Americans will not vote for a defeatist president next year. Hillary is already hedging her bets.
On Flawed logic
Posted on August 27 at 8:08 p.m.
So it’s agreed then...
The weekend option seems to work.
Let the students opt in like you did on a Saturday or Sunday. CHOICE, right? Bathroom every 2 hours -GREAT.
Only the highly motivated will participate. Success will be more likely.
WHY DOES THIS NEED TO BE IN SCHOOL?
Ilovekids, do you really think $18,000 dollars was "worth it" for the 20 students who participated? I can think of better uses for that money (and for the 240 volunteer man-hours that each workshop will require.)
By the way, would it bother you to know that all of the money from last weekend's training may have gone to a for-profit California corporation owned by the founders of Challenge Day -not to the non-profit with the same name?
Were any of you solicited to participate in more advanced training -perhaps in California?
Have any of the adult participants in last weekend's training also participated in other workshops such as est, Lifespring or Landmark Forum?
They seem to have similarities to the Challenge Day workshops.
Some people find their answers in church, others in these workshops. Why does this group get a free pass to spend 6 hours with young teens -DURING SCHOOL?
Posted on August 27 at 5:09 p.m.
LOCKED IN is how some participants FEEL. This is how one reporter described her experience when she was a student:
“Everything was going fine until a middle-aged man intercepted one of my hugs and wrapped me in a tight embrace, hands rubbing up and down my back. ... As a 16-yearold girl trapped in an uncomfortable hug with an older man, I began to wonder if this day could get worse. It did…I begrudgingly returned to the gym for what was by far the most horrible activity of the day - an activity called “cross the line.”...Maybe it's just me, but I'm not comfortable sharing the worst moments of my life by crossing a line in front of 300 people...Finally we stopped for lunch, which I saw as my chance to escape. No such luck. We were each paired up with a stranger with whom to eat lunch and share our life stories. I was paired with a woman in her mid-40s who had abandoned her children to move to New York and had just recently returned to the Bay Area to reconnect. Stuck with her, it was obvious I wouldn't be able to get away, so I sat and listened to her story of guilt. She talked the entire 30 minutes we were given for lunch while I sat there thinking “This is supposed to help me in some way?"
Exhausted from my lunch partner's sob story, I begrudgingly returned to the gym for what was by far the most horrible activity of the day - an activity called “cross the line."
These INSTRUCTIONS are from the Challenge Day manual:
A. Secure a private room -It must be free from interruptions for the duration of the Challenge Day program.
B. Windows below eye level in the room must be covered
C. 6-1⁄2 hours (including lunch) is the ideal amount of time for a Challenge Day.
D. There is one short bathroom break during the morning and a 20-30 minute working lunch break (over which students eat together and are given assignments that help them get to know each other).
E. It is ideal for bathrooms to be located inside or just outside the room.
E. Lunch will be held inside the room where the program is being conducted.
F. Participants (including Adult Volunteer Facilitators) will be asked to remain on site. No exceptions.
MY SUGGESTIONS:
Offer the program on a WEEKEND (like the recent Emporia workshop for 40 adults and 20 girls at $300 each -$18,000 total)
Or
Offer the program after class over two or three days (2 hours each day)
Or-If the principals INSIST on hosting this controversial workshop:
1-HOUR LUNCH BREAK away from the Challenge Day leaders with the option of returning to class with other students – a BAIL OUT OPTION
Fingerprint and background check all paid employees and adult volunteers.
Posted on August 24 at 7:57 a.m.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin...
Polyanna, Check out this link to see what happened in Seattle. The students are a captive audience for recruitment into advanced training workshops – for a fee.
Just follow the money. They are asking for $9,000 dollars for two or three workshops of less than 100 students each. They may raise much more. In my town on Naples, Florida the Challenge Day promoters raised more than $30,000 for three workshops. Where does the money go? Are teachers or administrators being paid a “stipend” in exchange for their support of the workshops? Money changed hands in Naples.
Did the students who will participate in Emporia’s first workshops sign a consent form that allows the Challenge Day corporation to photograph, videotape and interview them? Such information has been used for promotional purposes in the past. (Consider the Oprah show where students talked of homosexuality, drug addiction and abuse – on national TV.)
Are parents aware that their children will be sharing private matters in a public (?national) forum?
If citizens do raise $9,000, why not offer the workshops in a place of worship or community center?
Posted on August 20 at 4:34 p.m.
For a critique of the Challenge Day corporation and its $3,000 all-day workshops check out:
http://w3.cultnews.com/?p=2201
I am an online reader from Naples, Florida. Challenge Day was banned in Naples after parents' complaints. The program is no longer being held at their former flagship school (Alhambra, High in Martinez, CA)
The 6.5-hour in school workshops are often mandatory - forcing young teens to miss an entire day of school - unless they opt out.
Teens are subjected to many hours of non-stop mind games that the Seattle Times has called "reminiscent of est or Lifespring" These young students often make public declarations about suicide, sexuality, etc. in the presence of classmates and up to 20 poorly screened volunteer adult "facilitators" Follow-up of the students who are most disturbed by the workshops is often spotty.
If you notice an aggressive push for the program, including unsubstantiated claims that seem too good to be true, consider the motivation. Each session with 100 students costs $3,000 plus expenses. A for profit company owns the trademarks and receives a fee for every workshop, book, t-shirt that is sold. In addition, students are recruited to join the "Be the Change" movement and possibly advanced training for a fee. It is sold as "free" because money is raised to pay for the workshops. Think of the cost of missing classes, extra psychologists and counselors. What about the risk of having 20 poorly screened adults discussing intimate topics with students in small groups (often hugging them.)
To the promoters of Challenge Day say thanks but no thanks. If they insist (and they will) then ask them why not hold the workshops off campus on a weekend or after classes. They will refuse. This program doesn't pass the smell test.
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Posted on October 11 at 1:47 a.m.
Good article.
The Emporia Board of Education was wise to look this gift horse in the mouth. Let us hope that it does not turn out to be a Trojan horse.
Is Challenge Day a religion? Here is a description of a marathon 3-day Challenge Day (Next Step) workshop:
"Select members sit in a small ring of chairs in the middle of the room with their eyes closed while other members of the group whisper affirmations to them. The activity goes on until everyone has had a chance to sit in the circle and receive the “angel whispers."
http://www.monroe.k12.fl.us/mycp/nextste...
There is no safety or outcome data to support the use of this program in public school. See this brief clip from tha company's founder:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=YEYp4nD19a4
One of the board members raised the possibility of "emotional upheavals" after seeing the 15 minute promotional video. (We should assume that the company's 15 minute infomercial is as good as it gets. What happens on a bad day?)
In response we learned that at least one (?teen) participant in the marathon 3-day Challenge Day event held in Emporia earlier this year was "overwrought." Would we have known that if the question had not been asked in the first place?
How many other girls were adversely affected but concealed their feelings?
Safety is important, but we cannot ignore the financial questions about this program.
When the April Challenge Days are over, Emporians will have spent more than $25,000 for the benefit of no more than 220 teens. (Including the earlier Next Step workshop with 40 adults and 20 teen girls.)
What about the original claim that the first Emporia Challenge Day workshop was sponsored by grants from Girl Scouts USA, Department of Justice, and United Way? True or false?
Are any school district employees being compensated by Challenge Day supporters? Did any receive "gift certificates" to attend the Next Step workshop?
There is still time to get answers to these questions.
Frank Schwerin, MD Naples, FL
On Board accepts donations for Challenge Day