 |
Get Answers | Become a Supporter | Be the Change | See Results
A Student's Story: One Student's Experience at Challenge Day
About halfway through the semester in my freshman Living Skills class, we watched a documentary video on a program called Challenge Day that was being held at different schools around the country. The goal of the program was for participants to get past all the deceiving stereotypes that teenagers have adopted, and to step into the shoes of people they didn’t know. It was supposed to be a day of acceptance in which, for six hours, everyone tried to treat everyone else with respect.
Later that year our school held a series of Challenge Days. I was immediately separated from my friends. The room was packed. There had to be 200 people filling that small gym. Everyone was seated in folding chairs, arranged in one giant circle around the room. When we were finally all seated, the room was quiet except for low, nervous whispers. Into the center of the room walked an energetic-looking woman with a happy, childlike expression. She spoke in a clear, playful voice. Everyone stopped talking. She introduced herself as Sumatee, and her partner as Mike. Each person in the room took a turn standing up and saying their name into the microphone. I’m not as painfully shy as I used to be, but I still had a hard time standing up in front of 200 people. When the microphone got to me, I stood up quickly and blurted my name almost inaudibly under my breath.
“Challenge Day taught me how to open up myself to other people. I used to close myself and acted like someone I wasn’t. After Challenge Day, I started to be myself.” - Central Florida Student