Widely Acclaimed Program Hopes to Encourage
Compassion,
Eliminate ‘Social Oppression’
Juniors to Participate in First
Class-Wide ‘Challenge Day’ This
Week
By Margaret Lipman (March 21, 2006)
More than two-thirds of the junior
class will be participating in a special event known as “Challenge Day” tomorrow
and Thursday in the auxiliary gym. According
to its mission statement, the program “provides youth and their communities
with experiential workshops and programs that demonstrate the possibility
of love and connection through the celebration of diversity, truth
and full expression.”
More specifically, students
participate in workshops designed to break down social barriers,
promote love and friendship, and reduce absenteeism, drug and alcohol
abuse, and teasing and bullying. Challenge Day participants engage in games
and activities in large and small group settings throughout an
entire school day and endeavor to take a stand against social oppression,
negative emotional expression, and to become more aware of how
people consciously or unconsciously treat one another. Other
goals include creating a forum for conflict resolution, promoting
student leadership, and eliminating stereotypes based on race,
gender, and socio-economic status.
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The
Challenge Day program was created in 1987 by Yvonne and Rich Dutra St. John and has reached hundreds of thousands of teenagers
in 30 states, two Canadian provinces, and the International School system. According to the program’s founders, Challenge
Day, a part of the St. Johns' larger “Be the Change” movement,
was inspired by the words and actions of Indian non-violent resistance
leader Mahatma Gandhi, who reasoned that, “We must be the change
we wish to see in the world.” Schools
are encouraged to use the Challenge Day experience as an impetus
for greater community-wide (and hopefully global) compassion
and service.
This
week marks the first time in GMHS history students will be
participating in the event. Mr.
Ken Siekman, Director of Counseling, is serving as the faculty
co-coordinator for this event along with counselor Judy Becker.
The day is being made possible through a grant by Mr. Nicholas
Benton, owner and publisher of The Falls Church News-Press. |
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Guidance
Director Ken Siekman is serving as co-coordinator of tomorrow's
challenge day activities.
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“I
created a Diversity Affirmation Education Fund in my name to support
programs like Challenge Day as I have a personal interest in addressing
the kind of taunting, bullying, and disrespect for differences that
make school days so stressful for far too many on the receiving end
of such harassment,” Benton told Lasso Online.
Although
some students are slightly skeptical about the effectiveness of this
somewhat idealistic event and have even compared it to a relatively
similar program from the teen comedy “Mean Girls,” Siekman is hopeful
that it will inspire real positive change in the school environment,
which is perhaps not as truly friendly and inviting as many students
would like to think. If the
program, which is being split over two days due to the number of
students involved, is indeed as successful as Siekman envisions,
Challenge Day could well become an annual tradition for the junior
class.
Mr.
Siekman certainly hopes so as he has seen the program firsthand and
has experienced its power for positive change. As principal of William Henry Harrison High School in West Lafayette, Indiana, Siekman was approached by
students who had heard about the program
who said to him, “We need this program at our school.”
“At
the end of the day, said Siekman, of his school’s experience with
Challenge Day, “I saw skepticism change to enthusiasm, optimism,
and general good will.”
For
more information about Challenge Day, visit www.challengeday.org.
