Challenge Day will be hosted at Thomas Jefferson again this year, putting the new juniors to a test.
Artwork by Mia Nogueira. Photo courtesy of challengeday.org
October 14th and 15th marks the two new days for Challenge Day for the present junior class at TJ, in the gym, preparing juniors to step outside their comfort zones one challenge at a time.
This will be the second time Challenge Day was held at TJ, thanks to TJ Social Worker Samanda Davis, who said, “I saw it [Challenge Day] on Oprah years ago, and it looked to be this amazing project. I then volunteered at schools and saw what it did for the staff and students, and immediately I felt empowered by the project,” explained Davis. “This year there is nothing new about the day, but we [Challenge Day Group] are partnered with Whole Foods, who will do fundraisers for us, like supporting the Be Green efforts, which is a part of Be The Change.”
Davis said that last year Challenge Day was influential at first, but the presence seemed to tail off off as the year progressed. “The main goal for this year is to keep Challenge Day alive throughout the year. I saw these kids come forward and open up to others. I saw a lot of changes in one person, but the biggest challenge was keeping it alive. Moving the dates to October instead of the spring should help it continue throughout the whole year,” said Davis. “I also always hear how much energy and great this year’s senior class is, and it may have been the unconscious level of challenge day that fed into that.”
Senior Sponsor and Varsity Soccer Coach Jonathon Poole had a class full of juniors, and for this year would like to see the experience build throughout the entire year as well. “Challenge Day definitely had an immediate affect on last year’s juniors, and about half of them had more substantial long term effects. Since TJ has made great strides over the last couple of years or so, the junior class this year should sustain the important strides over the next year and a half.”
Junior Mallory Baker was the co-president of the junior class last year, and is ready for the challenge. “I’m really excited! I think it’s an awesome opportunity to get to know each other, understand each other, and all be on one level. When everybody sees their classmates open up, we will start to care about each other more. I look at last year’s class and see how bonded they are with each other, and it makes me wonder what will happen after our challenge day.”
TJ Senior and Advisor of the Challenge Day Group Megan Gonzales helped oversee the group last year. “People changed after last year’s challenge day; I noticed they were all more friendly, the entire school changed,” she said. The Challenge Day group, full of students, teachers, and Davis, is responsible for getting people to take a new person to lunch, or talk to someone new, or more simply put, promote Be The Change.
Some teachers also saw changes in the students from last year. English literature Teacher Gabrielle Gerlits said, “If I had to say one thing, the students were more compassionate towards each other, and were able to see each other. What I mean by that is that kids who seemed invisible to everyone else could actually reach out and begin to talk to others; they now have a presence in the class.”
The other people to be affected were the parents who had students attend last year’s program. TJ staff member and parent Cindy Allen had a student [Demetrius Allen] attend the challenge day last year. “I think of it more as an awareness, or a small adjustment. The students became more aware of each other, and have more one on one sympathy. In groups, due to this MTV generation, it is different; the impacts really come from the private conversations.”
The Challenge Day group at TJ has a job that is responsible for taking new people out to lunch, or walking up to a stranger and beginning a new conversation with a new person. The group focuses on committing students at TJ to be more friendly and meeting new people. All this adds up to their slogan, Be The Change.
The new Challenge Day group will begin after October 15th, day two of Challenge Day 2010. The new group will function like last year’s, promoting Be The Change. For more information on Be The Change, Challenge Day, or any updates relating to taking someone new to lunch, visit http://challengeday2010.wikispaces.com/.
