Challenge Day allows students to come together and support each other in community. graphic courtesy of Challenge Denver
The class of 2017 had an eventful Challenge Day that created positive relationships within their class.
Challenge Day is a two-day event that allows the junior class to discuss their daily obstacles, and work to come up with solutions to overcome them, resulting in a positive learning experience for all.
On January 20th, the entire junior class experienced an all-day workshop focused on bonding and unifying the class. Challenge Day focuses on positivity and how students can use their struggles for improvement on not only themselves, but on how society treats each other and deals with its problems. By participating in different activities and games, students learned that keeping everything bottled up isn’t the way to go; instead, they were given healthy ways to express their feelings. Some of these ways were games where you got to know students you hadn’t talked to before and bonding through a team volleyball game. “The activities we did were class bonding games so we became closer with one another. Later in the day, we opened up and shared ‘if people really knew me,’ which brought out the emotion in everyone,” said junior Patrick McDuffie.
The goal of Challenge Day is for students to share things that might be bothering them, or difficulties that they have faced throughout their lives, and each individual received feedback and support on how best to deal with these difficulties. Additionally, students learned that their feelings are valid, and should in no way be hidden or stifled. Students were given the opportunity to connect with people they may not have ever spoken to before, and learn about others in a positive and safe environment. “It’s just a day to really unite the class and try to alleviate bullying and bring attention to oppression, and really teach the students that they’re in control of who they want to be and how they can make changes in the world in a positive way,” explained Samanda Davis, Challenge Day sponsor and social worker at TJ. “It helped me connect with some people that I otherwise would not have connected with,” said Jordyn Chappell, senior at TJ who participated in Challenge Day last year.
Such a significant event is not easily set up; Challenge Day is funded mostly by a nonprofit organization called Challenge Denver, which believes so strongly in Challenge Day that it pays for around two-thirds of the cost so that TJ can experience it. Other sponsors of Challenge Day, such as Davis, fundraise the rest of the money necessary.
Challenge Day not only allows students to share their struggles, it also plays a significant role in uniting diverse individuals. “They learn that what their peers have gone through and what they have gone through are very similar, and they’re more alike than they are different,” Davis described. By opening up to their classmates, students can bond and understand that they aren’t alone, which is relieving in many cases. They are also taught the lesson that obstacles in life only make individuals stronger. Students learn that it’s okay to express their emotions, and that keeping them all inside just makes things worse. “I learned that nobody is truly there to put you down and that opening up to people instead of compressing your feelings on the inside is valuable and can help tremendously,” McDuffie recalled.
Challenge Day is a luxury that TJ is fortunate to have, and all students should take advantage of its benefits. Though students are strong on their own, the most important lesson Challenge Day taught the juniors this year was that they’re much better together than they are facing problems alone.
