Circle of Change

In December of 2005, I was handed a flyer asking for community volunteers to participate in Challenge Day in February 2006. The flyer stated that “Challenge Day is a one-day workshop for high school or middle school youth, teachers, parents, administrators, counselors and members of the community that successfully addresses the issues of violence, racism, teasing, stereotypes, tobacco, drugs and alcohol within the context of teen life. Through a series of games, activities, group discussions, icebreakers and trust-building exercises, participants learn how to break down the walls of separation and create new levels of respect and communication with their peers, their teachers, their parents and themselves.” Wow! Sounds impressive and who doesn’t want to break down the walls and learn a new way to communicate with teens and people in general. That is what I thought it would be. But I was SO wrong. It is an eye opening experience for anyone and a reality check. It shows us as a community how we can help our children grow into amazing adults. It showed our kids how to deal with peer pressure and to stand up for themselves. Each person in that room learned something about themselves, their co-workers and their fellow man. We all started out with a perception of each other and by the end of the day we were equals. We each had our own personal tragedies and personal strengths that got us through it. We weren’t unscarred but we survived and grew stronger. My favorite part of the day was when we played a game called “crossing the line”. We all stood on a line and as the presenters read a statement, we either stayed on the line or we crossed to the other side if we had been affected by the statement that was read. The statements were about race, religion, sex, drugs, alcohol, death, prisons, violence, tolerance, judging etc. There wasn’t a subject brought up that didn’t affect someone in a group of 100 and the majority were teen age students. Those kids learned so much about their classmates, teachers, counselors and themselves and hopefully have taken that back into their schools and communities. They need to “BE THE CHANGE”. It starts with them and as a community member and volunteer I learned that we need to help these kids be the change. The students in our community need strong support systems; they need to know they can count on someone in their community and in their schools. After I experienced this “Challenge Day”, I was approached to help form a Circle of Change in Snohomish County which will help support and fund Local Challenge Days in our schools and communities in “Being the Change”. I jumped at the opportunity to support such an amazing program. In the spring of 2006, Everett High had two challenge days which I couldn’t attend. However, it had such an amazing impact that Everett High has scheduled another two Challenge Days in October of 2006. I hope to see you there! If you are interested in joining our group please contact me here and I will get back to you. If you want to learn more about Challenge Day please go to www.challengeday.org. ..