This was the most moving, most ground-breaking experience I have ever participated in. the people (especially Pam) were just so kind, so sweet, and absolutely wonderful. This brought me closer to my friends and peers in general. I think this should be shared with the rest of the world, including adults. It should be worldwide because an experience like this is extremely motivating, to know who is in the same position as you are, to know you aren't alone. I believe it is important to know how many people can help you, and its okay to be whoever you are. Thank you so much for being the change in the world, and I will make sure to spread the word of the amazing program.
For the last 19 years, I have served in various capacities on the board of directors for this incredible non profit. I have volunteered at many of their workshops and witnessed the miracles that happen for young people every time they to their work in schools. The work in timeless and gives adolescent the skills and tools they need to manage their emotions in the teen years when they are challenged and growing emotionally at all incredible pace. This time tested work continues to deliver exactly what young people need to grow and mature. Every school should have these workshops and every teacher should be trained in their methods
Amazing organization! They help our student body with this event each year. We love the Challenge Day organization!
Challenge Day profoundly impacts over 70,000 kids a year through transformational day long workshops that completely shift School Culture from Hostility and competition to kindness and cooperation
I attended my first Challenge Day when I was 15 years old. The program broke down barriers at my high school and brought the student body closer together. It opened our eyes to seeing each other beyond stereotypes and as human first and foremost. I was a 3-sport athlete and valedictorian of my high school, but in spite of my accomplishments, I felt very lonely and isolated before Challenge Day. 20 years later, the program continues to impact my life and the community I now live in, helping youth find hope and encouragement in an increasingly online and socially driven world. Challenge Day is a ray of hope students and adults alike, and a much-needed outlet to help communities and individuals be comfortable and confident in their skin.
I first attended a Challenge Day program in 2010 and have been coordinating Challenge Day events at the high school where I teach ever since. No program is more transformative in seven hours time—Challenge builds a community from a room of near-strangers in beautiful fashion, giving voice to disconnected kids and helping see the tremendously large world that they belong in. The activities at Challenge Day range from energizing, goofy ice breakers to powerful sharing and listening exercises, with wonderful structured conversations, constantly changing group compositions, and an overall theme of celebration carrying a day filled with powerful reflection and emotion but that ends with kids calling it among their most memorable and fun experiences. Led by gifted, well-trained facilitators, Challenge Day is an interactive social-emotional learning workshop that somehow maintains the atmosphere of a party but mixes it with the emotion and intimacy of talking to a trusted friend and guides all participants toward noticing the issues around them, choosing to confront them, and then acting to execute that powerful change in their schools, lives, and communities. Our great campus has been made better in part by Challenge Day’s enduring presence, and the tools and opportunities Challenge Days have delivered helped our campus with healing after losing multiple students to suicide in a short timespan. I have grown as a person through attending and working with Challenge Day, my students have grown from attending or leading at Challenge Days, and the program has literally saved lives on our campus by starting difficult conversations and helping struggling students seek and find support. Challenge Day is transformative and it resonates through our campus of nearly 3000 students. I wish that ever campus could and every student could experience Challenge Day.
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Challenge Day is unrivaled in its power and ability to transform lives. Challenge Day runs programs for students that help them open up, connecting young people with their community and inspiring them to notice issues, choose to confront them, and act in pursuit of change for the better. The program is professional and polished, and the fantastic leaders who facilitate command the crowd, producing everything from spontaneous dancing to somber reflective sharing. I have been attending and coordinating Challenge Day events at my high school for seven years and those events each year resonatethroughout the rest. I sincerely believe there is no program better for helping students confront the perils of bullying, mental health crises, and the emotional turbulence that they are always living in. Challenge Day’s work is invaluable to the schools and communities it serves, and I know that my involvement with the program has helped me grow and become a better teacher, advocate, and man.
Challenge Day was one of the few programs that we tried at my school that made a real difference. After one year, we saw shift, after 5 years, we hit the tipping point and our school culture had done a 180 from being a school kids were trying to get our of, to having a waitlist to get in. Suspensions went down, attendance went up, and of course, so did results. All this because we used Challenge Day as our springboard for Social , Emotional Learning for the year. This organisation touches the lives of so many youth, allowing them to look inside and see if they are part of the problem, or part of the solution. This is how we change the world.
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Challenge Day delivers transformative programs for youth at schools to create greater empathy and connection. The kids shared deep life experiences and formed intense bonds, creating a feeling of safety and love. After attending a day, it also changed my life., as my family and I use some of the tools in our own household as a result of the deeply impactful work that Challenge Day does all over the country.
For me, going through middle school and high school was a disjointed and often discouraging experience because I, like many others, didn't fit the mold. The work the team at Challenge Day puts in day in and day out to provide anti-bullying programs for students and adults alike is powerful and beneficial for anyone regardless of age and one I wish I had experienced sooner. Sharing love and compassion is the easiest way to build others up, empower, and create lasting connections and I'm incredibly proud of this team for not only executing, but demonstrating through each action, word and intention that this mentality reign true in their own lives. The recognition they've received across larger channels is just the tip of the iceberg when thinking about the impact they've made in over a million students lives. Challenge Day - THANK YOU for leading this movement, for making something as simple as positivity and a smile an educational priority. We are all better people for it.
I have been involved with many non-profits but, over the past 20 years of my connection with this extraordinary organization, Challenge Day continues to deliver on its mission. The leaders are full of big compassionate hearts, and everything they say and do is in total alignment with creating a safe, loving and celebratory environment for teens, teachers, administrators, parents and community members. I am proud to be supporting them with my time, my money and love! Yes, they have changed my life but I have had the honor of witnessing the thousands of lives they have impacted. They bring people together to support one another instead of bullying and isolating people for being different. I have seen entire communities and schools come together, not just for a hey day but permanently. The world is a better place because of Challenge Day. We need more of this!
I have worked with this organization and have had them at my school every year for over ten years now. The planning process is well organized, each of our leaders over the years have been amazing, and our students, staff and community LOVE the experience! I highly recommend bringing them to your school!
As a public school counselor, I have brought Challenge Day to my district for the last 10 years. Each year our entire sophomore class participates in what has become a right of passage. The day is filled with opportunities to connect our community through tears and joy. Each year this experience proves to be life changing for both our students and staff. This program supports our district’s mission of enhancing the emotional well-being and social emotional literacy of all members of our school community.
This was a excellent experience for our school each time we did it. The effects it had on our students and community were lasting.
I have been involved with this program for over eight years. Each year, I coordinate Challenge Day at the school I work at. I can say with confidence that for as long as I can, I will continue to fight to bring this program to schools. People often look at the cost and say, “But it is so much.” Try it once, and you will never have that thought again. There is no one who can change lives quite like they can. Every year I am amazed by the impact, and I know what to expect every year! This group is incredible.
Working with and for the Challenge Day organisation fromout Amsterdam- Europe has totally changed my view on everything. Having experienced this workshop many times I am convinced this is exactly what is missing in our schoolsystem, often also in our upbringing and in our societies. Worldwide! This very effective 6.5 hour day teaches us all that we need to know about dealing with our emotions in a healthy way, dealing with life and all that happens in it (things within our controll and out of our controll) , it teaches tolerance, understanding, it corrects our believe systems and makes us think more and better. The playful way and the way every individual gets a chance to be involved and to be seen, is the only way to get real with eachother. And this is so so needed! I have seen it being succesfull at schools but also at organisations with adult groups. I am proud to say we even worked it intensely - and still are - with professional athletes and the Police. It is amazing how a few hours being together like this, brings such light into peoples souls. The insights of such a day are of incredible value. It changes peoples perspectives completely and by that it also changes their behaviour. But then from the core, not because people are told to. This is the only way to get people to be emotionally healthy individuals and get them to start making better choices for themselves, their family or social groups. I believe even as citizens of a nation. - Inge Aerts, Challenge Day coordinator from Amsterdam, The Netherlands - Europe
I am proud of having worked on Challenge Day events in schools in my community for almost ten years. I have participated in 31 Challenge Day events, and have been able to see how humans are transformed when they feel safe enough to speak their truth. Through countless boxes of Kleenex - young people and adults find out that they have more in common than they realized...it helps us find our shared humanity. For teens, the world can be a confusing and complicated place - it is powerful to try being completely your real self - just for a day. I have asked young people to complete a short survey when they leave Challenge Day - here is my favorite quote from a survey that inspires me to keep trying “Spread the word, scream it from the rooftops, change is coming. We just have to believe we can do it.”
Challenge Day is the real deal. I haven't seen any other program that works as effectively as this one.
The 2018-2019 school year will bring Challenge day to our school for the 6th consecutive year. We are a committed, dedicated Challenge Day school. Challenge Day has become an important part of our 9th grade program. I highly recommend Challenge Day to any school looking to enhance their social-emotional program and a way to help "bring together" a grade. Each year the program has helped our Freshman class to be more cohesive and supportive of one another. It has also made a huge positive impact on our staff.
Truly an amazing experience. This allows for young teens to learn emotional intelligence and connect to their peers in a life-changing and powerful way
Volunteered as an adult facilitator at the Challenge Day event for young kids.
Also participated in their adult workshops.
Both were life changing. The work with the young people was eye opening to see how much these kids go through and I was also able to release some old stories.
The work with adults in the personal growth workshops have altered the course of my life. I have had so many profound breakthroughs in my life. They have helped me move beyond my past and take actions for my life.
The work of Challenge Day is incredible. They offer life-changing programs to build compassion and empathy, provide tools for better live - interpersonal skills, communication tools and ways of seeing that we are more alike than different.
The organization also walks the walk in that they practice what they talk about.
I participated as an adult facilitator at a Challenge Day in Corcord, CA and was completely blown away. I was inspired by the challenge days leaders and amazed by the courage and compassion of the high school students. To see these young adults reveal deeply personal issues to their peers and embrace and support one another, is an experience I will never forget. I look forward to participating in more challenge days and helping this organization accomplish it's mission