Yesterday, my life changed. And every moment since then, I have been trying as hard as I can to figure out a way to share everything that happened in a clear, concise way. It has been the only thing I have talked about since 3:00pm yesterday. So, this is my attempt to explain the awesomeness that was Challenge Day.
About a month ago I was sitting in the ITC at Penn during study hall with Devin, Paige, and Craig. Devin came in a with a sheet of paper and started writing our names on it, and we really didn't know what for... He said that he was on this committee and he needed to get a list of people who would be willing to participate in an event called Challenge Day. (Insert confused faces by Paige and myself.) We had no idea what he was signing us up for, but when it was mentioned that we would miss an ENTIRE day of school, pshh we're we all for it!! We eventually found out that it was a big event that has happened all over the country to get high school kids to break out of their comfort zones, dig deep and share their feelings, and challenge us to get to know people before we judge them for just the image we see on the outside. I, for one, was extremely skeptical of Challenge Day at this point. I figured it would be just like the million of other things that the school tried to implement to discourage bullying and violence. So, at this point the only reason I was going was to skip out on a day of school. I completely forgot about it for a while until I got a sheet of paper last week that said I would be going on Wednesday, January 20th.
That morning came and I wasn't feeling too great about going. I rode into school with Nicole and just told her how I thought it was going to be a boring, cheesy, complete waste of my time. (I pre-judged, yeah, bad idea.) The only upside at this point was that I was going with a few of my best friends, Heather, Nicole, and Austin. We walked across the street to River Valley with 100 other kids, who were in the exactly the same boat we were, not too sure about what was going to go down... We walked into the atrium got name tags, and slowly began to make our way into the gym. Heather and I started to hear the beat of a rap song as we neared to doors. And sure enough, when we reached the doorway, music was blaring, and dozens of teachers, administrators, deans, principals, and parents were lined up along the entry way dancing and high-fiving us as we passed. (little wierd, not gonna lie...) We eventually found a seat in a big circle and watched as all the adult leaders shuffled into the middle of all of us and started dancing. K, I'm not joking here at all. I saw the, oh so serious, attendance dean break it down to Single Ladies. I watched my sweet, tiny, Chem teacher from last year booty shake. None of us were really sure whether to laugh hysterically, or turn our faces away, scarred for life. We went with it, and in the matter of a few minutes the rest of us found ourselves in the middle of the circle having a dance party right along with all of our teachers. One of the best parts was realizing how much the beginning of Challenge Day felt JUST LIKE CAAAAAMP!!!!! All the adult leaders acted just like us counselors act at camp, and we even danced to camp songs like Apache, Jump Around, The Train Song, it was crazy!! I could have sworn that any moment Jeffery Myers was going to grab the mic and start talking about ground bats!
We started to get a little more comfortable as we played a couple cheesy get to know you games. One of which was one where we had to link arms with someone back to back and dance with them. Yep, butt to butt. Awesome. As cheesy as the games feel like they should have been, they weren't at all. Everyone loved them!! After an incredibly loud game of volleyball on your butt, and a bathroom break we settled into hear the stories of the two leaders of Challenge Day, Chris and Berenice. This was the first time I cried during the day. They talked about growing up in a different country, losing parents to divorce, or losing a grandparent to a drunk driver. Everyone had their eyes glued on them the whole time, and after they finished they split us up into "family groups." The people in my group were totally random. I didn't know any of them. Berenice challenged us to really open up and share our real, true feelings with the group. The sentence she told us to start with was, "If you really knew me, you'd know..." Usually I would never tell a group of 5 other complete strangers something that no one else knows about me... something that has brought me to where I am today. But, somehow, and I do truly believe it was God-thing, I had no problem sharing my life with these individuals. Chris and Berenice made this atmosphere that was so comforting, and the walls in all of us just came crashing down. There was no fear of what other people might think. After more tears, and lots of hugs, we broke for a lunch break.
After lunch, Berenice brought us into a circle and told us we'd be doing an activity called the Power Shuffle. It's where every person in the room gets on one side of a line. And when Berenice read a statement off a card that applied to any person, they were to cross the line onto the other side, and turn around and face the rest of the group. While they went across the line, all the individuals that didn't cross the line put up their hands with the I Love You sign, to show support and love towards the other group. Some of the questions were, "Cross the line if you've grown up in a one parent home," "If you've ever been hurt by someone standing in this room right now," "If you have lost anyone to gang violence," 'If you've ever know someone who has seriously considered or attempted suicide.." This lasted about half and hour. Everyone shuffled back in forth in silence. It was clear how powerful this activity was when you looked upon the faces of people who had crossed the line. Tears, streaming down their faces, complete strangers reaching out to others to let them know that someone cares about them. It was one of the most incredible experiences I have ever been apart of. I learned new things about people who I have been good friends with, that I didn't even know about them. In crossing the line, I learned that some things that I didn't have affected me, truly have. I saw big, tough, guys fighting back tears. I saw girls from two opposite ends of the social scale embrace each other. I saw people who I had labeled as losers, or stupid, or mean, cross that line. And I realized that I have no right to judge them when I have no idea that they could have watched their best friend die in a gang fight. You just don't know.
After that, we made our way back to our families to go around the circle and share what statement affected us the most. I had two, but one was "Cross the line if you have ever been hurt or talked about by someone in this room." As I scanned the faces of the people who had crossed I realized that some of them could have been over there because of me... and that broke my heart. We hugged our group members for the last time and then they opened up the mic for anyone who felt like the needed to share something with the group. Students got up and said stuff about how they really wanted Challenge Day to live on, to not just be over when we walk out the door. They gave us challenges. Girls got up and said that they needed to apologize to someone in the room for being mean to them. Dozens of friendships were restored my the end of the day. People who hadn't talked in months, throwing back and forth insults about each other, could now embrace the other and be best friends again. One everyone had spoken the gave us the chance to go make any friendship right that we needed to, or just to go up and give someone a hug and appreciate them for who they are. I got to do both. I have never been more grateful for the people that God has put in my life, it changed my perspective on a lot of things.
So maybe that wasn't so concise... or very clear for that matter. But I hope that in some way you understand how phenomenally amazing this day was. The Name of God was not uttered once in the time that we were there, but as we walked out I turned to Nicole and said, "God was all over that, it's crazy that he could use a school function to change to many lives." Not one person walked away from experiencing Challenge Day the same as when the walked in.
True, I agreed to be apart of Challenge Day, because I simply wanted to be out of school for the day. But what I walked away with was worth far more than I could have every hoped or dreamed.
http://www.youtube.com/challengeday
Who do I need to get a hold of to try something like this for churches in the area? Maybe you could help us put it together?
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