Emotional day breaks down barriers
By Michael S. Hoey
Correspondent
About 300 Lake Geneva Badger High School students were challenged to learn more about their peers and how not to judge each other during Challenge Day two weeks ago. The day was designed to forever affect the way they look at themselves and others.
“Through a variety of activities, barriers were broken down and the similarities between all were realized,” Badger Community Education Director Marie Collins posted on Badger’s Facebook page.
“The Challenge Day mission is to provide youth and their communities with experimental programs that demonstrate the possibility of love and connection through the celebration of diversity, truth and full expression,” she wrote. “Mission accomplished!”
Challenge Day was actually three days last week, Sept. 23 to 25. About 100 students were invited each day, some randomly, some selected by staff.
Staff members Emily Stipek, Jenn Chironis, Leslie Abruzzo, Gen Reed and Jenny Straus coordinated the activity. Two representatives of the national Challenge Day organization, based in California, led the activity. The program’s slogan is “Be the Change!”
Stipek said the Challenge Day organization has existed for nearly 27 years and operates worldwide. Other area schools including Delavan-Darien and Beloit Memorial have also participated in the program.
Stipek said she was first exposed to parts of the program while teaching in Juda. She said she incorporated it into her classroom as a way to introduce a unit on suicide so the students would really take it to heart. Her students loved it so much that she ran a mini-version of Challenge Day. Stipek moved on to Badger last year and decided she wanted to go beyond just her own classroom there.
The activity was held at Immanuel Lutheran Church at 700 N. Bloomfield Road, down the street from Badger. Stipek said a secluded area away from the regular school day with a quiet environment and limited interruptions was vital for the success of the program. She said Pastors Mary Ann and Mark Moller-Gunderson were very helpful in utilizing their facility.
Stipek said the goal of Challenge Day is “to break the barriers and to understand that we need to be empathetic toward others and how to be empathetic to others. A lot of students think they are alone, and it shows them that they are not.”
Stipek said the students realize others are going through similar things, and they can get support from their peers. Staff members who participated told her it was valuable for them because it made them more aware of what is going on in their students’ lives beyond the classroom. It was an opportunity for both students and staff to see each other in a different light.
“Challenge Day teaches you to take off the mask you wear every day allowing people to see the vulnerable you that people hardly ever see,” Badger junior Keely Lofy said.
“It was one of the best days I have had in my career,” Badger teacher Beau Roddy said.
“Challenge Day was an experience in how to create a more positive image of a healthy community in our already outstanding school,” teacher Jeff Thiel said. “I’m excited to see students, staff, and our community take advantage of this opportunity for our future success.”
“Challenge Day was an eye-opening event for both students and staff,” teacher Nancy Salazar said. “Overall reactions to the day were sad but powerful. It was positive, exciting, and active and engaging.”
Salazar said the goal now is to bring the compassion felt on these days to the halls of Badger, the community, students’ homes, and to a place often forgotten about, the online world.
Salazar said the program uses a favorite quote of hers from Gandhi, “Be the change you want to see in the world,” to encourage everyone to truly be the change even if it’s at the expense of being “un-friended” in real life or on a social network.
The students began their day by walking through a tunnel of screaming and cheering adults and teachers who welcomed them. Then they participated in activities designed to get them to interact with people they would not otherwise have ever talked to. There was dancing, sharing stories and other activities designed to allow the students to get to know each other beyond appearances and make them comfortable with each other.
The students were then put into two “families” that they grew to support and relate to the rest of the day. They shared heart-felt stories about the hardships of their lives as well as the blessings they are grateful for.
One whole-group activity was called “Cross the Line.” Stipek said it was here that many transformations started to become clear. Students were asked to cross a line and face their peers who have not gone through the same circumstances as them. Signs of love and support were evident and students were given the chance to express themselves in front of their peers and teachers.
“Students shared the most amazing things, from apologizing to each other, thanking teachers who have helped them, stating how the day thus far had impacted them, and making challenges to other students to be kinder, less judgmental, and to have more respect and understanding for one another,” Stipek said.
“An enormous number of students left this day saying it was a life-changing event,” she said.
“Challenge Day to me really opened my eyes and made me realize what people are going through on a daily basis,” student Maddy Cromey said. “It made a huge impact on my life and changed the way I look at and treat people. I will never forget Challenge Day and what it did to me and the people who I got to know.”
“Challenge Day is really helping me open up, be myself,” student Ariel Buchmeier said. “I am even branching out and attempting to make new friends.
“Even though it has only been a single day since the whole Challenge Day experience, I feel like this helped me become less shy,” Buchmeier said. “I mean I have always been shy, but now I am not as shy as I was. I am making the transition into a whole different person.”
“I heard stories that I will never forget at Challenge Day,” Collins said. “I saw pain, grief and struggle in every single person there. My heart hurt so as the stories were relayed, but my heart also swelled with amazement as students accepted each other, comforted each other, supported each other through the various activities.”
“I saw our students with renewed hope that their peers would no longer judge them, that they could find safety and respite at school, and that they had hope for their futures,” teacher Dani Madecky said. “I saw students learning to trust and staff enlightened by the difficulties many of our young people experience as part of their daily lives.”
Madeky said she felt anxious, uncomfortable, excited, accepted, grieved, proud, hopeful, exhilarated and loved. She said she heard enthusiasm, truth, apology and purpose.
“I hugged more than I’ve ever hugged in my entire life!” she said. “We were reminded that humans need hugs for survival and we worked to make hugging a natural daily act of kindness, comfort and love for one another.”
Madecky said they all learned “if you really knew me” means a lot more than they thought and they all became a team and a family.
Madecky also said Badger’s BEAST club is a resource students can use to continue to work toward goals set at Challenge Day.
“I thought the students learned valuable information about the fact that they are not alone in what they are going through,” staff member Cathy Kunes said. “As staff members, we sometimes are so caught up in our jobs that we lose sight of the fact that if we want to see students succeed and motivate them, we need to be aware of the challenges they face daily.”
“This event is something that anyone can benefit from,” she said. “To be someone who is kind, has empathy, and sees the value of every person is something we all should strive for. We may never know the difference we make in the lives of others, and isn’t that what it is all about?”
Stipek said it was initially difficult to get students to commit to attending because many had heard it was just a day of crying. What they did not understand until actually participating, she said, was how life-changing it would be. After the first day, about 50 students had to be turned away because there was no more space available.
“These were the best days of my life and teaching career,” Stipek said. “These days surpassed my expectations! I was brought to happy tears at the end of each day by the immense amount of support and love that was filling the room.”
Stipek said when she returned to school and regular classes on Friday, she saw many signs of the experience in the hallways.
“It was such an inspiring and moving thing to witness,” she said.
As for the effect Challenge Day had on the students and staff, Stipek said kids who are usually shy were standing up and talking on microphones. Students and teachers who don’t always see eye to eye were hugging and apologizing to each other.
“Walls were breaking down and empathy and acceptance were happening all over the place,” she said.
Stipek said she very much hopes Challenge Day will return to Badger in the future. She even hopes funding can be found to ensure every incoming freshman can experience it.
“I hope this continues to make a change here at Badger for the better,” Stipek said. “I hope there will be more acceptance, understanding, empathy, and a newfound respect for students and staff.”
“I could not be happier to have been a part of bringing this experience to Badger,” Chironis said. “I think it was an opportunity for the district to really show our students, staff and community how much we care about our kids.”
“The emotions from Challenge Day revealed that there are many serious life threatening issues such as suicidal thoughts, drug abuse, neglect at home, emotional abuse, self harm, and so many others that are all concerns here at Badger,” Stipek said. “I believe that Challenge Day could have just saved or improved the quality of life of our students.”
