On August 30th the new senior class participated in “Challenge Day.” When we walked into the gym we didn’t know what we were walking into, but walking out we were transformed by such an amazing experience. 

The day started off with the whole senior class sitting in a circle. Then we were instructed to make eye contact with someone across from the circle and grab their seat. If someone didn’t have a seat they had to stand up and introduce themselves in the middle of the circle. It seemed like the idea was to try to reel people out of their comfort zones and make them feel more comfortable with the class. At the beginning of the activity I could sense many kids were confused with what was going on. They weren’t loving it so much. 

This changed when we were split up into smaller groups with a couple kids plus a teacher in each group. The leaders of the activity really got most people to open up about their personal problems and lives to the group. The leaders gave us each two minutes to just talk about ourselves without judging each other. I was surprised just how open people were about their issues and I think that it made others comfortable enough to share as well. I could tell that by the end of the exercise everyone was way more talkative and social with each other than the start. 

The last main activity they ran us through was a “cross the line if” exercise. This was definitely the most impactful one of the day. The instructor would say “cross the line if…” following questions that were very personal. I was shocked by how comfortable kids were crossing the line without much hesitation at all. I know that 

the exercise connected everyone on a deeper level and it really exposed just how many people are going through the same things as you are. All in all, “Challenge Day” was a great success and I’m certain that many people got at least something out of it.