Challenge Day, a nonprofit organization that helps youths and adults learn to connect with one another through interactive programs, was founded by Rich and Yvonne Dutra-St. John in 1987.

When the couple met, they had both been working to create programs designed to treat drug and alcohol abuse, depression, eating disorders and violence, but they ultimately realized that these problems stemmed from larger issues — such as loneliness, isolation and separation — and they strove to develop programs that would enable people to resolve them.

Their organization offers several programs, including Challenge Day. “The focus of the program is to break down the walls of separation and to help people see that they have more in common than they think,” Rich Dutra-St. John explains.

Program leaders also emphasize that if people treat one another with love and respect, peace can be established in schools and communities.

Booking a Challenge Day
Several steps must be completed before the organization’s staff will schedule a Challenge Day at a school. First, an on-site coordinator must be established to serve as a point of contact between the school and the Challenge Day staff. He or she is also responsible for helping to form a “Be the Change” team — people who set the tone of the program.

A Be the Change team must include at least one student leader, at least one school staff member and at least one parent. The school staff members who are part of a Be the Change team may be determined based upon the team’s goals for the program.

If, for instance, the issues they wish to address involve bullying on school buses, Dutra-St. John says it would be ideal if someone from the district’s transportation department was part of the team.

In addition to identifying goals for the program and submitting an action plan to achieve those goals to the organization’s staff, the Be the Change team must create a fundraising plan and a plan for implementing pre- and post-Challenge Day activities. The pre-program activities include hosting a parent/community information night to introduce the Be the Change team members and their goals for the program, and assigning each team student member a “secret buddy” on campus — someone that they can do nice things for without the person knowing.

For more information about Be the Change teams and how to book a Challenge Day, visit www.challengeday.org and click on “Our Program.”

Program activities
During the day-long program, Challenge Day leaders teach participants ways that people create separation among one another and then provide them with tools to learn how to effectively communicate.

They begin the program by getting students to step out of their comfort zone through music and games. The “Game Cheer” is one such activity that helps students feel comfortable about breaking out of their normal social circle. The leaders also spend the morning discussing healthy ways to express emotions.

In the afternoon, the group discusses social oppression and the effect it has on their lives and others around them. The students then take a stand against oppression and have an opportunity to apologize to those they have hurt.

The activities performed during the latter half of the program facilitate this proactive behavior. In one, Challenge Day leaders present images to participants to aid in explaining the organization’s “Philosophy of the Heart,” which suggests that people are born with a pure heart, but if they encounter challenges and face oppression as they mature, they can develop scars on their heart and they learn to interact with others based on those scars.

In addition to using images, Challenge Day leaders request input from participants to enhance their understanding of the philosophy. “When we ask them to describe a newborn, they say ‘cute, cuddly, a miracle,’” Dutra-St. John says, “and when we have them describe what happens when two kids with scars on their hearts interact, they say that they relate to one another scar-to-scar rather than heart-to-heart.”

Dutra-St. John also says the leaders emphasize that the light in a person’s heart never goes away, regardless of how many scars it has, and they encourage participants to focus on each other’s good qualities. “We have a belief that there is no such thing as a bad kid,” he explains. “Acting out is a kid’s cry for attention and help.”

The “Power Shuffle” is another exercise that is performed during a Challenge Day. In this activity, all participants must cross over a line positioned in the room, which signifies that they are part of a less-privileged group. Dutra-St. John says no one enjoys crossing over the line, so the purpose of the activity is to get students to ask themselves why they would hurt others because of their differences.

Lifelong applications
At the end of a Challenge Day, participants are encouraged to create positive changes in their life, school and community by adopting the organization’s three-step formula:

• Notice — Notice what’s happening in your life and/or around you.

• Choose — Create a vision for what you want your life to look like.

• Act — Commit to change the things in your life and/or around you that you don’t like.
  

  To ensure that students perpetuate the positive momentum established during the Challenge Day, the Be the Change team holds follow-up sessions shortly after the program. In these sessions, team members ask students to share what they learned during the program and discuss how they are going to apply it to improve their life and the lives of others.

  The Be the Change team also implements activities on the school campus that will generate acceptance, respect and a friendly rapport among students. One such activity is called “If You Really Knew Me.” The team takes photographs of all the students and has each person fill out a form where they reveal things about themselves that most people do not know.

  Dutra-St. John says the purpose of the activity is to get people to share what is in their heart, thereby enabling them to form deeper connections with one another.

  NAPT welcomes Challenge Day
  Information about Challenge Day will reach pupil transportation providers during the National Association for Pupil Transportation’s (NAPT) 34th Annual Conference and Trade Show in Myrtle Beach, S.C. On Oct. 28, Dutra-St. John will lead a Challenge Day workshop co-sponsored by NAPT and Transfinder Corp.

  Transfinder Marketing Manager Kathleen Fagan, who has supported Challenge Day since 2006, approached NAPT Executive Director Mike Martin earlier this year about establishing a way to introduce the organization to the industry after she learned that bullying on school buses is a substantial problem.

  She reveals that Martin felt Challenge Day’s mission would tie in well with the association’s Leading Every Day Initiative, and after working with the organization’s staff, they settled on scheduling a one- to two-hour workshop for the conference, which they are looking forward to. “We both think it’s an excellent opportunity for district personnel to look at a unique approach to addressing the bullying problem,” Fagan says.

  During the session, Dutra-St. John will show a DVD about the Challenge Day program and attendees will engage in activities that will introduce them to the organization’s philosophies, including an amended version of the Power Shuffle to help them understand the negative impact hurting each other due to differences has on students. He will also provide techniques on how to interact with students who are exhibiting problematic behavior.

  At the end of the session, one transportation administrator will win a Challenge Day. At press time, Fagan said the format of the giveaway had not been finalized, but she anticipated that it would be a raffle. “The program will take place at some point down the road given the backlog of reservations, but we’ll put everything in motion and foot the bill for the district,” she said.