For the past two days, (Monday, and Tuesday), my freshman class experienced a day called "Challenge Day". Half of the freshman went yesterday, and the other half, which I was in, went today. We miss the whole day of school for this Challenge Day, that is held in the main gym in our school. Our teachers are told about it, so of course it doesn't count against our attendance, because of the amount of attendees that go to this day.
Challenge Day. Maybe you can guess what it's about, I thought I knew, too. But I didn't. At least not that much about it.
Here's how it all went down:
At the beginning of the day, I, along with the rest of the second half of my freshman class, met up in the school's cafeteria. We all walked into the gym together, where there was loud, up-beat music on, and a tunnel of our grade's * "Challengers", who were all cheering and high-fiving us as we walked through it, to the marked off area of the gym. Now, this was definitely not what I was expecting when I walked in. I thought challenge day was going to be more serious… (It was later on, trust me.)
When everyone finally entered the gym, we all took our seats in a circle of chairs. Our Challenge Day leaders, Jyoti and Sherwin, introduced themselves in a super-fun, up-beat way. Jyoti is so fun, she came out right away, dancing, and singing. Sherwin, is so sweet, too. He busted his own set of moves, and was proud of them, too.
We played some team-building games, and just some fun games in general, but, as the day grew later, the serious part started to kick in.
We were broken up into small groups, of about 5. We had one parent mentor, one challenger, and three students in each group. In these groups, we were asked to tell one thing about ourselves… and it could be anything you wanted them to know, because nothing that was told in your small group could leave your small group. For the most part, people told pretty deep things… and this is where the tears began to fall….
As my group told their stories, wether it was a sad story, or just about how much they cared for someone, we all ended up tearing up a little.
Then, the time came for when Sherwin and Jyoti told their own stories…
We all gathered in a big circle of chairs. Jyoti told hers first, about how she was made fun of for her skin color, and her nose shape. It was actually really sad, she sang us a song, because she was saying that her singing is one thing that she loves about herself, and to prove that she is confident with herself, she sang us a song. She sounded AMAZING.
Sherwin's turn was next. He told a very touching story, as well. He had a very hard life, but he totally turned it around for the better, which I find amazing in his situation. That's when I started to cry. He must be so strong!
We then played the game called "Cross the Line". There was a blue line taped across the gym floor, and we all started out on one side of this line. Jyoti called out things like, "Cross the line if you've ever been called…..(a bunch of mean names that she listed)", or, "Cross the line if you have a loved one who…(something tragic)". She did about 20 or more of these "Cross the line if…" statements. You cross the line if that statement applies to you or your life, then, once everyone has crossed, the people who do not cross hold up the "we love you" sign, and then you cross back. I crossed the line for things that I don't think about often, that have happened in my life. Some of the statements relate to friends, or family members. Once she called out some of those statements, it hit me. I began to actually realize how hard it must be for those people.
In situations where I did not cross the line, and my friends did, the looks on their faces was just…awful.
Most of them, crying, their faces turning red from the tears, staring at them standing on the other side of that line. I learned so much about them that I have never known before. When they crossed back over, I give them a HUGE hug, and we continue the activity.
Challenge day really helped me realize how much people go through every single day. It made me realize that even if I am joking, I should never be mean, because I never know if they will take it seriously or not.
Today was really touching. I even saw some of my friends, that are guys, CRY.
This made me realize how important it is to tell the people you love how much you love them.
#Bethechange
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