As Seen On TV: Heron To Host Challenge Day

Parent & Community Volunteers Needed

Since 1987, Challenge Day programs have touched the lives of close to half-a-million teens and adults nationwide.

The Challenge Day Program has received numerous awards from the juvenile justice system, government officials and many school districts and cities throughout the nation. The program was also featured in the in the book Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul, the Emmy Award-winning documentary Teen Files: Surviving High School and The Oprah Show.

Challenge Days are powerful, high-energy programs in which youth and adult participants are guided through a series of experiential learning processes. The overall goals of the program are to increase personal power and self-esteem, to shift dangerous peer pressure to positive peer support and to eliminate the acceptability of teasing, violence and all forms of oppression.

Challenge Day programs are designed to unite the members and/or community and to empower them to carry the themes of the program back to the greater school population. Challenge Days successfully address the issues of violence, teasing, social oppression, racism, harassment, conflict management, suicide, peer pressure, alcohol and drugs.

More information about Challenge Day can also be found at www.challengeday.org.

Parents, teachers and community members are strongly encouraged to participate. The Heron School goal is to have 25 adults participate and help facilitate the event. Volunteers need to be available from 7:45 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 3 at Heron School, 5151 Banfield Drive.

During the program, youth are given several opportunities to speak out about what’s really going on for them, and what they need from one another. Please note that while this program focuses primarily on global and community issues and concerns, individual students can and often do share personal difficulties and experiences with the group.

The process of sharing is often both empowering and emotional. If you are interested in volunteering, contact Heron School counselor Taniia Edwards at 567-5680.