Lake Zurich High School Student Media

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Lake Zurich High School Student Media

Bear Facts

Lake Zurich High School Student Media

Bear Facts

Program seen on MTV coming to LZHS?

Program seen on MTV coming to LZHS?

Leah Enright, Spanish teacher, is pushing to bring Challenge Day to LZHS, a program seen on MTV’s If You Really Knew Me about youth subculture and different cliques in high schools.

“I would love to see it happen anytime. I think it’s a great program,” Enright said. “If you’ve seen the show, you would see it’s a very personal experience.”

Challenge Day is a non-profit organization that provides one-day programs to schools that aim to build connection and empathy among children. The MTV show focuses on ‘Challenge Days’ in various high schools around the country.

“From what I’ve seen [on the show], they’ve said some kids that day were great, and the following week were great; they saw a change in their school climate. But then [some] went back to being their old selves. Which is ok, that’s fine,” Enright said. “Then there were other schools that students interviewed said ‘this totally changed how I view people and I’m not so judge mental, I really think before I say something to somebody.’”

The idea of bringing the program to LZHS came to Enright over the summer, when she first saw the show on MTV.

During the show “the kids get together in the gym and they’re in circles and they talk about stuff,” Enright said. “There’s a group leader, they talk about themselves [and lead], and it’s just a way of getting kids to open up to each other.”

However, Enright is on “hold” right now, as she is unable to find help in organizing a ‘Challenge Day’ at LZHS.

“It’s kind of a one woman show right now, so I don’t really know where to go next,” Enright said. “It’s going to be difficult. It takes a lot of support and a lot of work and planning. I think everybody is on board with the idea. It’s just, how do you find the time to get it all done?”

Enright began the process by first emailing Principal Kim Kolze, asking her if she would be interested in pursuing this program. Kolze responded by saying it is an interesting idea and that she had her go-ahead to find out more, Enright said.

“One thing we try to do here is to be open to any ideas that can help staff and students feel better about themselves,” Kolze said.

Enright then contacted Challenge Day, spoke with somebody from the organization, and was able to tentatively book a date for the program to run at LZHS.

“But before we [would] have it run we obviously had to get volunteers and the guidance department involved; there were all kind of steps involved,” Enright said.

Many logistics have to be planned before this program comes to LZHS, including choosing the 100 students who would participate, arranging the space needed, the cost to transport and house members of the Challenge Day organization, and setting up a post-support program.

“I met with the entire guidance department and presented this to them and they came up with a bunch of questions and we went back and forth,” Enright said. “They right now have decided that it is a big undertaking, we don’t know a lot about it, and it would take a lot of planning… They’re so overwhelmed in that guidance department right now, is what they tell me, that they can’t put one more thing on their plates. Although they know the program would be beneficial to students and they’re in favor of the program itself, as far as actually making it come to fruition is another story. That’s where we’re at right now.”

The guidance would have to be involved in not only the program itself, but also in helping students with follow up, Enright said.

“I think we all felt that we just don’t know enough about the commitment coming out of the meeting,” Carl Krause, counselor, said.

Running a follow-up program afterwards and in the following years without professionals from the organization is also a big commitment, Krause said.

“I was expecting more of a ‘this is really good, this is a really good program, I think it would be great for the school, and I’m really willing to help,’” Enright said. “But I didn’t get that.”

Enright hopes to run the program during fall of next year.

“Every time I saw the show it made me cry. It would be a way of being proactive instead of reactive,” Enright said. “I think every school could use a program similar to this. You may have an idea about somebody and somebody may be bullied or you may think that just because they’re the captain of this or that team or whatever that their life is just perfect, when in actuality it’s not.”

The day would be a time for students to really get to know each other, Enright said.

“I would recommend that anybody who would want to participate in this watch an episode of the show and/or go on to their website and see clips and read testimonials from people who have participated in this day,” Enright said. “It can be a very emotional experience.”

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