It’s been said before: middle school can be tough – but it’s not impossible.
Andrew Miller, principal at the Normandy 7th-8th Grade Center, has championed a variety of initiatives to help support students at his school: chess clubs, student newspaper, chicken coop project (for hands-on lessons in science, math, and biology).
To kick off the school’s second semester, Miller and Kimberly Campbell, a counselor at the Normandy 7th-8th Grade Center, wanted to do something to foster a more collaborative environment, a culture to encourage stronger leadership skills with their students.
Researching organizations with a track record of improving school culture, Miller and Campbell came across the Challenge Day program. They worked with another school counselor, Dretta Gray-Gilard, and Tim Kjellesvik, building director of Normandy Wraparound Services, to bring in facilitators to work with students.
“The Challenge Day program is a way to break down barriers and make our students feel closer to each other,” Miller said.
Challenge Day is a national not-for-profit organization that conducts interactive workshops that promote love, acceptance and respect in schools, workplaces and community.
The Normandy 7th-8th Grade Center held its Challenge Days January 3 and 4, with more than 200 seventh-grade students participating, along with school teachers and staff as well as representatives from Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Beyond Housing, Wyman’s Teen Outreach Program, BJC Behavioral Health, and Preferred Family Health Care.
The Challenge Day organization research has shown that bullying, emotional trauma and violence can reduce learning, increase discipline problems, and result in physical harm. Kjellesvik said some N78C students have had their share of conflicts with each other, coming to terms with hurt in their own lives, and understanding how hard life can be for others.
Program facilitator Angela Aguilar shared her personal story of challenges she faced as a teen. She admitted to the group, that in middle school, she was a loner. In high school she was tired of being on the “outside looking in,” and started hanging with the “mean girls” clique who were all about drama, fighting and putting people down.
Then one day, Aguilar said her friends turned on her and the bully became the bullied. The taunting was so unbearable; Aguilar said by her senior year, she hated school.
Because of issues like these, Kjellesvik said school leaders hope what students learned as part of the Challenge Days will help them learn to be okay with themselves, to give themselves credit for being survivors, and provide them tools to be the authors of their futures.
Aguilar recited a list of “Challenge Day Norms,” or workshop expectations, ending with a quote by Mahatma Gandhi: “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”
That quote seemed to resonate with students. Kjellesvik commented that some students said what they learned in the session may be the reason they were now more likely to stand up for someone being bullied and less likely to bully someone else.
N78C student La-Tavion Tompkins said it was also a great way to get to know other students better. Many students noted that they didn’t realize so many other students were facing similar challenges to theirs, Kjellesvik said.
“They learned new things about themselves,” Kjellesvik said. “They were able to share things about their lives they hadn’t shared before…and it felt good to get it out there.”
The N78C Challenge Day was made possible by grants through Challenge Day and Wyman, a not-for-profit organization that partners with Normandy Schools Collaborative to provide critical wraparound services for students and their families.
