Nine 4 Youth

Nine 4 Youth group members are playing a critical role in an exciting initiative called Challenge Day in two Midlands high schools. Challenge Day is a youth-based national experiential learning program that started in California in 1987 and works with hundreds of schools yearly to diffuse tensions and diversity-related challenges in middle and high schools. The vision of Challenge Day is to create a school environment where every child feels safe, loved and celebrated. The Challenge Day initiative centers around a day-long assembly in which over 100 youth and at least 25 adult facilitators are taken through a guided journey of games, discussions, and exercises which reveal hidden stereotypes and break through social isolation that youth feel daily. Youth from each school are selected based on their teachers’ and counselors’ belief that they are individuals who might most benefit from the transformational experience and will be able to share it with others. Nine 4 Youth is assisting the two participating high schools- Dreher High School and Dutch Fork High School in recruiting the facilitators. Nine 4 Youth’s primary intention was to empower youth.