Association for Youth Empowerment Helps Sponsor Hamtramck Community Challenge Day Hamtramck Students, Parents and School Officials Challenge Each Other to “Be the Change”
Association for Youth Empowerment Helps Sponsor Hamtramck Community Challenge Day Hamtramck Students, Parents and School Officials Challenge Each Other to “Be the Change”
HAMTRAMCK (February 5, 2007) – A diverse group of more than 90 Hamtramck-area students, parents and volunteers participated in the city’s first Community Challenge Day event.
The day-long workshop was held Saturday, Jan. 27 at the Hamtramck Community Center. Mostly 7th through 9th graders participated in the event, sponsored by the Hamtramck Recreation Commission, Thomas Mall of Trendwell Energy Corp., the Association for Youth Empowerment, ACC and Acts 29 Fellowship.
Challenge Day is a nonprofit organization that offers life-altering, experiential workshops that provide participants with tools to work collaboratively to develop and sustain proactive solutions that prevent social oppression and its symptoms such as suicide, teasing/bullying, violence and drug abuse.
Through a series of games, activities, group discussions, icebreakers and trust-building exercises, participants learn how to break down the walls of separation and create new levels of respect and communication within themselves to share with their peers and families.
Representatives from the City and Board of Education volunteered and participated in the event. “It was the most powerful thing I’ve ever been a part of,” said School Board President Titus Walters, who was instrumental in generating support for the event. “We’re trying to bring it to the middle and high schools next year.”
Each student who pre-registered for the event was entered into a drawing. Six grand-prize winners were selected for items donated by local merchants, including Amicci’s Pizza, Main Street, Little Caesars, Video 22, Polish Village and Kumon Math and Reading Centers. In addition, Arlington Heights, Ill.-based Rhino Wear Apparel provided t-shirts for all attendees.
The Challenge Day program was highlighted on the Oprah Show last fall. Students and adult volunteers from Monroe High School were featured in an hour-long segment entitled “Oprah’s High School Challenge.”
To learn more about the program visit www.challengeday.org or call the Association for Youth Empowerment at 313-427-9529 for information about scheduling an event locally.