Mentors and students provide encouragement as Randy works with a Waimea Canyon Middle School seventh- grader during the Teen Challenge Day last week at the Boys & Girls Club, Waimea Clubhouse. Dennis Fujimoto/The Garden Island
By Dennis Fujimoto - The Garden IslandPublished: Monday, May 11, 2009 2:08 AM
HSTWAIMEA — About 70 seventh-grade students from Waimea Canyon Middle School had an opportunity to get to the root of many of the problems they face on a day-to-day basis.
They were the only school to take advantage of the nationally acclaimed program that had an appearance on the Oprah Winfrey show, said Shara Bucasas, the school’s counselor.
For many young people, bullying, cliques, alienation, teasing and even violence have become a part of their daily school experience, according to a flier announcing the event Tuesday at the Boys & Girls Club, Waimea Clubhouse.
Challenge Day offers a way for students to lift themselves out of the quagmire and create a new environment that reflects the changes they want to see in their school.
“I got to experience Challenge Day when it was brought to Waimea High School under Gini Hori’s leadership group,” Bucasas said. “The kids really enjoyed the event where they addressed a lot of personal things. A lot of the kids were moved by the event.”
Bucasas said based on this experience, when Challenge Day was offered to her, she jumped on it.
“This group has been on Oprah and costs a lot of money to get here,” she said. “They’ve been to a lot of schools, and if we had the chance, I wasn’t going to let it pass.”
Bucasas said funding for the Challenge Day came through the county’s anti-drug office that coordinated the event through its Volunteers In Service To America program.
“We offered it to all the schools, but Waimea Canyon was the only school to take advantage of it,” said Theresa Koki, the county’s anti-drug coordinator.
“It’s a great program and even the mentors enjoyed the event. One of them even called after the event to thank us for inviting him to be a mentor.”
The Challenge Day program was developed with the idea that substance abuse, bullying, teasing and violence are symptoms of a greater problem.
The program developers believed loneliness and oppression are the true source of teens’ “acting out” behaviors.
Due to the personal nature of the program, exposure to media and parents was restricted, but about 20 adults from the community stepped forward as volunteers to participate in the Challenge Day program as adult mentors.
Students had the opportunity to see these adults in a different light outside their assigned community roles that include being police officers, firefighters, counselors and coaches.
The students come to see that there are caring adults in the community who are willing to be real with them.
“We’re always looking at ways to help our young people say ‘no’ to drugs and to make positive choices in their lives,” said Koki in a release asking for mentor volunteers. “When I heard about the powerful effects of the Challenge Day program on young people as well as adults, I decided it was definitely something our community could benefit from.”
The goal off the Challenge Day program is to bring young people together from all different cliques, groups and backgrounds along with teachers, administrators, parents and community members to create a world where every child and adult feels safe, loved and celebrated, the release states.
“Challenge Day was very successful,” Koki said. “Now that we have taken the first step, Shara has the next big task of counseling the students.”
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or
dfujimoto@kauaipubco.com
Thanks Tasha Baker and our friends at Old Navy for helping us collect more than 1,600 pairs of slippahs for keiki! We couldn't have done it without the support of all of the generous donors that contributed to our slippah drive. Mahalo nui loa.
The public is invited to a grand opening celebration and community open house at the new multi-million dollar Boys & Girls Club of Hawaii’s NFL Youth Education Town Hawaii (NFL YET Hawaii) in Nanakuli on May 30, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
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