Sela Gaglia was pregnant with her first son and living in Columbine when the infamous Columbine High School shootings happened. The day after the shootings, a group of counselors and experts swooped into the school to cast a caring net and held a community-wide “Challenge Day.” Challenge Day, a day-long seminar offered to high schools, seeks to help students break down the barriers that separate each other and empowers them to transform their school’s culture. After the Columbine shootings, Challenge Day founders, Rich and Yvonne Dutra-St. John, knew they had their work cut out for them; it was time to expand their program across the country.
On that same day, Sela knew she had to move from being a mother-to-be to a mother who cared.
“I had to make a strong personal commitment,” she said from Challenge Day’s office in Concord, California, “to make this world the kind of place that my son could grow up in.”
As Sela set out to raise three children (ages two and eight, and a stepson, fifteen), that promise inspired her into action. While Sela had attended her own Challenge Day at nineteen, and later became an adult volunteer during college, it took a family seeped in Challenge Day ethic and a direct invitation from the Challenge Day staff for Sela to take on the task of training for the position of Challenge Day Leader.
Baby Steps
Sela explained over the phone that what happens at Challenge Day in high schools across the country is nothing short of extraordinary. Thousands of students share their deepest secrets, fears, hurts, and eventually, hope, within the safe confines of their high school gym. But before that can transpire, nine weeks of intense prep work must happen through a the team of teachers, administrators, and Challenge Day staff. They watch Challenge Day videos and work together to discuss their specific issues. These issues run the gamut, from high teen pregnancy rates or incarceration rates, to a hijacked culture suffering from the high-pressure idea that success only comes through acceptance to the country’s best universities. Challenge Day responds to the high schools’ needs by choosing the best leader, based on a matched vulnerability and knowledge of the issue, and when the day arrives, “that’s when the magic happens,” says Sela.
