In Orlando, Florida, that meant converting what the kids had learned into creating a positive difference in the community. Holly Payberg-Torroija, Mentorship Chair of the Florida chapter of Women in Film and Television, founded the Central Florida Circle of Change to work with the Be the Change movement. She brought the Challenge Day principles into the entertainment world and connected the hundred teens in her Be the Change group with professionals in the industry to establish their own “It’s All Good” news club. The club’s mission is to report on what’s right in the world instead of what’s wrong. Circles of Change as an extension of Challenge Day’s program now exist in thirty-eight communities throughout the United States., Canada, and the Netherlands.
Sela shared another student’s story from a San Diego Challenge Day event. Athletic and good looking, he was the kind of student most thought would have it made. He shared a surprising secret:
“He was from South Africa and he had never even shared with his therapist that his family was held hostage for three days. He said: “What these three men did to my family was unspeakable. They were hurt by white people [in the past]; they took that pain and used it on my family and now I have the choice to take that pain and use it on black people, but I’m not going to do that.”
With stories such as these, it’s no wonder that students plus Challenge Day equals success.
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