The Gil Asa was filled to the brim with 100 students, suspense, and lots of candy. On Friday May 13, Paso Robles High School hosted a “Challenge Day”. Challenge Day is a nonprofit organization with the main goal of building empathy and compassion in our communities.
Guest speaker Julie Larrivee ran our PRHS Challenge Day. She has been an activities director for 13 years and has run multiple different events including Challenge Day, Breaking Down the Walls, and Link Crew. Larrivee drove over two hours to host this event, but she enjoys the long days and long drives.
“… Challenge day, it is so rewarding to me. It’s the greatest feeling to give to someone a great day to feel better. It’s almost like I’m delivering flowers or delivering a free pizza to someone. To see that joy, it’s so worth it.”
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The early 8:30 morning started off with a few short games with the entire group to get everyone comfortable. After the games everyone was split into several small groups and everyone did a number of icebreaker activities and games including an egg drop. Larrivee explained that splitting everyone into small groups helps to make interacting and learning about each other easier.
One of the students favorite parts of the experience was the trash bag fashion show where students showed off their progressive trash bag outfits. The students also did a shoulder tap activity where they anonymously gave compliments to each other through a simple shoulder tap.
The last event of the day was the open mic, where students got to address the entire group with whatever they want, advice, something they learned, or just a joke if they wanted.
“Making new connections with new people in life is the greatest joy.”
