Longtime school rivals accept challenge to unite

Editor’s Note: Student Union is written by students from Brewer High School, Hermon High School, John Bapst Memorial High School in Bangor, Schenck High School in East Millinocket, Searsport District High School and Stearns High School in Millinocket. The column is a joint effort among the schools, the Bangor Daily News and Acadia Hospital. This week’s column was written by Stearns High students Kayla Donley, a junior, and Terri Edwards, a senior. Their adviser is Sue Buzzell.

Only 12 miles apart, but worlds away, Stearns High School and Schenck High School have had a longtime rivalry. That all began to change on Nov. 2, when Stearns’ and Schenck’s sophomore classes joined together in the Schenck gym for Challenge Day.

Challenge Day is a nationally recognized program that helps teenagers accept and understand themselves and each other. At Challenge Day, we learned how to lower our “water lines” to expose more of who we really are and share this with others.

Before Challenge Day, members of our sophomore class had poor attitudes about working with Schenck High School students. Many sophomores feared there would be fights and arguments between the two schools. They had no desire to get to know the students from the neighboring high school. Students at Schenck High School felt the same way.

When the classes first arrived, they stayed together in groups from their own high schools. Our Challenge Day facilitators, Vinnie and Kristy, soon broke down the barriers between the two schools. By working in pairs and groups, students from both schools were able to get to know one another. Vinnie and Kristy would not allow established friends to work together.

By midmorning, students began to feel comfortable, and the barrier between Stearns and Schenck was gone. By the end of the day, students had exchanged phone numbers and e-mail addresses and new friendships were born. Students did not want to leave at the end of day.

The students’ reactions to Challenge Day were positive. They got a chance to look beyond differences and appearances. When we interviewed students the next day, they wanted to change their actions and try to “make a difference.”

One student, from Stearns High School, said, “I believe that Challenge Day has brought us closer to Schenck students, but it is one small step.” Jessie Huston, a Stearns sophomore, said, “Stuff that I heard like rumors – I judged people before I knew them. Now I have a different outlook on people.”

Hopefully what we learned on that Tuesday will stay with us. We hope we can set a better example for our peers, parents and other adults. It is important for everyone from our communities to work together, to help one another, and to improve the economic and social atmospheres of our region.

We would like to thank the Katahdin Area Partnership and Acadia Hospital for sponsoring Challenge Day. We would also like to thank the adult and peer facilitators who volunteered their time.