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Challenge Success Resource Center
Dive into resources for well-being, discover helpful tools and strategies for positive youth development, and explore examples of how other schools and families have put these into practice.
Explore our resources
Unsolvable Love: Alternative Visions of Parenthood
Over the years I have offered countless lectures, workshops and seminars for parents on the wonders and woes of childrearing. Invariably, during the question-and-answer phase, an attendee will make an inquiry along the lines of the following: “If you could leave us with just one piece of advice, the most important takeaway from your presentation, what would it be?”
Ask What Matters, Not Where
Here’s the deal: There are over 3,000 4–year colleges and universities in the United States. There are more than 1,500 accredited 2-year institutions – which are great options for lots of kids for lots of reasons. All kinds of kids go to all kinds of schools, and go on to live all kinds of lives. I know this. And yet, as a parent of a high school senior bound for college, I sometimes find it challenging to remember that (as Frank Bruni reminds us) – where he goes is not who he’ll be (and where he goes is certainly not who I am as a parent).
Overriding the Game:A student’s perspective on creating school policy change to improve engagement and well-being
(Some) parents felt as if our proposal was lowering the standards to make it “easier” for students in high school. But we aren’t lowering the standards: we are redefining them. We are “challenging” what they define as a child who is “successful.”
Fostering Health and Well-Being in Student-Athletes
Student-athletes at Head-Royce School face stressful challenges balancing the demands of school and sports. As an initiative to improve student-athletes’ health and well being, Challenge Success Club members decided to host a student-led H block discussing the issues and struggles of being a student-athlete in November 2017.
The Perfect Gift for High School Seniors
During the next few weeks you may find yourself in the company of high school seniors and may think that a logical topic of conversation is the college admissions process.
What Colleges Want in an Applicant (The Glass is Half-Full Perspective)
In November, The New York Times published an article titled What Colleges Want in an Applicant (Everything). Understandably, the topic of college admissions is often fraught with anxiety and frustration, and the details within this article may have heightened people’s concerns about the process.
Loving School: From Stressed Out Student to Challenge Success Coach
I love school. As a child in elementary school, I would be so excited to get the school supplies list and go get things like new sharp colored pencils and books.
All Stress is Not Distress
At Challenge Success, we sometimes get the question: can’t some forms of stress be okay, or even helpful for students?
Class Rankings
Denise Pope shares why eliminating class rankings can reduce undue student stress without decreasing engagement.
What Parents Say Matters
When I overheard a troubling conversation at a recent dinner about a child’s academic performance, it reminded me about the importance of the words we use when speaking with our kids
Our Kids Are Listening: Election Results and Rhetoric
My office phone has been ringing lately. A lot. It’s been a while since parents were quite so worried about the impact of media coverage on their children’s mental health.
Pulling Anchor, Setting Sail
I always chuckle at Norman Mailer’s pithy depiction of masculine rivalry: “When two men stop in the street to say hello … one of them loses.” But it would not be difficult to extrapolate a bit and substitute “parents” for “men.”