Challenge Success at Wellesley High School with Denise Pope

Challenge Success at WHS

by Rama K. Ramaswamy

The Wellesley High School library offered standing room only, five minutes into Denise Pope’s presentation. Challenge Success organizers, approximated that there were 250-300 attendees. Challenge Success, a new initiative at WHS, in partnership with Wellesley Education Foundation (WEF), is addressing the growing concern regarding increasing levels of stress and anxiety. CS is a nationwide program developed at Stanford University and co-designed by a former high school English teacher, Denise Pope, Ph.D., Challenge Success seeks to help communities expand their often narrowly defined notions of success and offers practical, research-based solutions and interventions to reduce stress and increase student engagement and well-being. Challenge Success partners with schools and families to provide kids with the academic, social, and emotional skills needed to succeed now and in the future. Thanks to a generous grant from WEF, and support by the Wellesley High School PTSO, Pope and her CS team posed, among other things, the “top 10 back to school tips to help your child thrive in school this year”: (1) ask your child, how was your day? Learn anything interesting? Get to spend time with friends? Instead of how did you do on your math test? (2) Resist the urge to correct the errors in your child’s homework. It’s your child’s work, not yours. (3) Work done with integrity is more important than an A. Pressure to achieve only high grades can make students resort to cheating. (4) Make time for PDF- playtime, downtime, family time. Research shows PDF is critical for overall wellbeing. (5) Create a technology-free environment during mealtimes. Every adult and child can benefit from a break from constant interruptions and distractions. (6) Collaborate with your child’s teachers. Assume best intentions and work together to solve problems. (7) Fight the temptation to bring your child’s forgotten homework to school. Kids gain resilience by learning from small failures. (8) An extra hour of sleep is more valuable than an extra hour of studying. Research shows sleep deprivation can be associated with depression and anxiety. (9) When your child wants to talk with you, stop what you are doing and engage. Does ‘I hate school’ really mean something else: ‘I am being bullied’ or ‘I don’t fit in’? (10) Help your child develop his or her interests and strengths. Discover what your child really loves to do outside of school, not what you think a college admissions officer would like to see on an application.

During Pope’s presentation, she praised the ground breaking initiative lead by the Community Investors group (http://communityinvestors.net), founded by two famous Wellesley residents: Chris Cavallerano, the founder of Motivo Inc, who is also a consultant, coach, and social entrepreneur; not to mention the very person who led the successful launch of a district-wide before-school fitness program (BOKS) and has received numerous grants and cultivated strategic partnerships due to his efforts and Joseph P. Roberts, Jr., who is the Managing Partner of Roberts Financial, a second-generation financial management organization, but on the playing field, in the Wellesley community, in 1991 it was Joe, who founded Terriers Sports- which continues to be a unique and rewarding multi-year sports based youth development program, providing fun and enjoyable environments for kids to relax and enjoy a balance of unstructured play and team sports. Due to these two pioneers, according to a parents engrossed in a post-presentation analysis, said,” Pope’s introduction of Challenge Success’ core principles might be easier here in Wellesley than in the other places she was at recenty- like Texas!” This concept of what Pope calles, “PDF: playtime, downtime and family time” has been put into practice here in Wellesley by Community Investors and it constitutes the core of Pope’s Challenge Success philosophy.

According to Amanda Brown, WHS English Department, “Denise spent much of the day at WHS meeting with our Challenge Success team, as well as with the entire HS faculty and a small group of students, in addition to the parent presentation”. Another important point Brown commented upon was as follows, “the SPACE structure she {Pope} mentioned for school reform is good for all our students- the ones who are overloaded and stressed, certainly, but also for those who might be disengaged or not being challenged enough. The aim is to make, what is already a great school, better for all of our students. And the key is that this kind of thinking requires the entire community to come together- parents, students and educators. Since Denise's talk I've had many inspiring and challenging conversations and am looking forward to many more as we begin this work.”

Among the things Pope spoke about, she included the comments, “is it possible to have balance in today’s fast-paced culture?” And, “don’t let sleep deprivation turn into depression”. One WHS, CS team member, Anne Hall said, “the Challenge Success team was so energized by the turnout for Denise Pope's presentation. We’re thankful to everyone who braved the cold, wet weather to hear Denise speak. With close to 300 in attendance, it is heartening to see how members of our community are willing to engage on this important topic. Our objective was to familiarize people with Challenge Success and to build momentum moving forward. I believe we accomplished that goal." Another WHS, CS team parent, Lisa Bida said, “Denise is an engaging speaker and I walked away with a sense of the value that Challenge Success will bring not only to WHS but the entire school community. There is a huge disconnect between how our kids view Success as something external: great grades, best college and making lots of money; and how we as adults know that success is intrinsic: engagement, passion, resilience and balance. Why the big disconnect? Denise also works with Silicon Valley and they asked, ‘what are you doing academically to suck the creativity out of these students’? When they start working in the real world, they are unequipped to deal with failure, responsibility and risk taking. We talk about achieving balance but balance is not static. It’s a life-long process of tweaks, both big and small.”

Jamie Chisum, WHS principal said, what stayed with him, after Pope’s presentation was, “we have to remember to tell our children that we love them unconditionally, everyday.” To learn more about Challenge Success, please visit

http://www.challengesuccess.org.