The Bulldog Challenge

Katie Stone, AmeriCorps Promise Fellow at Bellevue Elementary

One of my favorite components of our after school program at Bellevue is our weekly Bulldog Challenge. Every Wednesday, our students are in after school for two extra hours. With part of this extra time, we have a program-wide physical challenge we call the Bulldog Challenge. Every class is divided into two teams, blue and white (our school colors). During recess, mentors help our students put either blue or white face paint on. When recess ends, we divide all of our students, 1st through 6th, into the two teams and announce the game(s) we then play for 45 minutes. We have had track and field center, crab soccer, basketball drills, and even Pumpkin Olympics after Halloween. 6th graders cheer on 1st graders. Students look forward to physical activity. Mentors get pumped up. The Bulldog Challenge brings everyone in after school closer together.