To join us on November 10, click here and sign up! For any questions, email info@ichallengemyself.org

OUR MISSION

I Challenge Myself provides opportunities for public school students to strengthen their bodies, minds and spirits through our school-based fitness programs. We partner with New York City public schools to offer programs that introduce youth to non-competitive endurance sports, currently cycling and cross fitness, that help students develop, socially, academically and physically. Since our launch in February 2005, we have directly served over 2,500 public middle school and high school students ages 11–19 in the Bronx and Manhattan. I Challenge Myself is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.

Can one thing change you forever?

For Kirsy, a sixteen year old participant in our Cycling Smarts program, the answer was yes. Kirsy enrolled in our cycling program at her school in the Lower East Side not knowing how to ride a bike. She was willing, however, to learn and train for ICM’s 100-mile 1-day bike Tour.

In an essay, she recalled how her legs were sore after her first bike ride across the Williamsburg Bridge and feeling that wanted to give up. That ride made her “think of the little everyday struggles people face. We go up, we go down, we are happy and we are sad.” She reflected how, “everyone deals with pain, but the important thing is to learn how to move on with that pain or sadness and not let it hinder you, like when your legs are sore from biking.” She shared that she felt much better after pushing herself. During the rest of the semester she felt happy.  She was doing better in school. Her grades kept going up. She learned not to give up on herself.

Kirsy graduated high school and is attending Borough of Manhattan Community College.