Students around the Battlefords have been swept up in the We Day phenomenon, including students from St. Vital School in Battleford.
Twenty-seven students from the school travelled to Saskatoon Feb. 27 for Saskatchewan We Day to join 15,000 school-aged youth from around the province at the Credit Union Centre.
At the same time, a mini We Day was held at the Battleford school for St. Vital students and students from other schools in the Battlefords who were unable to attend. They watched a webcast of the Saskatoon event in the gymnasium.
We Day is an initiative of Free The Children, an international charity and educational partner that works with schools to implement the We Act program
St. Vital School teacher Kelly Waters said, "The day is about celebrating youth leadership for social justice change ... encouraging youth to find their passion for social justice issues and then act to effect change."
Waters said because interest in We Day has been so high, it was impossible to get tickets for all students wanting to attend, so the mini We Day was planned to run in conjunction with the large We Day. Others schools were invited and about 200 guests were expected.
The schedule of events included words from Battleford mayor Derek Mahon, Rev. Peter Norman, a representative of the food bank, a former student Hanna Beatch, who is passionate about ending child poverty, a musical performance by an aboriginal parent, a presentation by a local teen Tianno Balfour, who went on a mission trip to Africa, followed by motivational words from Kelti Anderson of the Chapel Gallery. The afternoon wound up with a band of local teens called The Cunning Men.
St. Vital students who attended We Day in Saskatoon came back with these words:
Ashley, age 13, Grade 8 - "I feel like wanting to be a good person after going to We Day and hearing different people talk about their personal experiences; what they've heard or seen. I liked Molly Burke's story because it was inspiring to hear how though she's blind she uses her voice to speak out about bullying."
Dawson, age 13, Grade 8 - "We Day means helping people. Craig Kielburger is my hero because he started Free the Children when he was 12 and now it's all over the world."
Ty, age 13, Grade 8 - "We Day gets people together so they can work together to make the world a better place. Molly Burke was inspiring because even when she was blind and bullied, she never gave up."
Micaela, age 14, Grade 8 - "We Day shows everyone that even if we are young we can still make a difference. I always get inspired at We Day. This is my third We Day. I never get tired of going to We Day because I always learn something new and get more inspired. My favourite speaker was Martin Sheen, because he said powerful words such as,'We're not asked to do great things, we're asked to do things with great care.'"
Marola, age 11, Grade 6- "We Day has people who were inspired to do good things inspiring others to do good things. My favourite speaker was Craig Kielburger because it's inspiring that when he was 12 he went to India to help kids working as slaves. I moved here from Egypt. In Egypt there are lots of poor people and problems with the government. Canada is a free country and I feel lucky to live here. I feelsafer here."
Back in Battleford, Emily and Nicolas helped pump up the crowd at the mini We Day. They have both attended We Days in Calgary and Winnipeg.
"You learn so much while you're there," says Emily. "You hear stories from other people. It's so inspirational, I love it."
Emily's favourite speaker was Spencer West who, despite losing his legs at age five, recently climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa, raising more than $500,000 for clean water projects.
"I loved Spencer West, he was just so moving to me. He really did say anything is possible, he really proved it."
Nicolas says, "We Day means kids helping kids and coming together to make a difference. It's like if you have a pencil and you put it across your knee, you can break it, but if you have a whole bunch of pencils, you can't break it. If we can come together no one can break us."
Nicolas was inspired by speakers Rick Hansen, Canadian Paralympian and an activist for people with spinal cord injuries, and television talk show host Larry King. King told the story about a black teen who shot a New York police officer and how he was eventually adopted by that same police officer he shot, and he became a police officer himself.
Other speakers at the event included actor and activist Martin Sheen, the multi-platinum band Hedley, actor and activist Mia Farrow, Juno award-winning Karl Wolf, Degrassi cast members Aislinn Paul and Luke Bilyk, 13-year-old rap artist Jake Zeldin, recording artist Jesse Giddings, motivational speaker Molly Burke, recording artist Shawn Desman and Free the Children co-founders Mark and Craig Kielburger.
Waters, who accompanied the students to Saskatoon, said, "It is extremely exciting that We Day has come to Saskatchewan.I continue to feel honoured and privileged to be any part of the chain of events that fosters young people to develop leadership skills with goals of social change. It gives me hope for the futurewhen young people develop their sense of duty in terms of being good citizens and stewards of their community and planet. We Day keeps their inspiration high and leaves themfeeling that trying tomake the world a better place is worth their effort; that it is cool to care."
