For the third year in a row, students from Westbrook School took part in the We Day event held in Calgary Nov. 3.
The event was created by Free the Children to celebrate the power of youth to create positive change. It takes place in various cities across North America each year.
Alberta We Day took place at the Scotiabank Saddledome, where 19 students from the Westbrook We Day committee attended the event, which included thousands of youth and educators.
“It’s just such an amazing experience for the students to see 20,000 other students in the Saddledome who are also inspired and empowered to make a difference in their community, be it locally or globally,” said Westbrook assistant principal Lucie Salucop. “I think that is really important for our students to see and be a part of that kind of movement with this generation.”
Speakers at the event included Mia Farrow, Silken Laumann and Steve Forbes. It also had performances from Shawn Desman, Kardinal Offishal and Nikki Yanofsky.
We Day is tied to the year-long We Act program, which offers free educational resources, student-led campaigns and support materials to help turn the event’s inspiration into sustained activation.
Salucop pointed out that one of the great things about We Day is that you can’t buy a ticket to the event; students have to be doing some kind of local or global humanitarian project throughout the year to earn the right to go.
As long as you maintain your We Act commitment, you are invited to return each year.
Salucop said some of the projects they have done in the past include raising money for the Cochrane Activettes Food Bank, Jump Rope for Heart and building a school for one of the We Day projects.
The Westbrook We Day committee is made up of 32 members and 19 were able to attend this year’s event, one that Salucop pointed out has a four-year waitlist for schools to be able to attend.
We Day provides each school with 20 tickets for their event each year. Salucop said each student had to fill out an application including details such as why they wanted to go, why they were part of the committee and projects they would like to see happen in their school.
“There were a couple of kids in our group who were chosen to go and had gone the year before, so they gave up their spot so that other students who had never gone before could go. It was really beautiful to see,” said Salucop who also gave up her ticket so another staff member could attend.
She said they would be having a leadership camp this week – a first of its kind at Westbrook. Salucop said at this camp the student council and We Day committee would learn about leadership skills, team building skills and would begin planning the local and global projects they want to work on for the rest of the year.
“One of the things we are trying to do is have it be student led. So they really take leadership and ownership over the projects that they want to be a part of,” she explained.
Salucop said some ideas that had already been suggested were volunteering at the mustard seed and raising money for the food bank again.
The whole experience gives the students a sense of community, according to Salucop, be it local or global. The idea of being a global citizen is emphasized as well as the notion that every individual can make difference.
“Sometimes I think students think it has to be a big thing, but it doesn’t. Even the smallest act of kindness goes a long way, be it collecting food for the food bank or a bake sale,” Salucop said. “If you can instill those kinds of values in kids at that age, the hope is that that carries on into their teenage and adult life.”
For more information on We Day visit weday.com.
