"That was AMAZING" said my 9-year-old daughter on the ride home from her first We Day. Of course it was amazing—she had just seen Jennifer Hudson, Nelly Furtado, Hedley, K’Naan and more perform on stage. She had heard The Honourable Romeo Dallaire, Justin Trudeau and Martin Sheen speak (awesome speakers). She had been empowered by Craig and Marc Kielburger. "We are the change" was the message, the thousands of students, heard and they left ready to BE THE CHANGE.
Aside: I have a very sad camera phone so please excuse the picture quality.
We Day is a free event for students and educators thanks to sponsorships. It presents an incredible show of talent, stories, speakers and video presentations.
Craig Kielburger (founder of Free the Children) along with his brother Marc started off the "show" with energy and empowering the thousands of students (and quite honestly—the inspiring grown-ups, like me, who accompanied those students).
From speaking out against bullying to speaking for the culture of Canadian native peoples, from raising funds for sustainable water in Kenya to raising voices to fight against genocide—the spectrum of We Day was a rainbow of challenges and solutions to those challenges.
We had the chance to go backstage and attend the press conference with Craig Kielburger, Nelly Furtado and Jacob Hoggard. My stand out moment was seeing Craig, before the conference purposefully go over to the youngest child (who was sitting in the front row) and talk with her. This was not only kind but completely sexy (and I'm not saying that in a cougar-type-of-way).
My only disappointment on the day was missing Al Gore speak (press conference was at the exact same time). I heard, from the others who did see Al, that he was incredible.
Jennifer Hudson was....just...WOW. Her talent truly brings home what a young person, who is driven and follows their dreams, can achieve.
I strongly recommend any students or educators, who have the chance, to attend We Day (see city list below). Because, from my experience, kids want to be part of change...locally and globally. They "get" that they can help make the community a better place. As it was said at We Day "Children are not just the future but the present."
We Day will be coming to the following cities:
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