When I woke up on Oct. 21, I jumped out of bed and hurried up to get ready for my day.
This was a day that I had been looking forward to with so much anticipation, today was WE Day and I was going as a journalist!
As soon as I arrived outside the gates of Rogers Arena there were already hundreds of smiling and very excited teenagers lined up to get inside. I could not wait to get inside too. Once through the doors, there were even more excited kids everywhere. I could hear music coming from inside the arena. I did not want to miss a thing so I hurried to get to my seat. Of course I panicked for nothing, the show had not started without me, phew!
At 9:30 a.m. the lights in the arena went out, the lights on the stage went on, and the buzzing sound of kids talking instantly stopped and the performances began.
When organizers Craig and Marc Kielburger jumped up onto the stage, they gave such an inspirational speech. Throughout the day I continued to hear and watch life-changing performances from pop artists to inspirational speakers. It was exhilarating.
A highlight of my day happened when not only did I get to be part of a press conference, but I got to ask Chris Hadfield and Jacob Hoggard of Hedley the first question. I was so nervous. I asked them what causes they were passionate about when they were kids and what they did about it.
Chris shared his experience of living on a farm and growing up in a small community. He was raised to be a contributing citizen of his farm community. He praised Craig and Marc for taking the idea of a little farm and trying to be good citizens and extending it to a global scale and said that everyone should get involved. Jacob responded that WE Day has created such a great network, a place where kids can now go to learn what they want to do, how they want to contribute and how they want to help, which was not something that was available to him when he was a kid.
Now by far the coolest and most exciting part of my day was when I had the unbelievable opportunity to interview Craig Kielburger. Although I had spent a week researching and preparing my questions for this moment, the butterflies in my stomach returned.
Craig talked to me about working with communities around the world with values that are very different from our own, such as some communities that don’t send girls to school. They cannot force them to send their girls to school, but by helping them with training and financial resources to build schools, put a water source at the schools, and give children lunches at the schools they can influence communities to choose to send their girls to school.
I loved my meeting with Craig. He is so dynamic, charismatic, kind, fun and so real. But what struck me the most is his immense happiness in helping others and sharing his passion to help others with all of us.
He left me with some advice: “In life be creative, have grit, perseverance and resilience. Change is not always made by the smartest, richest or most famous, it is made by the people who want it the most and will work the most for it and are determined and the most perseverant.”
The whole WE Day experience for me was awe-inspiring.
I keep hearing adults say that it is my generation that is going to make the change, but the truth is the world needs our help now so why wait? I encourage the busy adults in our community to join the WE Day movement. No matter how big or small our contributions, it all counts and it all matters!
Emily Bourgault Kennaley is a Grade 6 student at Collingwood School. She attended the WE Day event as a special reporter for the North Shore News.
We asked local students to send us their impressions of the event, see some of the replies below:
When the artists performed everyone got out their phones, turned on the flash light and waved them in the air. It looked like the stadium was filled up with stars. It all looked awesome with the bright colours, the amazing music, and everyone singing along!
Kiyana Salmi
Grade 6, Braemar elementary, photo at left supplied by Kiyani (centre of photo at left)
I think the idea is great; it gets issues talked about. However, I feel it has turned too commercial. I feel as though I was more excited to see which celebrity had associated themselves with the organization than what I could be inspired to do. As a Grade 12 student, I feel like I want to make my own voice heard and not be another student just selling supplies WE Day gave me. Perhaps that is what I learned: that I don’t need to be told what to get involved with, I just need to be involved.
Katie Little, Grade 12, Handsworth secondary
We plan to make a difference in our community any way possible whether it’s just being kind to one another or being part of a greater idea.
Gracie Ivany and Conor O’Neill,
Grade 7, Ross Road elementary
In years to come I will probably look back at this experience and think about how it impacted me. WE Day shows you that you don’t need to be in a classroom to learn something important.
Sierra Haziza, Chartwell elementary
The day began with a sea of yellow school buses descending upon Rogers Arena. It was an exciting sensory experience. The energy could not only be heard but felt.
Chas Huskilson, Grade 7, Ecole Cedardale
As soon as I walked into the arena, I could hear the buzz. Everyone’s WE Day shirt had created a luminous rainbow throughout the stadium and excitement was everywhere.
Shyree Mehta, Grade 7, Westcot elementary
As I walked through the entrance the feeling of inclusion and inspiration was all there to be felt, and I grasped onto those feelings because they were powerful. As I listened to the speakers tell their stories, it unlocked a part of me that would have remained a mystery otherwise. It unlocked my need to pass my dreams on to others who need them more than me.
Polly Campbell, Ridgeview elementary
