WE Day inspires NACI students
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- Published on Tuesday, November 29, 2016
(Submitted photo) On Nov. 18, 60 NACI students, from Grade 7 to 12, attended this year’s WE Day in Winnipeg.
Kate Jackman-Atkinson
The Neepawa Press/Neepawa Banner
It was a day of inspiration for the 60 NACI students who attended this year’s WE Day. Organized by WE (formerly Free the Children), We Day celebrates youth making a difference both locally and globally. The event fills a stadium and combines the energy of a live concert, with inspirational speakers sharing stories of leadership and change.
We Days are held annually in 14 cities in Canada, the United States and the UK. This year’s event in Winnipeg was held Nov. 18 and drew about 16,000 attendees. In order to attend, participants must be involved in a social justice group.
For Jodi Anderson, this year’s event left her feeling inspired. It was the Grade 11 student’s third time attending WE Day and she said it was nice to see a lot of new speakers, with some different view points and experiences. Vicky Elgert, who is also in Grade 11 and attending the event for the third time, spoke about how much WE Day made her feel part of a group. Elgert liked that the speakers focused on things students could do in their communities and came away with ideas for local fundraisers they could take on to benefit the local, as well as the global, community.
All of the NACI students who attended are part of the school’s social justice group, HOPE. This is Anderson’s fifth year in the group, while it’s Elgert’s fourth. Elgert said that attending WE Day really helped bring all the group members together. “It helps the group feel inspired for the year,” she added.
For Anderson, her favourite presenter was 21-year-old Hani al Moulia, a Syrian refugee who now lives in Regina, Sask. In 2012, al Moulia left his home in Homs, Syria following the deaths of his cousin and uncle. He found temporary safety in a refugee camp in Lebanon, where he was introduced to photography through a UNHCR workshop.
He documented his time in Lebanon with a series of images that record the hope and despair of living in a refugee camp. His story is especially remarkable as he suffers from nystagmus, an eye condition causing rapid eye movement, and means that he is legally blind. When al Moulia views the world, everything is out of focus unless it’s 10 centimetres from his face.
Anderson said that al Moulia’s focus on education and helping others, while facing personal hardship, was especially inspiring.
Elgert said that she especially liked Rick Hansen’s presentation. Hansen is a Paralympian, activists and philanthropist. She especially liked his message that people can overcome barriers and accomplish amazing things.
Grade 8 student Lara Denbow attended WE Day for the third time and she really liked that there were a lot of speakers this year. She added that having more speakers meant that new issues, such as the empowerment of women, could be addressed. She said one particularly powerful moment was a slide which asked attendees to name five famous male inventors. They were then asked to name five female inventors and most in the audience struggled to come up with names.
Denbow’s favourite presenter was astronaut Chris Hadfield. His presentation carried the message what while people may be far away geographically, we are all interconnected. From space, Winnipeg doesn’t look that different from Kabul; regardless of where a person is from or who they are, they are all part of the same world.
Emma Van De Kerckhove, a Grade 8 student attending her second WE Day, said that Paula Abdul, a singer-songwriter, dancer, choreographer and actress, was her favourite speaker. Abdul talked about how as a child, she wanted to dance, but couldn’t afford the lessons. She began cleaning the studio, including the bathrooms, in exchange for lessons. Through her hard work, she was eventually put in a higher group, launching her on a career as a top dancer and choreographer.
Both Grade 8 students left the day feeling inspired to go out and help make the community and the world a better place.
The day wasn’t just inspiring for students. HOPE teacher advisor Allison Bailey attended WE Day for the first time. “We Day was an excellent experience. It certainly was an inspiring day filled with non-stop action. The 16,000 people in attendance watched videos, rocked out to live performances, listened to motivational speakers, danced the We Day dance, learned about what other schools and individuals are doing to make a difference in our world, cheered and made lots of noise, heard about Me to We initiatives and were thoroughly entertained from the minute the day began to the end.”
Like the students, Bailey found Hadfield’s presentation to be especially powerful. “He talked about how he came back from space with something, and that something was perspective,” she explained. She added that the traditional prayer performed by Charlie Wenjack’s sisters was extremely moving. Wenjack died in 1966, the 12-year-old froze to death trying to walk the 600km home from his residential school. His story became the foundation of Secret Path, the multi-media done by Tragically Hip lead singer Gord Downie. “I was dabbing tears away after,” she said, adding, “You could have heard a pin drop in the MTS Centre during this performance as the audience was captivated and felt the power of the sister’s emotions.”
HOPE teacher advisor Michelle Young said that for teachers, there was also lots of support for organizing events within their own communities. She explains that, for example, there was a step by step guide for schools to host their own in-school WE Day, something she said they are looking at for next year.
