We Day has kids take action

BASYA LAYE

If the prospect of being surrounded by 20,000 screaming pre-teens and teens at Rogers Arena isn’t your idea of a good time, you’ve obviously never been to We Day. Billed as a “rock concert for social change,” the annual event for school kids and their teachers is put on by Free the Children, a nonprofit organization founded by Canadian brothers Craig and Marc Kielburger. It’s an event that is, by very definition, a “good” time.

While there is big entertainment at We Day, which is held in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver each year, the real draw at the day-long event is the speakers, which include some of the most notable personalities and “change makers” the world has to offer.

Participants at Vancouver’s We Day earlier this month included several students from King David High School among Jewish teens from other schools. They were treated to enthusiastic speeches from the Kielburgers, actor and activist Martin Sheen, former U.S. vice-president and environmental activist Al Gore, environmental educator and activist Philippe Cousteau, civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson, Jr., athlete and Paralympian Rick Hansen, Survivor winner and cancer survivor Ethan Zohn and youth leader and motivational speaker Spencer West.

We Day kicks off the school-based Free the Children year-long curriculum, We Schools in Action, which is implemented by teachers across the country and has students taking local and global action in concrete ways. The Kielburgers, who started Free the Children as young teenagers 15 years ago, encourage kids to be “shameless idealists,” an empowerment concept that they are exploring through their new CTV television mini-series, Shameless Idealists, which is available for viewing online at ctv.ca.

We Day Vancouver is chaired by Lorne Segal, president of Kingswood Properties Ltd. and director of the Vancouver Board of Trade. Speaking to the crowd, Segal reminded We Day participants of their personal agency and potential for leadership, repeating the popular refrain for the day, “You are not the leaders of tomorrow, you’re the leaders of today!” to thunderous applause.

See how you, your children or your school can become involved at freethechildren.com.

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