Singer Nelly Furtado talks to the 18,000 people who packed the Air Canada Centre Tuesday to celebrate We Day. Story and photos by Abbey Thompson.
On Tuesday, September 27th 18,000 youth, educators and friends filled the Air Canada Centre for Free the Children's 'We Day'. We Day is an event designed to inspire and celebrate the youth movement for global change.
Below is a review of the day from Chippewa student Abbey Thompson.
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Many people ask “What is We day?” Each time I reply with saying “It is a celebration of how youth can, will and is changing the world as we know it.”
I had the privilege of attending this year’s We day in Toronto (this week) with other students from our school board. We had all known a bit about the event itself as we all had watched it live broadcasted last year, but little did we know the impact the speakers and performers would have on us.
As we walked into the Air Canada Center to find our seats, you could honestly feel the excitement in the air, as hundreds of students came together to celebrate all the fundraising and volunteering they’ve done. I looked at my fellow Chippewa students, and we all had huge smiles on our faces as the feeling of excitement that hung in the air was clearly contagious.
The motivational speakers were truly amazing, the way they opened their hearts and let us into the story that truly changed their lives. It was an incredible feeling, and each audience member could feel as if we were there with them through the struggles they overcame. For us, high school and elementary students, to be able to experience such stories of struggle, but also learn the power that each and every person has to overcome any situation, is an amazing life lesson to learn at such young ages and to be able to believe in that the rest of our lives.
Marc and Craig Kielburger, are the founders of Free the Children, the organisation that is the anchor of Me to We clubs across the world, leading kids to become less about themselves and more about the world around them, have helped our generation become one that changes the world through their powerful words, and never giving up hope on us. We day, is a celebration of what has happened and what is yet to come in the changing of our world to become a better place.
From that one celebration, I, among hundreds of other students, have learned the true feeling of how there is no negative word that can’t be overcome by a positive one.
