We Day 2011

How do I even begin talking about this amazing experience at "We Day." I don't even know where to start with this adventure on November 23rd. Where only 16, 000 students around Manitoba became inspirations for today and be the next generation of leaders tomorrow. From the 16,000 students who attended We Day, only 30 students including myself got chosen not just to have fun but to become inspired young adults to be different makers for tomorrow, and to our future. With the inspiration of our speakers Mia Farrow, Chief Shawn Atleo, Hannah Taylor, Rick Hansen, Spencer West, Paul Martin, Michel Chickwanine, Sharon Conway, Dennis Whiteburg and Marc and Craig Kielburger, myself and my other fellow classmates learned many things. The biggest change that I learned today was there isn't a I wont, I can't or a never but there is a 'WE can' and a 'WE are.' With a WE can, we could help stop child labour, global droughts, poverty, global warming, cleaner water, human rights, and have plenty more education for the children around the world. I have this two speakers in mind who really inspired me to be a better leader for my generation and become a difference maker in the world, one of them is Spencer West. Why? Well through his disability of not having two feet and not having a normal life, he made himself tougher and tougher every single day to make a difference in the world. He inspired me that no matter who you are, you can make a difference and become the new leaders of tomorrow. When he explained what "we" meant to him, he gave me this positive spark that really popped out to myself is when he said that "everyday we have a choice over our actions and our thoughts, whether it be over our words, interactions, spending, travel, or even the books and media we choose to consume and that these choices will affect not only our lives, but the lives of those people around us." I really became a better person and became inspired with those words, for me even though there small words, they have a strong impact into them. For me he may have a disability, but he has a big impact in the world to inspire others to become difference makers for our future and convince other young adults to become a new change in the world, to have a better global community. When Spencer traveled to Kenya to build a school and he understood that with over 6 billion people in the world every single person has a different story. One day he was talking to 2-3 young beautiful children and there was this one girl who held his hand and told him that these kind of small things could happen to white people too because of this young child Spencer was inspired to show the world that WE CAN make a difference for someone else's life. The other speaker who inspired me to take action to the world is Michel Chickwanine. Today millions of young adults/children are not having their right to have a education, health care, security and their expectation to have a good life like other children in the world. But when these young children face the war, poverty and exploitation, they can't have the right to speak out whats against there justice. There expected to be silenced. So now on November 30, WE grade 8's are expected to convince the other grade 8's to take action and stay silenced for the children who can't have the right to speak for there justice. So what WE can do is to convince other people to join in the other 100,000 young participants who will not speak for 24 hours, to show the world that we cant ignore these children who cant have there right to speak. On what Michel 's case, he used big cards to tell us his story on how he spoke to the world to grab attention for what WE should take action too. When Michel was a young child refugee he was forced to leave his home. He was forced to be a child soldier who was forced to do things he cant refuse. So then he was forced to kill his bestfriend Kevin. With the ending of Craig and Kielburger's powerful words that all the speakers made me inspire myself too is that our generation is hope for a bright future. I mean like entering the stadium seeing many young adults wanting to become difference makers in the world, that became inspired that not only WE CAN make a difference but WE ARE also making a difference for someone else and to our world. Now that I know to myself that I have to believe that I can make a difference in the world. Now I have to push myself to make one, three or nine people's life come true and have them deserve and experience the amazing life we have in our world. All WE can do is step up and make a change that WE ARE and WE CAN see in our world. That's what I'm going to prove to make a difference for someone else.

Pictures from WE DAY - - credits to Mr. Harbeck

Thank you Mrs. Wilson, Mrs. Lee, Mr. Potter, Mr. Harbeck and the other staff of Sargent Park for giving the 30 grade eight students and I to this opportunity to attend WE DAY. Without all of you WE won't have this amazing experience to be inspired with all of these amazing speakers to teach us how to "make a difference in the world" Thank You. (=