It was a long bus ride to Edmonton's Roger's Place for nine participating students in the Millarville Community School on October 12, who made the trip to attend the "We Day" event.

Third grade teacher at the school Tandee Olver says the event is all about empowering kids to take action and get involved in helping their community and the world.

"The events slogan right now is 'we make doing good, doable.' It's putting the power in kids hands to show them that they can make a difference."

With over 20,000 kids from across the province attending and several celebrity guest speakers, musicians and social advocates in attendance, Olver says getting a seat at the event is a big deal.

"They have presentations and speakers from all over, such as Margaret Trudeau discussing water conservation and mental health. There were several music artists as well, such as Keisha Chantè, Lights, Scott Helman and Shawn Hook. The speaker that stood out to our kids was Adrianne Haslet. She was a professional dancer and she's now an advocate for amputee rights. She was a victim of the Boston Marathon bombing and lost her leg, thinking she will never dance or run again, but three years later she actually ran the Boston Marathon again."

The event is hosted in various locations across the UK, USA and Canada, and with over 20,000 kids in attendance, it's no small affair.

Admittance into the event works a little difference for We Day, as Olver explains, kids need to earn their ticket by getting involved in their community.

"It's not something you can buy tickets for, students need to earn the tickets. Tickets are earned by doing good deeds, so they earn their way by volunteering for local or global causes. We showed students all these different issues, there's these awesome cards we get with discussion questions on each one and they went through and chose what really spoke to them. Our students narrowed it down to three topics: food, education and poverty."

Olver says the students found the event enriching and empowering.

"Every school that went, had done something to attend, whether it be through a food bank or volunteering. Everyone that attended developed a really positive energy and having that many kids in one location shows the power of young people, their energy and the fact that they can make a positive change in the world."

 

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