On March 15th, 14 students from Ellen Gunn Education Centre in Corman Park had the opportunity to visit Saskatoon for WE Day Saskatchewan, an event that brings together world-renowned speakers and award-winning performers with thousands of young people and families to celebrate and inspire another year of incredible change.
WE is a movement that brings people, particularly youth, together and “gives them the tools to change the world”. As part of the movement, millions of passionate people are working together to shift the world from “me” to “we”.
The students began their journey to WE Day by raising money to purchase education supplies and a goat for a family in Esinoni, Kenya; something students are required to do to earn a ticket to the festivities. They held a bake sale, spending part of a day making brownies, cookies, and other treats that they then took to a grocery store in Warman to sell. None of the items had a set price; rather, each was sold for a donation. At the end of the sale, the students had made an impressive $150, and had earned their WE Day tickets.
“The bake sale was awesome and the youth that took part did excellent work in helping us to meet our goals,” said agency educator Jason Geisel, who accompanied the youth to the assembly.
“WE Day itself is a great experience and quite the spectacle,” he continued.
Performers on stage in Saskatoon. Photos courtesy of @WEMovement Facebook page
Among the 25 motivational performers and speakers present, students had the opportunity to hear from Canadian country music artist Brett Kissell, Canadian author and mental health advocate Margaret Trudeau, Saskatchewan Roughriders Dan Clark and Nic Demski, and national AFN Chief Perry Bellegarde (and former Ranch Ehrlo board member).
“It’s a long day, full of motivational speeches, concerns, and eye-opening information about poverty in Canada, as well as around the world,” Jason explained. “Our youth were somewhat surprised by the level of excitement in the building, but they quickly got involved in the festivities.”
Overall, Jason believes that the experience was one that allowed the youth to observe something new, beyond the small part of the world where they spend most of their time, and most importantly, broaden their worldview.
“We learned a lot,” he said.
