Wheatland students take part in WE Day

Miriam Ostermann
Times Associate Editor

 

Owing to their efforts in raising money for the purchase of goats in Kenya last year, nine Wheatland Elementary School students were able to attend the WE Day event last week, and are eagerly working on new projects to earn tickets for next year’s Grade 6 students to attend the sought-after event.
WE Day, which featured numerous world-renowned speakers and award-winning artists at Calgary’s Scotiabank Saddledome, started almost eight years ago across Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom, to spark inspiration among students to create change locally and globally.
Because tickets to the event can’t be purchased, students are required to take on a local and global action through We Schools. With the success of last year’s efforts, all eight students involved in the school’s student leadership executive council plus one additional student were able to attend the empowering event.
“It was really inspirational, really powerful, you learned a lot, and the main thing is that it made me really think about how one spark can become one worldwide movement,” said executive council president Morgan LaChance.
The Wheatland Elementary School takes pride in their leadership reputation. Not only were they able to provide a family in Kenya with a goat last year, but just last month the school donated over 2,300 items to go to the Wheatland County food bank and the Strathmore and District Christmas Hamper Society through the We Scare Hunger campaign in collaboration with Strathmore Ford.
“We have a lot of stuff and lots of food, so if we can give back, we can help other people have food and stuff who don’t have it,” said Alizabeth Hansen, an alternate on the council.
“I really don’t know a lot about what’s happening in other countries so just learning about that opens my mind and my eyes to see how I can help and what I can do for other people, that I couldn’t see before.”
The Me to We movement requires schools to take on one local and one global initiative. In doing so, the students are exposed to issues far away, but are also reminded and made aware of the problems closer to home. While each student had their own reason for being a part of the council – which they had to be elected for in a process involving campaigning and speeches – they are all eager to continue in such initiatives once they move on to junior high school next year.
“My grandma and my grandpa do a lot of mission work in Thailand and Cambodia and I think that I don’t want to just sit here and watch them, I want to do something about that too, and I think it’s a great way to take initiative,” said Keisha Stoffregen, the vice president of the executive council.
The rest of the year is bound to be a busy one for the council, which is planning on tackling a different We Change activity each month. The school also raises funds through their Chocograms sale at Valentine’s Day, participates in Jump into Jammies to help support the local crisis shelter, and on Nov. 20, will be taking part in We are Silent – a measure where people who live in countries with freedom of speech remain silent for a day in support of those who don’t have a voice in their country.
With numerous We Change activities on the horizon, the executive council hopes to earn some more tickets for next year’s representatives to participate in WE Day.