CAPTION:The Jonas Brothers were among the many celebrities at the We Day kickoff event at Patrick Henry High School.
More than 600 students from a dozen Minnesota schools packed into the gymnasium at Patrick Henry High School on February 6. But it wasn’t a basketball tournament, dance competition or another athletic event that brought youth from across the state. Instead it was the idea young people have the power to create positive change in their communities and the world.
Both Twin Cities mayors and other public officials joined students for the kickoff of We Day, an initiative that encourages volunteerism among youth in the elementary and secondary grades. Young people participate in acts of service through projects coordinated by their schools. Students who engage in at least one act of local service and one act of global service are eligible to receive a ticket to We Day, a stadium event with performances and inspirational speeches from popular musical acts and well-known public figures that have included Jennifer Hudson, Justin Bieber, K’naan, Mikhail Gobachev and the Dalai Lama.
The celebrity flavor of We Day was well on display at Patrick Henry. Actress and UNICEF ambassador Mia Farrow spoke about the need to help people in need living in Syria, Darfur and other regions of the world affected by violence, famine and other catastrophes. “Don’t wait—get involved now,” Farrow urged. “You’ll see a person or project that needs you, and it will call out to you. . . . I think you are the generation I’ve been waiting for my whole life.”
The gym shortly thereafter erupted in screaming cheers with the introduction of the Jonas Brothers. The three brothers from the pop band talked about the importance of giving back to the community and announced their participation in this year’s We Day Minnesota celebration, set for October 8 at the Xcel Energy Center. “The thing that makes this so special is that you have to earn your ticket,” Joe Jonas told the crowd. “You can’t buy a ticket to this event.”
How young people earn a place at the October concert will be largely up to them. In the coming months, students at schools participating in the We Day initiative have the opportunity to collaborate with educators on determining what local and global acts of service they’ll engage in. Educators have access to lesson plans, fundraising resources, media tool kits, and other materials that are designed to make involving students in class- and school-wide service projects easy.
Education officials attending the kickoff event expressed enthusiasm about We Day’s potential to increase community engagement while improving achievement among students. Patrick Henry Principal Latanya Daniels, Superintendent of Minneapolis Public Schools Bernadeia Johnson, and Minnesota Department of Education Commissioner Brenda Cassellius were among those to speak. “This is such a great opportunity . . . to be able to work together as an entire state to do something for the world,” Casselius told students. “You’re going to feel good, you’re going to have a tremendous impact, and you’re . . . going to make us so proud.”
The We Day initiative is the creation of Free the Children, a Canadian nonprofit organization working to “empower youth to remove barriers that prevent them from being active local and global citizens.” Started by 12-year-old Craig Kielburger in 1995, the organization coordinates child-focused service projects that are often directed toward communities in Africa, Asia and Latin America. As demonstrated by the dual local/global focus of the We Day initiative, participating young people are also encouraged to make a difference in their own communities.
Since being founded in 2009, the We Day initiative has resulted in $20 million being raised for some 500 causes. Participating youth from 5,700 schools have logged 3.4 million volunteer hours. Students at Patrick Henry and other Minnesota schools will be among the first in the nation to participate in We Day events—until now the initiative was only active in Canada. Education Commissioner Brenda Cassellius suggested that this was only fitting given that there are “great kids here, doing great service, who want to do even greater things for the world.”