“you are the generation i have been waiting for all my life” – mia farrow
so, on wednesday i got the pleasure of going to waterloo region’s we day, which is organized and sponsored by free the children, which is an organization started by craig and mark kielburger. if you don’t know who they are, seriously, google them, they’re amazing human beings.
anyway, we day in waterloo was basically 6000 student leaders from 4 different school boards coming together at the kitchener aud and listening to speakers as well as have a generally good time.
6000 dedicated youth in one arena.
the atmosphere in the arena was pretty awesome
the midway state and neverest both performed two songs. the crowd was on their feet from the moment they were announced, rocking out and waving their arms to show their support. it was really cool to see so many enthusiastic people in one place.
neverest on stage (:
neverest performing a second time
the lead singer from the midway state. i love his hair ❤
motivational, we day speakers such as robin wiszowaty, spencer west and noah caplan all spoke. spencer west told us of the challenges he faces after having both his legs amputated at the pelvis and how these challenges don’t stop him from helping less fortunate people. he announced that he would be climbing mt. kilimanjaro next june – an announcement for which he got a lot of support from the crowd.
we were amazed at how he was walking on his hands
robin wiszowaty spoke of her time with an adopted family in kenya and the challenges they face. she told us of how her life’s perspective changed when she spent time in africa and how africa had taken her heart. noah caplan recited a poem he had written; he was the first speaker of the day, and everyone was really excited to hear him.
robin didn't like turning into our corner 😛
mia farrow, award winning actress and activist, as well as an excellent photographer spoke to us as well. she was quite funny, exclaiming that we were all “totally awesome”, and that we were the generation she has been waiting got all her life. she showed us pictures that she had taken on a trip to port au prince with craig and explained how the affects of the earthquake in haiti were still so prevalent.
she really liked raising her arms and telling everyone how "totally awesome" they were
dr. james orbinski, the president of RIM, romeo dallaire, naomi tut, and magic johnson all spoke. when magic came on stage, the crowd was so loud, i thought my eardrums were going to burst. it was truly amazing to see how much everyone loves him. he spoke about hiv/aids and raising awareness about it. several times his speech was interrupted from audience members screaming “i love you magic”, to which he always responded “i love you too”, or “its good to see you”, which i thought was very kind of him. he truly is a remarkable man.
president of research in motion
dr. orbinski
"a person is a person through other people" - naomi tutu
romeo dallaire
of course the kielburger’s spoke – twice in fact. they were awesome speakers. they really know how to the their audience involved and passionate about what they’re speaking about.
shawn desman taught us the “we day dance”, which is actually way more complicated than i thought it was going to be, mine and jenni’s favourite move was the “sawgger”. i’m pretty sure i videotaped it, so i’ll post the dance around here at some point soon. 🙂
we day was an all round excellent experience, and i really enjoyed it. what i also enjoyed was the fact that i was allowed to take as many pictures as i wanted 😀
here are a few more:
the floor seats screaming for neverest
this was my favourite part of all of we day. you could literally hear a pin drop in the arena. 6000 elementary/high school students dead silent is a powerful thing
dearlphoto 