Bert Church students gear up for We Day celebration

PLEASE CAPITALIZE “WE DAY” IT IN THE HEADLINE

Bert Church High School’s “Students for Change” are getting ready to take their message of social awareness and environmental reform to the Calgary Saddledome later this month.

The group is set to when they participate in We Day - a Canada wide celebration honouring youth around the country who are actively involved in bringing about worldwide change through educational initiatives and activism.

The club, which consists of 20 students in grades nine to 12, has been a part of the local high school for nearly 10 years. The group and is something teacher Shawn Kelm believes is vital in ensuring youth are educated about the power of their voices both as individuals and as a group.

“This is a student- led group that works toward carrying out local and global initiatives that are designed to improve the lives of others,” said Kelm. “I think there is a misconception out there that teens are all about video games and aren’t socially aware. I’ve been a part of this group for five years now and that is simply not the case.”

An initiative created by the international charity Free the Children, We Day will bring together innovative leaders, writers, musicians, and politicians to speak to the estimated 18,000 youth who will be in attendance on Oct.ober 24th. Some of those expected to take the stage include Rick Hansen, Hedley, Theo Fleury, Mikhail Gorbachev, and Jesse Giddings.

“The students are very excited and this is a great opportunity for them,” said Kelm. “This is the first time this event has been held in Alberta and will hopefully motivate them to continue to take action and live a purposeful life.”

In order to be considered for the event the local Airdrie or BERT CHURCHBert Church High School club first had to create a local and global initiative students that they wwill spend the remainder of the year working on. Although they considered many issues, Though there were many issues they considered, iin the end the students chose to focus their attention on water use and conservation.

“We have been looking at this issue within our own school and also on a global scale,” noted Kelm. “In addition to encouraging people to stop using plastic bottles we are also looking into replacing our school water fountains with ones that can be used to fill reusable water bottles.”

They are also looking to partner partner???? work with Free the Children to continue the charity’s ongoing work to build wells in poverty stricken countries around the world and provide clean water for everyone.

“The goal of this club is to really teach students that they can make change,” said Kelm. “The message really is that actions speak louder than words and these students are a great example of that.”