Madelaine's We Day Experience

My overall impression of we day is that its a one day event that taught me a life long lesson. It changed my perspective on the whole world. I could never imagine living the way that some children do, without a proper education, clean water, and other essentials. Its such an amazing event that brings together thousands of students that are ready to make a difference in the world. I felt so blessed to be a part of We Day, its unexplainable how I felt during the day. At We Day I got the opportunity to meet Phoebe Dykstra and Scott Willats from MuchMusic and I even got a picture with them! Something I thought was really cool were the "every drop counts" necklaces we all got, the are remote controlled and they lit up at the same time. I know that We Day made a powerful impact on me because all the speakers just made me believe that a difference can be made, but we’re just the beginning. All the musical guests were amazing and it was so great to see them live. Even Jesse Giddings and Zachary Porter, the lead singer of Allstar Weekend waved at us! Having musical guests were like the cherry on top. Everything that I learned today I will try to pass it on to  everyone who wants to learn about how to make a difference. I have to say, that overall We Day was my best life experience so far.





There were many speakers there at We Day, I might as well just say all of them impacted me because what they had to say really changed my perspective. The speakers were Marc and Craig Keilburg, Hannah Taylor, Justice Sinclair, Spencer West, Mickhail Gorbachev, and Molly Burke. Speakers who really impacted me were Spencer West, Justice Sinclair and Molly Burke. Spencer West redefined possible by climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro this summer, it’s the highest point in Africa! You’d think it’d be a tough challenge, it was, but even tougher for him because he doesn’t have legs. But spencer never let the fact that he had no legs stop him from doing anything. Ever since he was a child, people have been doubting him. He never let any kind of judgement get to him. Spencer admitted that he wanted to give up more than once while trying to reach the summit, but he never did. His friends told him to keep going and not to give up because he’s already come so far to prove his point. He said that it was his friends words of encouragement that kept him from stopping. There were times when his friends would even carry him for a while. When they were getting even higher, his friends were vomiting, getting dizzy and feeling sick. Spencer watched his support system collapse. That was the one time he wish he had legs so he could be the one to help out his friends, but instead he used encouraging words to keep them going. then the finally made it to the top! Spencer mentioned that “Just because the world tells us something is impossible doesn’t mean that we have to believe it.” Everyone will tackle obstacles, be judged and be doubted somewhere in their lives but we should never give up. If Spencer West, a man with no legs can climb Mount Kilimanjaro, what more can we do? There is no can’t, there is no won't, there is only how. Justice Sinclair told us about how back then, Aboriginals were forced to go to Residential school, they couldn’t learn about their culture in anyway whatsoever. They were forced to speak the English language and forbidden to learn their own. Back then, no one cared about equality, it never mattered. Justice wants things like that to stop. He wants people to have more respect for Aboriginals. He wants the next generation to grow up properly without having to experience what the past generations have. Last but not least another speaker who impacted me was Molly Burke. Molly lost her eyesight when she was just 14. She was a victim of bullying. Once, she sprained her ankle so she was on crutches, at school the “popular girls” wanted to hang out with her. they started walking to somewhere but obviously Molly wouldn’t know. They kept walking and Molly noticed the sound of crushing leaves she felt branches in her way, the ended up in the forest. She sat down, took off her bag and laid her crutches by her side. the next thing she heard was the sound of laughter, followed by her crutches being smashed against a tree. All she could really do was cry. She was alone in the forest, she couldn’t see, walk, and they took her backpack too. Together united, we are all one strong voice. As important as it is to speak out, silence can be powerful, so on April 19th I’m choosing to be silent for those without voices. People without out clean water, an education and those who are bullied have no voice. “We are Silent” We will be silent with our voices but we can be loud with social media.


Having all the musical guests was just a blast! Lights, Justin Nozuka, Robb Nash, Shawn Desman, Allstar Weekend, Tyler Shaw, and Victoria Duffield performed. It was amazing to see all the artists sing live. I’ve never experienced anything like that before, let alone I still haven’t been to an actual concert. During most of the performances I was either screaming or singing along, thats basically what most people were doing. It would be pretty hard for me to pick a favourite because all of the artist did such a wonderful job with their performances it was truly amazing! Lights sang “Toes”, Shawn Desman sang “Nobody Does it Like You”, Allstar Weekend performed “Not Your Birthday”, Tyler Shaw sang “Kiss Goodnight” and Victoria Duffield sang “Break Your Heart”.