The Me to WE Club: Powerful Student Leadership

The Me to WE Club at North Middle School: Powerful Student Leadership
Posted on 06/17/2019
The Me to WE Club at North Middle School: Powerful Student Leadership

One of the reasons I love teaching at FFCA is our emphasis on character and leadership.  Every campus has a club or program that encourages students to consider themselves leaders and changemakers.  Our FFCA culture fosters an idea of interconnectedness; we want students to think beyond themselves and consider how to make their world a better place.  Most importantly, we encourage students to act.  Character and leadership become part of our daily lives at school and in our communities.

At North Middle School, our Me to WE student club continues this very important work.  I asked several of our senior Grade 8 students to write about the most memorable events from our club this year.  They chose to highlight two activities below:  the Walk for Water campaign in May, and the powerful Anti-Racism workshop they attended at our campus in February.

The founder of the we organization, Craig Keilburger, provided a video expressing appreciation for the commitment of our Me to WE club which can be viewedby clicking HERE.  To say I am proud of these students and their leadership is an understatement.  They have been an integral part of our club this year, and I have no doubt that they will continue to act as changemakers at our high school.  Watch out, world!

Olana Thomson

 

We Walk for Water 2019

Did you know that over 800 million people live without access to safe and reliable drinking water? The ME to WE organization brings awareness to global water issues with a campaign called We Walk for Water.  This campaign puts a spotlight on the hardships endured by millions of women and children around the world. Every year we recognize people that walk millions of hours to get water from the only sources available, which are distant and most often polluted. This year, our NMS Me to We group went to the Northwest Elementary and presented to the students on the importance of water.  We also helped them with their own Walk for Water event.  We were inspired by the Kindergarten and Grade One students carrying full milk jugs of water around the NWE field.  Way to go Northwest Elementary!

We also had the opportunity to travel to Pearce Estate Park to show our school spirit while also walking for change!   WE Schools invited our group to come down and join them in a city-wide Walk for Water event.  Some of us even went up on stage to talk about our experiences and lead a warm up before the walk.  We represented our club and school with pride.  The FFCA NMS Me to We group will continue to make social change for years to come.

 

Anti-Racism Workshop - NMS Campus

During this year we have noticed some problems that have been ignored for too long.  At FFCA we learn about character and leadership, but we know that there are still problems between students. Even just looking at the news, we see that people often treat others with a lack of kindness and understanding.  We want the issues of racism, bullying and overall student mental health to continue to be addressed in our schools.

In February, we attended an Anti-Racism Workshop at our campus, along with the student leaders from the Student Representative Council of NMS.  Amanda, the facilitator, told us about the need to treat people with kindness and respect.  She asked us to think about what we could do to stop racism and bullying.  As students, we want to feel like school is a safe place where you can be yourself without any restrictions. Sometimes In the halls and online, we hear people calling others names and making others feel bad about themselves. Sometimes it feels like everything is based on race and group.  The fact is, we really should be able to come together and have a good time and not always be separated into groups.  People comparing grades, calling people names, and making others feel bad about themselves also results in a decrease in mental health.  Instead of dragging people down and not letting people be the best person they can possibly be, we should work as a team and bring people up and push people forward. As a school we need to bring awareness to issues like these.

Character education and leadership are so important.  We want to continue to make our world and school a better place for everyone.  A big thank you to Amanda and WE Schools for talking with us about these very important issues.  We are inspired to make change!

Authors:  NMS Grade 8 students Sarah A., Dominic P., Kaitlyn Z., Ilan A.

Website by SchoolMessenger Presence. © 2024 SchoolMessenger Corporation. All rights reserved.