My Final Stop of the Semester: We Day Illinois

Two weeks ago, I was invited to We Day Illinois to tag along as my honey project co-founder Nick Helfand spoke to a crowd of tens of thousands about the work we do in Ecuador.  We Day is an annual series of stadium-sized events that brings together “world-renowned speakers and performers…with tens of thousands of youth”, and “offers educational resources and campaigns to help young people turn the day’s inspiration into sustained action”.  The venue was ornate. Filling the entire Allstate Arena, the stage was decorated with projectors and monitors showing recorded videos and a live feed of the show, massive speakers lined the walls, and the presenters were superstars.  My personal favorites included Selena Gomez, Magic Johnson, and Ezra Frech, a nine-year-old record-breaking paraplegic runner.

As one of three panelists speaking about what it means to be a young entrepreneur, Nick had the opportunity to be interviewed by Dennis Haysbert (the actor featured often in Allstate Commercials).  The crowd roared in applause when he answered Mr. Haysbert’s questions, and we realized how lucky we were to have been featured in this incredible event.

My favorite part of the experience was having the opportunity to meet other incredible young social entrepreneurs. In the “green room”, waiting for Nick’s turn to take the stage, we introduced ourselves to a group of other young adults anxiously waiting for their names to be called to take the stage.  I was blown away by the work that these individuals were doing. Trisha Prabhu, a 14-year-old student at Neuqua Valley High School in Naperville, Illinois, for example, designed “Rethink”, a computer program that gives adolescents who are trying to post an offensive message on social media a second chance to reconsider their decision.

Reflecting, while We Day may not have directly connected to international relations, it was the most inspirational public event I attended this year.  Most of the crowd was comprised of students from public schools in lower-income areas of the city. The event brought these students together and inspired them with motivational messages from people they recognize from their TVs, radios, and the movies.  In terms of how this connects to my inquiry strand, what did strike me was the potential that these types of events have in bringing cultures and people of different backgrounds together.  If there were We Days dedicated primarily to combating xenophobia and familiarizing American children with other cultures, our youth’s understanding of the world might be a little different.

For my independent research, I couldn’t help but look into the type of press coverage We Day Illinois received.  A CBS local news story, for example, raved about the day, citing performances by Common and Jennifer Hudson.  The article (http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2015/04/30/celebrities-help-young-volunteers-mark-we-day-in-illinois/) also explained something I did not previously know, that schools got free tickets by “performing both a global and a local act of volunteerism or charity.”