Sammamish, Issaquah Students Attend We Day Seattle

Deafening roars electrified KeyArena on Wednesday as Seattle hosted its first-ever We Day in the United States.

Nearly 15,000 students from 400 middle and high schools across the state and hundreds of teachers, including dozens from the Issaquah School District, attended the giant educational pep rally that focused on giving back and inspiring students to make a difference in the community and the world.

“This is the coolest thing ever!” exclaimed a student from Issaquah High School. About 30 IHS students attended and were also invited to the pre-dinner based on their work.

Issaquah School District spokesperson Sara Niegowski provided the following rundown for all students and teachers attending:

Issaquah Valley: One fifth grader attending (so far they know of).

Grand Ridge Elementary: Two teachers.

Liberty: Some students did the volunteer component but they are staying in the building today because of an upcoming spirit week and current ASB elections.

Pine Lake Middle School: 37 kiddos and three teachers.

Maywood Middle School: Some students.

Skyline High School: About a dozen kids.

Lake Washington School District reported that 29 students and a teacher from Inglewood Middle School attended, while Eastlake High School and Renaissance School of Art & Reasoning also sent groups of students and teachers. At least one student from STEM also attended.

The day-long event featured celebrities like Jennifer Hudson, Martin Sheen and Magic Johnson, including a surprise performance by Seattle natives, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis.

“Why we created the We Day is so that no one ever doubts that youths can change the world,” said Craig Kielburger, who co-founded Free The Children with his brother Marc.

“Over the past five years alone, we’ve seen youth involved raise $26 million for more than 900 local and global causes and log 5.1 million volunteer hours,” he added. “We can’t wait to see what youth across Washington State will achieve.”

We Day is the signature event of Free the Children, started by Kielburger in 1995 after he read about a Southeast Asian boy named Iqbal Masih, who was sold into slavery at the age of 4 and spent six years chained to a carpet-weaving loom. He escaped and spoke out against slavery and then was killed.

Local students must earn their way to We Day through community service by making a commitment to take one local and one global action throughout the year.

“There is an opportunity to create change that we’ve never seen before and that’s why it’s a historic moment in Seattle and the United States,” said Seattle Seahawks Head Coach Pete Carroll, who also served as co-chair of We Day Seattle.

Kielburger said Carroll’s love and passion for Seattle was one of the reasons that brought We Day to the Pacific Northwest.

He said seven We Days events is planned to take place this year with nearly 160,000 students and teachers attending from 4,000 schools in the U.S. and Canada.

We Day Seattle will be captured in an hour-long special broadcast called “The Road to We Day” on Q13 FOX and JOEtv. The program will air April 12 at 8 p.m. on JOEtv and April 14 at 5 p.m. on Q13 FOX.

(Ed. Note: This story was updated on March 28 with a complete list of schools who participated in We Day.)