Rising Freedom in Saskatchewan

One lucky student in Saskatchewan shaves her principal’s head.

Hey there funky Free The Children family,

Wow! This year has been a blast: travelling around North America with the We Generation! Speaking Tour and chilling with cool people like you.

Erin and I had the privilege of meeting young people every day who prove to us that we are the generation that we’ve been waiting for. We met excellent educators whose support for young people taking action is humbling. We saw many corners of this great continent, from huge urban centres like the Bronx, New York to small communities like Porcupine Plain in rural Saskatchewan. We talked a lot, rocking the mic for 37,000 people.

Our travels recently brought us to St. Mary Community School in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. As part of its fundraising initiatives for Adopt a Village, the school held a class-to-class fundraising competition. After our presentation, the students gathered in a circle in the gym. When the winning class was announced, the students erupted into cheers and applause. Then, one by one, the kids from that class were invited into the middle of the circle…to shave the principal’s head! Chunk by chunk, Mr. Fortosky went bald before our eyes, accompanied by shrieks of glee from students and teachers.

St. Mary is located in a predominantly aboriginal inner-city community that doesn’t have it easy. Unemployment and addiction to alcohol and drugs are serious issues that affect many of the students. Defying circumstances and breaking stereotypes, the school’s social action group, Rising Freedom, started to work with Free The Children this year and is fundraising to build a school in China. Their project snowballed and it has brought the community together this year through pizza sales, a school canteen, recycling, barbecues and, of course, shaving the principal’s head.

St. Mary plans on reaching their goal of building a sister school in China in 2009, the same year that St. Mary hopes to move into a brand new school of its own: a powerful symbol of solidarity.

On top of everything, three of the students in Mr. Lewandowski’s class are planning to attend the Take Action! Academy, pushing their leadership skills further to expand their social action in the future.

We are astounded by the strength of St. Mary’s students, teachers and community. It is through brave missions and exciting actions like those of Rising Freedom that we have seen young people change the world right before our eyes this year. We are the We Generation.

Have a great summer!

Hugs all around,

Garry and Erin
From the road on the We Generation! Speaking Tour, sponsored by National Bank Financial.

Read Garry’s blog
Read Erin’s blog
Learn about next year’s Take More Action! Speaking Tour

Free The Children is the largest network of children helping children through education in the world, with more than one million youth involved in our innovative education and development programs in 45 countries. Founded by international child rights activist Craig Kielburger, Free The Children has an established track-record of success, with three nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize and partnerships with the United Nations and Oprah’s Angel Network.