Twenty two school buses lined the outskirts of the parking lot at the PMD arena on April 15.
Inside more than 1,300 students, teachers, chaperones and interested community members celebrated Empowerment Day.
Student council and staff at Drayton Heights Public School began planning the event over a year ago. World renowned motivational speaker Spencer West was invited to speak at the event for students in Grades 5 to 8 from across Wellington County.
Planning for the event went into motion with West’s acceptance as main speaker for the day. Members of student council and staff at the school set up committees and fundraised for months prior to April 15.
Arthur native Sarah Smith came on board as the opening act for West.
Admission to the event was a donation to the food bank to be shared by the communities of the schools attending.
Student council member Jana Bieman said, “We were beside ourselves when we got the email telling us that West was coming. We knew there would be a lot of hard work involved but we were up for the challenge.”
Smith began her career as lead singer with The Joys, a Canadian rock band. Since turning solo, Smith has recorded albums and her music has been featured on CBC’s Cracked and in a Los Angeles-based movie Anatomy of a Love Seen.
A recipient of numerous awards for her music, Smith performed a number of her own compositions and encouraged students to never give up on their dreams.
West was born in Wyoming, West Virginia. He had both legs amputated below the knee at age two, due to a muscular disease. By the time he was five, doctors decided surgical removal of the remainder of his legs up to the pelvis was necessary. His parents were told by medical staff that West would never be able to walk or be a functioning member of society.
Growing up his parents taught him to focus on the things he could do.
Being bullied at school became the norm for West. Most of his school years were spent hanging out with girls, who seemed to accept him more readily than boys did. In high school he joined the cheerleading team, hoping to make a difference and to be included. After a fellow cheerleader commented it was not a disabled team, West chose to stop caring about what others said.
His cheerleading squad placed first in the state competition. West thought he was a good pick for the team as his loud voice and tumbling skills contributed to the team’s success.
Commenting on his time in school, he quoted Dan Wilkins, stating “A community that excludes even one member is not a community at all. All are responsible for making everyone feel welcome and we must celebrate our differences.”
A sense of humour and positive outlook on life were evident throughout the show. West asked the audience to stand up and high five their neighbour, then commented on the number of smiles he saw on faces in the audience, noting how important it is to acknowledge others.
Upon graduation from university with a degree in communications, West moved to Arizona.
“I had a house with a pool, a good job and thought I had it all. But, I was not happy. Making the world a better place to live was important to me. That wasn’t happening with my life in Arizona,” he explained.
The turning point in West’s life came when a friend invited West to join him on a trip to Kenya, Africa to build a school. West had concerns about being smaller than most native animals in Africa, which made him an easy target and he said didn’t want to be “Meals on Wheels” to the animals.
Inspired by a young African girl who carried water on her head for miles twice a day to supply her family’s needs, West decided his role in making the world a better place was to raise awareness of the global need for fresh water.
After returning from Africa, he literally “stalked” the Free the Children website, he said. The organization was seeking a motivational speaker so West flew to Toronto for an interview, was accepted for the position and has been working with the Me to We foundation ever since.
In June of 2012, after campaigning for a year, West and two friends climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, the largest mountain in Africa. Their motto was “No won’t, no can’t, only how.”
Plans for the climb included the use of West’s wheel chair for half of the journey but West did the majority of the climb on his hands. When exhaustion set in, West’s two friends were more than willing to piggy back him to his goal. As his friends stumbled, got sick or dizzy, West wished he had legs to carry them. “Possible Redefined” read a sign the trio held for photos upon reaching their destination.
We Walk 4 Water was West’s next challenge; a 300-kilometre trip from Edmonton to Calgary included 11 daily 20km walks. The girl from Africa that inspired West was in his thoughts along the Edmonton-Calgary route and kept him motivated.
West encouraged everyone to do three things in their lives: find their voice (something they like to do: Sports, art, music, etc.), find their team (support people) and find something worth fighting for.
The final quote of the day was from Dr. Seuss: “Today is your day. Your mountain is waiting. So get on your way.”
To date West has raised millions of dollars for clean drinking water and education in Third World countries. Every summer he travels overseas with young people building schools and changing lives. The August 2015 trip will be to India.
In their closing remarks, Drayton Heights Students Council members encouraged each student to “redefine impossible.”
