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www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver Weekend, Saturday February 28, 2009 - 5 Conference encouraged students to raise their voices By Tina Depko OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Iroquois Ridge High School's gym was packed Wednesday with close to 1,200 students clapping and dancing to a song about creating social change. It was a successful start to the school's Raise Your Voice Conference, which encouraged students to make a difference by getting involved in their school, community and world. Keynote speaker Louise Kent, a Toronto-based musician, is a vocal advocate for two charitable organizations, Me to We and Free the Children. She spoke about the difference one person can make, emphasizing her message with a musical performance. "There is so much opportunity in both the local and global community to help," she said. "Whenever you feel like you have no power, remember the power of one." This was the inaugural Raise Your Voice Conference, organized by the Student Voice Committee, which consists of about 20 students and staff advisors, whose mission is ensuring students have a voice in the school and community. The committee had been planning the conference since October. "The purpose of the conference is to empower students," said Zeehan Rahman, a Grade 12 student and cochair of the Student Voice Committee. "They have a lot of power they don't recognize and if they see that, they may make more rational decisions compared to our adult leaders." The Student Voice Committee invited schools and community organizations across Halton. Students from seven high schools and one elementary school took part in the conference. "It is important that we are having students and teachers from other schools because it creates that larger community and that is where the real power of student voices is -- it's in that collaborative effort," said Erin Leahy, Speak Your Voice Committee staff advisor. The message organizers hoped students would leave with was the importance of getting involved in a cause. "They don't understand the power they have as individuals and I think once you make them aware they are the future and what tomorrow is going to be, to get them involved is important," said Komal Khattak, a Grade 12 student and co-chair of the Student Voice Committee. "Hopefully this con- ference will help them realize what they feel strongly about and then be able to act on it." Kent reinforced the message in her presentation, which included suggestions on how to get involved, citing ideas like park cleanup days, breast cancer sports tournaments and volunteering or fundraising. Kent emphasized the need for action with her presentation of statistics, such as the fact that 1.2 billion people do not have access to clean drinking water in the world, or that one out of every six young people in Canada live under the poverty line. "It is absolutely amazing that we have the resources and more than enough money, but we are not doing Louise Kent enough to stop this," Kent said. She spoke about how a trip to Asia turned into a yearlong volunteer mission. She spent a lot of time during that year working for free in places of extreme need, such as orphanages. She now travels the world, speaking to people about Free the Children and Me to We, encouraging them to stand up and take action. "Poverty isn't just something that happens to `those people'," Kent said of her experiences in Asia. "I realized then how much power I had to help change the world. I get such a rush from volunteering." Iroquois Ridge High School, through Free the Children, has raised approximately $25,000 over three years to build and sustain a school in Pimbiniet, Kenya. Workshops on politics, history and global issues followed the keynote presentation. "This is where a lot of student voice is," Rahman said. "You have a lot of students who want to talk about politics, who are passionate about history and who have a lot of ideas about global issues." "Students imagined, organized and made this happen," said Kathryn Patterson, a staff advisor. "The students have done the entire thing and that is what it is about -- allowing students the power to create something out of their own minds that they believe is really important." Are You Happy With Your Smile? 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