By Brianna Powell
Editor-in-Chief
Photos courtesy of We Day

“We are powerful! We are determined! We are a movement!“ Students from across the state cheered during the WE Day Illinois celebration. Created to recognize teens’ dedication to community service, students representing Metea attended the event held last Thursday at the AllState Arena.

“We Day to me means taking action and encouraging change. It’s a great feeling when students are celebrated for the hard work they do to better the world,” senior Aashin Amin said.

Amin, the 2015 recipient of the We Day Bright Future Award for his leadership on service projects such as The Water Project, took the stage to present this year’s winner.

“I got the jitters a bit. But when I was on stage, it felt exhilarating,” Amin said.

The event included appearances by Ciara, Paula Abdul, Martin Luther King III, and speeches by influential teens who have dedicated their lives to the “ME to WE Movement”.

The ME to WE philosophy encourages teens to move from “me thinking” to “we acting” in order to build a better world and make choices that have a positive impact on communities.

“We Day doesn’t just work locally. But globally too. We all work together so that together we all can have a better life,”  junior and We Day Club president Devin Shah said. “The arena was really energized with all the emotion in there. It was a really good moment for all of us from Metea. Everyone was excited and just pumped to be there.”

As one of the year’s biggest events, it’s one of the hardest to get into as well. We Day tickets cannot be bought. Students must earn their way to the event by showing dedication to community service.

“Students should definitely get involved in community service. Not only is it fun and helps those around you, but you get rewarded for it with things like this,” junior Krystian Burgos said.