Hundreds of thousands of students and teachers around the world unite at WE Day Connect

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Jan 29, 2020, 10:00 ET

– WE Day Connect is powered by Microsoft and presented by Walgreens and Dow –
– Visit WE Day Connect to register and join the global virtual event –

SEATTLE, Jan. 29, 2020 /PRNewswire/ - Today at 1 p.m. ET, hundreds of thousands of students and teachers from around the world will join WE Day Connect, an interactive 60-minute virtual event focused on service learning that connects students and teachers in classrooms from over 80 countries. Featuring student change-makers and educators from across the globe who are tackling critical social issues and making a difference in their communities and beyond, WE Day Connect will broadcast live from several locations including: Microsoft Studios in Redmond, Washington; Brisbane, Australia; Freeport, Texas; Sophia, West Virginia; New Cairo, Egypt and Federal Way, Washington. Since the inaugural WE Day Connect in Spring 2018, the event has reached over 820,000 students and teachers globally.

"Across the globe, today's youth are connecting virtually and sharing their passion, ideas and solutions for change by leveraging technology to engage in critical conversations and address today's most pressing issues," said Craig Kielburger, WE Charity co-founder. "Through a variety of tools and innovative technology, WE Day Connect provides students and educators with a deepened understanding of how to incorporate service-learning in the classroom and create action plans to be at the forefront of local and global change."

More than a virtual event, WE Day Connect is part of the free, year-long service learning program WE Schools. Designed to enhance a school or community's existing social initiatives or spark new ones, WE Schools provides teachers with educational resources and action campaigns to encourage students to further their curricular learning and develop life skills to succeed beyond the classroom. Leveraging technology for good, WE Schools is evolving virtually to bring the power of service learning into more classrooms around the world thanks to the implementation of Microsoft Office 365® and other cloud-based services.

After WE Day Connect, educators who participated can continue to connect with each other through the WE Teachers hub. Made possible by Walgreens, by registering as a WE Teacher on the hub, educators will have access to free tools that will help them address critical social issues with their class on subjects such as trauma-informed practice, mental well-being and bullying, as well as access to service-learning professional development opportunities.

WE Day Connect participants will hear empowering stories from young people and educators already making a difference. Some examples include:

Brisbane Bayside State College, Brisbane, Australia
An inspiring all-girl team, ranging from ages 13 to 14, from Brisbane Bayside State College came up with a concept called ChameleonFrames. Using AI to support the diagnosis of cerebral visual impairment (CVI) their goal was to use AI to help others who might suffer through early diagnosis. The concept, which was developed with the help of teacher Frederic Legrand, uses AI to monitor and analyze eye movement and brainwaves to offer timely, efficient diagnosis. The concept led the girls to a win in the Microsoft AI for Good Challenge in Australia in August 2019.

Sophia, West Virginia, United States
Supporting educators to empower their students, Walgreens and WE Teachers recognize extraordinary teachers like Jill Woods, who is working toward introducing an agriculture-STEM program at her school in West Virginia. Jill is helping her students experience hands-on learning, empowering and preparing them for life after school. This incredible educator is currently writing grants and reaching out to community members in an effort to buy a greenhouse.

Freeport, Texas, United States
Inspired by WE Are Innovators, the students at Free Port Intermediate school designed an outdoor STEM learning center for their school and community to use. By focusing on sustainable innovation and the concept of a circular economy they developed an aquaponic gardening system that requires typical energy sources to power the system. These innovative students hope to make their idea a sustainable model for their community. Participants have researched various systems that utilize wind and solar energy to power and plan to use these systems as a model to create a lab that will facilitate STEM learning for all students.

Stay connected on the latest news and updates on WE Day Connect:

About WE

WE Day is part of WE—a family of organizations that makes doing good, doable. WE is made up of WE Charity, empowering domestic and international change, ME to WE, a social enterprise that creates socially conscious products and experiences to help support the charity, and WE Day, an unparalleled series of events, and the greatest celebration of social good.

WE Charity was founded by New York Times Bestselling authors Craig Kielburger and Marc Kielburger, in 1995, with a mission to fight child labor. WE has since grown and evolved to address the root cause of child labor - extreme poverty. In the past 24 years, WE's programs have empowered over 1 million people with clean water, built 1,500 schools and schoolrooms overseas, and empowered more than 200,000 children with access to education.

WE enables youth and families to better the world—supporting 7,200+ local and global causes by volunteering millions of hours of service, shopping daily with an impact, and raising millions of dollars that directly benefit their local communities and the world.

WE's headquarters is based in Toronto, Canada at the WE Global Learning Center, a service and social innovation accelerator for young people, leading them to become the next generation of leaders and towards a brighter future.

Join the movement today at WE.org.

SOURCE WE Day