Star-studded reward for suburban kids committed to serving others

Thousands of students from across the suburbs punched their tickets to a star-studded youth empowerment event Thursday at Allstate Arena in Rosemont by committing to improve their communities and the world.

Chicago natives Common and Jennifer Hudson will be joined by Selena Gomez, Martin Sheen, Magic Johnson, Marlee Matlin and The Band Perry, among others, during We Day, an event that's a mixture of inspirational speeches, performances and presentations by local students.

Some 15,000 youth and teachers from about 500 schools in the Chicago area and downstate are expected to attend the show - the first time it's being held in Illinois following events in Minnesota, California and Washington State. The show also makes regular stops in the United Kingdom and Canada, where it got its start in 2007.

Students get in for free once they've begun work on at least one of two service projects. One of projects must be in students' communities; the other must benefit an international charitable cause such as adopt-a-village programs, clean water projects and women's empowerment efforts.

The projects are coordinated by Free the Children, a global charity that develops educational programs for schools to help students "spark a passion" for service, said Alison Clarke, a spokeswoman for We Day.

The event Thursday aims to get students "excited and amped up" for their service work, Clarke said.

"Once you get all those kids in the arena, it's so amazing," she said. "Thousands are single-handedly and collectively making a difference. It gives them a view of, 'I'm not alone.'"

Among the students expected at Allstate Arena for the show are the six members of Carpentersville Middle School's service learning club.

The students volunteer every month at a community food pantry where they pass out food to the needy. They also raised $600 for the American Cancer Society's Relay For Life by hosting a students versus teachers dodgeball game, and collected donations for Free The Children's We Create Change campaign to provide goats to families in developing countries.

The service club was established at the start of the school year in an effort to reduce out-of-school suspensions.

"We had a discipline problem at Carpentersville Middle School, and we were trying to be more proactive to keep students in school, build leadership and get them involved in the community," said Leslie Unruh, a teacher who is one of the club moderators. "We established this club to take students with a higher disciplinary record previously and try to instill some motivation for them and try to get them involved.

"Our suspensions are down, referrals are down and attendance to school is up," she said.

The school's assistant principal, Denise Lanko, is writing a dissertation on using service learning as an alternative to out-of-school suspensions.

"After being part of the program, I feel like a lot of them have changed their attitude, taken ownership of their own actions, and are interested in being at school because they want to participate in the activities," Lanko said.

Mike Contreras, one of the club's members, said being involved in service activities "helps a lot."

"I would react in a bad way, but now I think about stuff before (acting)," he said.

Another student, Xavier Castellanos, said working at the food pantry was rewarding because he got to see the smiles on people's faces when they were given food. He says he's excited to attend Thursday's We Day in Rosemont.

"It's amazing. It's actually pretty cool. No one told me (before) that Selena Gomez or Common was going to be there. To hear that is actually, wow."

Also attending will be a contingent of students from Iroquois Community School in Des Plaines. Seventh grade students began their service efforts in October at Feed My Starving Children in Schaumburg, where 56 students helped pack 69 boxes of food and 14,904 meals for shipment to needy communities overseas. The seventh grade class also competed in a "coin war" that raised about $300 for Feed My Starving Children and collected 528 nonperishable items for a local food drive.

We Day events are being held in 14 cities around the world this year.