Many Fort MacMurray students were recently empowered with a message from the Justin Slade Youth Foundation. The foundation offered a No Limits Empowerment Day which was held at the Syncrude Sport and Wellness Centre on Thursday, and the event was sanctioned for grade 8 students from both public and Catholic schools. In previous years this event was available to students who were in the ninth through twelfth grades but neith of the school districts sanctioned the event. According to Jason Beck, the executive director for JSYF said “They’re enough into their junior high experience, and yet they’re young enough, still trying to discover who they are. If we can give them an empowerment message at a critical time, before they start thinking (about) and shaping and forming who they’re going to be, quite possibly for the rest of their life … they’re young enough that they can take it to heart.”
No Limits Empowerment Day, sponsored by the Justin Slade Youth Foundation for Fort MacMurray students, involved around 800 students and will target the same age group and student demographics again next year. FMCSD classroom support teacher Kirsten McLaren stated “It’s great to get a chance to expose them to what (services and organizations) exists in our community, but it’s also a great chance … to hear their voices on what exactly they see as connections and what they maybe feel is lacking in the needs that exist for them as adolescents.” Jason Beck also said “The downside, if you can call it a downside, is that every year it’s a new audience. In that sense, it’s great because every year we’re getting that empowerment message out to a different young person.”