Media Alert: The Jonas Brothers, Carly Rae Jepsen, Bridgit Mendler, Queen Noor of Jordan, Minnesota Vikings and Barbara Pierce Bush take the stage today for We Day Minnesota

Media Alert: The Jonas Brothers, Carly Rae Jepsen, Bridgit Mendler, Queen Noor of Jordan, Minnesota Vikings and Barbara Pierce Bush take the stage today for We Day Minnesota

- We Day will be streamed live today from 9:15 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. CT at www.weday.com and www.wcco.com/weday -

- High res photos from the day will be available at www.weday.com/press by 3:00 p.m. CT -

MINNEAPOLIS, Oct. 8, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Today international charity and educational partner, Free The Children, along with Title Sponsors Cheerios, Green Giant and Yoplait, will bring together iconic speakers and chart-topping musical sensations including the Jonas Brothers, Carly Rae Jepsen, Fifth Harmony, Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan, Mia Farrow, Barbara Pierce Bush, Martin Luther King III, NFL players from the Minnesota Vikings and international activists and Free The Children co-founders, Craig and Marc Kielburger, at We Day Minnesota to educate, engage and empower 18,000 student leaders to change the world.

Bridgit Mendler, platinum selling artist and star of Disney's Good Luck Charlie will team up with Disney® Channel actress and musician, Debby Ryan, and E! News correspondent and Free The Children ambassador, Jesse Giddings, to lead the crowd through a day full of educational speeches, inspirational moments and show-stopping performances. A few of the must-see moments will include:


-- A hip-hop/contemporary performance featuring Shape Shift dancers,
dancing to a mash-up of Love Me Again by John Newman with voiceover
excerpts from the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s I Have a Dream
speech. This compilation will close with Dr. Luther King Jr's eldest
son, Martin Luther King III, speaking about the importance of education
and his involvement in a global movement for change.
-- GRAMMY®-nominated, multi-platinum artists, The Jonas Brothers, perform
their hit single Pom Poms, followed by Joe Jonas addressing the crowd
about his recent trip to Kenya and first-hand experience understanding
the importance of education to children who are often denied access. Joe
has challenged his fans to help raise money to build two schools in
Kenya, to support Free The Children's Year of Education, a year-long
fundraising commitment to build 200 new schools in Free The Children's
overseas communities (more details available
www.freethechildren.com/schools).
-- State Champions, Rosemount High School Marching Band, will pump up the
crowd with a drum line performance of Can't Hold Us leading into in a
special segment with Minnesota Viking players, Blair Walsh, Phil
Loadholt, Jamarca Sanford and Jerome Simpson and local hometown hero,
Jack Jablonski, who will thank the students for their support on and off
the field and pay a special Vikings tribute to their incredible
accomplishments.
-- Governor of Minnesota, Mark Dayton, will issue a proclamation,
officially declaring October 8, We Day, across Minnesota. On this day,
communities across the state will unite to support and encourage young
people in their efforts to make Minnesota and the world a better place.
Throughout the day students and supporters in attendance and those watching online will be inspired by renowned speakers and award-winning performers, including:


-- Mark Dayton (@GovMarkDayton) - Governor of Minnesota
-- Brenda Cassellius (@BCassellius) - Commissioner of Education, Minnesota
-- Chris Coleman (@mayorcoleman) - Mayor of St. Paul
-- Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan (@QueenNoor)
-- Jonas Brothers (@jonasbrothers) - GRAMMY®-nominated, multi-platinum
artists
-- Carly Rae Jepsen (@carlyraejepsen) - GRAMMY®-nominated, multi-platinum
singer-songwriter
-- Fifth Harmony (@FifthHarmony) - America's first teen girl group
-- Debby Ryan (@DebbyRyan) - Disney® Channel actress and musician
-- Bridgit Mendler (@bridgitmendler) - Platinum selling artist and star of
Disney's Good Luck Charlie
-- Barbara Pierce Bush - Humanitarian, Co-founder and President, Global
Health Corps and daughter of Former US President George W. Bush
-- Jesse Giddings (@JesseGiddings) - E! News correspondent and Free The
Children ambassador
-- Demi Lovato (@ddlovato) - Award-winning singer-songwriter and Free The
Children ambassador, joining with a special video message
-- Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) - NFL players Blair Walsh, Phil Loadholt,
Jamarca Sanford and Jerome Simpson
-- Martin Luther King III - Human Rights advocate and eldest son of the
late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
-- Mia Farrow (@MiaFarrow) - Award-winning actress, activist and United
Nations ambassador
-- The Tenors (@TenorsMusic) - Juno Award-winning, multi-platinum singers
(performance with special guests Young Stitch and Kelly Levesque)
-- Katie Garfield (@KatieGarfield) - Singer-songwriter and actress
-- Dessa (@dessadarling) - Doomtree Records recording artist, rapper,
singer, poet, and essayist
-- Jack Jablonski (@Jabs_13) - Local Benilde - St. Margaret's teen who
suffered a spinal cord injury during a hockey game
-- Michelle Bergh - Miss Minnesota Pre-Teen
-- We Day Minnesota co-chairs and siblings Hutton Phillips and Dean
Phillips, who also serves as Chairman of Talenti Gelato and Co-Chair of
the Phillips Family Foundation
-- Kenyan Boys Choir (@BoysChoirKenya) - Traditional African male choir,
who sang at the 2009 inauguration of President Obama
-- Marissa Mohammed - Youth speaker from the Banyan Community Center
-- Native Pride Arts - Indigenous youth performers whose mission is to
educate, inspire, motivate and empower diverse communities
-- Craig and Marc Kielburger (@craigkielburger) - International activists
and co-founders of Free The Children
-- Spencer West (@spencer2thewest) - Me to We inspirational speaker, Free
The Children ambassador, author and double amputee who climbed Mt.
Kilimanjaro on his hands and in his wheelchair in June 2012
-- Molly Burke (@mollymetowe) - Visually impaired Me to We motivational
speaker who speaks out against bullying and the power of hope
-- Youth speakers, Siddharth Paari and Hannah Alper
-- Robin Wiszowaty (@robininkenya) - Me to We motivational speaker, author
and Free The Children Program Director in Ghana and Kenya
-- Chris Tse - Me to We inspirational speaker, national spoken word
champion and humanitarian
We Day is a stadium-sized educational event and a movement of young people leading change. Students can't buy a ticket to We Day, they earn it through service; by making a commitment to take action on at least one local and one global initiative of their choice as part of the year-long educational program called We Act.

The We Act program supports students and teachers with free educational resources, student-led campaigns and support materials to help turn the inspiration from We Day into sustained activation. The program enhances a school's existing service learning initiatives or sparks new ones. Since 2007, youth involved in the We Act program have raised $37 million for over 1,000 local and global causes and logged more than 9.6 million volunteer hours.

We Day and the We Act program are free of charge to the thousands of students and teachers in attendance at the event and state-wide, thanks to the generous support of sponsors led in Minnesota by Title Sponsors Cheerios, Green Giant and Yoplait along with other supporters, including Bremer Bank, the Otto Bremer Foundation, The Edward J. Phillips Family Foundation and the Carlson Family Foundation.

Stay connected:


-- Facebook: www.facebook.com/weday
-- Twitter: @craigkielburger @weday @freethechildren #WeDay #Minnesota
-- Visit: www.weday.com
For more information, please contact:
Angie Gurley

Director, PR & Publicity

416-432-9291

angie@freethechildren.com

SOURCE Free The Children

Free The Children

Web Site: http://www.weday.com


-------
Profile: intent