A short video made for a Black History Month assembly has turned into much more for a group of Weston Collegiate students.Every year teacher Anna Price-Farago and students from the school's African Canadian Leadership Committee (ACLC) create a video to be shown at the assembly. In the past this video has always focused on civil rights icon Martin Luther King, but this year the students had a new inspiration: Barack Obama.
"He did something everyone thought was impossible," said Devante Burey, 16, of Obama. "To become president and leader of one of the most powerful countries in the world, it's amazing."
Burey performs in the six-minute video, titled The Obama Song, which features students singing lyrics based on Obama's Jan. 20 inauguration speech.
"We find Barack inspiring because he came so far," said Joel Reid, 15. "He showed us there's nothing you can't do with hard work and determination."
After positive response from the school and local community, the Obama Song was posted on YouTube, where it has been viewed more than 6,000 times. The students, who have joined together as the Weston to the White House (W2W) Crew, hope to get it all the way to Obama himself.
"We want to show Obama he has support here, not just in America," said Tyrell Cunningham, 16, another W2W member.
Price-Farago echoed that sentiment in the video's introduction.
"This moment in history is bigger than a presidency," she said. "It means that the temperature is changing. We are rising above racism and warming up to a world full of love and passion rather than hate and skepticism. We may not be American citizens, but we are citizens of this world."
That theme is something the students are taking to heart more than ever after seeing how a short video they created could have such an impact on their school and community.
"With everything the economy is going through and everything that's happened in the past, this is one of the hardest generations for sure," Burey said. "We're lazy, I have to admit, but we have the talent to make a difference. We have so much potential, any one of us could become Prime Minister."
That talent and potential is evident in the video, which was shot in one day using a Mac computer for recording vocals, creating the backing music and editing. Now the students are wondering what else is possible, and crediting their inspiration to Obama.
"He gives us so much hope," said Emily Putnam, another member of W2W. "Now we're thinking if we did this in one day, imagine what we can do in a week."
Although the W2W crew hasn't quite made it to the White House, they did manage to get the video to Konrad Ng, husband of Obama's half-sister Maya.
"Maya and I watched the work and thought it showed terrific initiative and talent from your students,' he wrote in a letter to the group.
Although Ng said they wouldn't be seeing Obama anytime soon, the W2W crew isn't giving up. They're planning to send the video to news outlets and shows like Ellen Degeneres.
For Price-Farago these efforts aren't as much about reaching Obama as creating opportunity.
"I hope people will see the video and recognize the talents of these students. They all have dreams to become musicians or actors, I'm hoping people will see that and help them just because they can, because they want to."
The Obama Song and biographies of all 17 W2W students can be viewed online at www.pricework.weebly.com.