Our first-ever YPI Grow Out Forum was a big success!
Welcoming close to 1000 students and teachers from across Ontario to Toronto’s Sony Centre, our morning kicked off with a welcome from MC Kelly Lovell, followed by an empowering address from man-of-many-talents, Warren Coughlin.
We heard from Jonah and Emily – two awesome YPI Alumni who each created some really special videos as part of their YPI experience.
Local rabble-rouser Dave Meslin shared his story and his knowledge, and was followed by the charming Sahil Dhingra (https://www.facebook.com/groups/thepotentialists) who brought students together with a cool Connection Challenge.
Inspirational dance troops Illskillz and Toronto B-Girl Movement battled it out on stage to close off the morning, and kept things lively during lunch, where we welcomed over 100 guests who would share in the afternoon portion of our YPI Grow Out Forum programming.
A mob of talented performers from the Etobicoke School of the Arts “Splash” program took to the stage to open the afternoon with a bang, and were followed by some personal words of wisdom and thanks from our own Julie Toskan-Casale.
We then turned the YPI final presentation format on its head with our first-ever YPI Social Sector Snapshot, which assembled seven presenters to each speak on a different social issue that affects local communities. (More on this in an upcoming post!)
The unwaveringly inspirational Alvin Law joined us next to remind our audience that “there is no such word as can’t,” and we took a closer look at the YPI experience as seen through the eyes of a student, a charity rep, and a YPI educator, whose stories were interspersed with some heartfelt musical numbers.
And just when we thought the day couldn’t possibly get any better, we were joined by a surprise musical guest, JRDN (!!!), who got the whole crowd on their feet with his show-stopping finale! The pitch-perfect ending to an equally perfect day.
A ‘huge-mongous’ thanks to all the students, teachers, guests, sponsors, staff and volunteers who came together on Tuesday to help us make our YPI Grow Out Forum an unforgettable experience!
You can view the Facebook Album here.
