On January 29, Britannia Secondary was ground zero for the kick off of Free the Children's Give Where You Live educational program. The new national program is designed to teach young people how to translate their passion and ideas for their community into real change.

Supported by TELUS, organizers say Give Where You Live will educate, encourage and empower young Canadians to identify social issues and take action on them to make positive change in their local communities. Britannia was the first stop for the national campaign that will visit 40 BC middle and secondary schools and aims to connect with 150,000 youth across Canada by 2016.

The new curriculum teaches students about the various forms of philanthropy and highlights the importance of corporate social responsibility in the 21st century. Each participating school will be encouraged to identify causes in their community that individual students, classes or entire schools can support. Once groups have developed a strategy, they will have the opportunity to apply for a $1,000 charitable grant from TELUS to bring their initiative to life.

"Growing up, my friends and I were always searching for ways we could help get involved and make a difference in our community, but they were difficult to find," said Craig Kielburger, founder of Free The Children. "The Give Where you Live program will provide our schools and their students with all the tools, information and support they ever wanted to help spark change and support their local community, helping them to become future leaders and change makers."