August 3rd, 2022

It’s no secret that the last three school years have been difficult. Not only has everyone in our community done their best to navigate the uncertainty we faced, we persevered and continued to make the most of our time together, virtually and in-person.

As we neared the end of the 2021-22 school year, we knew that everyone in Waterloo Region could benefit from a little joy and excitement. People feel better when they are dancing, no matter their ability.

Moment of Movement

In June, we asked WRDSB students, staff, families and community to pause their day for a well-deserved wellness break and join us for a moment of movement, with the goal of taking three minutes to move their body and have fun.

With that, our first-ever board-wide movement initiative, #LetsMoveWRDSB, was born!

For a few weeks leading up to the big day, classes of students, parents and community partners took the time to learn the moves to our very own Instagram Reel style dance. The song, Better When I’m Dancin’ by Meghan Trainor, helped spark that feeling, but ultimately it was the talents of Forest Heights Collegiate Institute (FHCI) student dancers that got the community energized. Watch their tutorial video!

To take the excitement to the next level, we challenged the community to help us break a Guinness World Record for most people performing a choreographed dance online simultaneously! The current record: 733 people.

#LetsMoveWRDSB Results

Drum roll, please!

On Monday, June 20 at promptly 11a.m., we had approximately 30 WRDSB schools and several community partners join us for our #LetsMoveWRDSB initiative. Thanks to each and every person who got moving, we are excited to announce that we had an unofficial participation number of 8,897 students, staff and special guests who danced with us!

Way to go, WRDSB!

 

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Thank you!

The success of this initiative would not have been possible thanks to our WRDSB family of students, staff, families and volunteers, but most importantly to our incredible community partners. We would like to send a huge thank you to Country 106.7 and the Children’s Safety Village for taking part and posting their video to Instagram, and to CTV Kitchener for their coverage.