Very early on the Thursday before Mother‘s Day, two dozen or more St. Mary students join those from other Hamilton Catholic high schools in what has become an annual pilgrimage to Ottawa to stand up for the right to life of the unborn. Three busloads of students arrive at Parliament Hill in time to hear the speakers and join the March for Life through downtown Ottawa. After hearing a presentation from ?Silent No More?, the group finds its way to the their lodgings and gets settled, then gets ready to attend the Youth Rose Banquet, where they sit with local MPs and listen to a pro-Life guest speaker. After a social in the evening, the students are ready to put an end to what has been a long and exciting day.

Early on the Friday morning the group is up again, in preparation for the Campaign Life Coalition Youth Conference. With two plenary sessions and four interactive workshops running concurrently, incorporating speakers, skits and music, the morning goes quickly, and all too soon the students board the buses for the trip home. On the way, each student has the opportunity to take the microphone on the bus and share with the others what this experience has meant to them. As Andrew Lagrotteria puts it, ?By living out our school motto ?Live, love, learn?, we are on the path that God has set out for us. Following this path, we are doing God`s will, and attending March for Life gave me this opportunity to become a difference maker for the unborn. ?