More than 80 American students of the Academy for International
Education (AIB) engaged themselves in social projects for the Bonn
community.
Bonn, 04/07/2014: The Academy for International Education (AIB) and more
than 80 American students, spending a semester abroad from January to
mid-May, organized the „AIB Charity Weekend“ in order to show their
appreciation for Bonn's hospitality.
The idea originates from Texas A&M University, USA, where students
participate in the Big Event, every year. Following their slogan: „One
Big Day, One Big Thanks, One Big Event“ 20,000 students set out to
engage in charitable projects in their local community. AIB and its
American partner universities, Texas A&M University, Penn State
University and Loyola Marymount University, decided to follow their
example and implement the charity day here in Bonn too. A wonderful
addition were the two alumni students from Texas A&M University who came
all the way from the military base in Ramstein to support their fellow
Aggies with the International Big Event. On Saturday, April 5th these
young Americans assisted in 13 different projects in Bonn and its
surrounding area. Most of the projects aimed at brigthening up and
improving various parks and gardens for organizations who lacked the
time and resources to do it themselves.
In the guest house of the Beethoven Haus in Rolandseck, called „Villa
Wasmuth“, one team set to work to prepare the green spaces for the
upcoming spring together with Malte Boecker, the director of the
Beethoven Haus.The British artist Mark Alexander, who lives there at the
moment, worked alongside them. Mr. Boecker, who had invited all AIB
students to a concert in the chamber music hall earlier, explains how
the collaboration with AIB was established: „The city of Bonn
volunteering center called our attention to AIB's offer and I thought
that it would be a great idea to invite the students over to put our
gardening project into practice. The six students did a fabulous job. It
was a fantastic day for us!“
Another team spent their day in a retirement home, the „Haus am
Redoutenpark“, where the students were invited to a barbecue after their
work was done. Detlef Spoetter, the director, was pleased with their
work uttering: „I admire the students' hard work. Now, our senior
citizens can actually enjoy our newly planted garden. We hope that we
will be able to cooperate with AIB in a similar project next year.“
Most importantly, the students themselves enjoyed the experience. Erin
Zebrowski (participant in the Biosciences Study Abroad Program from
Texas A&M University, age 20) states:
„We have been doing this in
College Station for 28 years and it is great to be part of the first
International Big Event“.
In line with the theme of the Big Event, to take action together and do
good, students and AIB staff took part in the Bonn Marathon one day
later, to run for donations. While participating in the Bonn Marathon,
41 AIB-runners have raised more than 1000 € to support the Marol
Academy, a NGO in South Sudan that supports educational projects for
underprivileged children and is affiliated with the AIB ever since its
founding in 2008.
Due to its great success, the AIB hopes to continue with the AIB Charity
Weekend in future years.
