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.
