A group of 3^rd grade students at AIS Vienna have already started to realize that their voice and their ideas can make a world of difference.

Four 3^rd grade students in Mr. Sextons class decided on their own that they wanted to do something special for Valentines Day for their peers. They decided that they wanted to teach their classmates a song on the xylophone while raising money for a good cause.

The girls, Elsa, Abigail, Livia, and Alex organized time in the music classroom from their music teacher and then spoke to and posted signups for their third-grade classmates. Everyone who signed up came to the music room during two recesses in the week of Valentines Day and were taught a song on the xylophone. The girls then baked cookies and brownies at home and sold them at the performance to collect over 300 euros for Mamat Orangutan Hilfe, an Austrian organization that sponsors the Sintang Orangutan Center in Borneo.

The actions of these girls inspired students in another third-grade class to create a Garden Club with their Science teacher and are currently growing plants in the greenhouse in the outdoor classroom. 

Mamat Orangtan Hilfe can be found online at www.orangutanhilfe.at and was founded by AIS employee Karin Hackl. As mentioned, their work sponsors the Orangutan Center in Borneo that can be found online at https://soc.or.id/

The center is from activist Willie Smits and Wille sent the girls a personal message from Borneo. Please watch the video HERE.

More information about Willie can be found on Wikipedia HERE and you can follow him on Twitter HERE.