“The education of girls will change the world,” said Greg Mortensen on Sunday, Jan. 27, as the keynote speaker for the Conference for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) in Nashville, TN. Mortensen, the author of Three Cups of Tea and the founder of the Central Asia Institute which has built over 60 schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan, had not yet met GPS senior Elizabeth Wray when he uttered those words. Surely he was thinking of them later as he accepted a check for over $60,000 raised by the GPS Robin Hood committee under her leadership.
A bus load of GPS students, faculty, and family were on hand to listen as Mortensen told his story to the conference attendees. GPS sophomore Alizeh Ahmad moved to the podium after his talk and related her Pakistani roots. “CAI is giving children the education for democracy to actually work in Pakistan and more, a chance for each child to become his or her own person,” she said.
Then Elizabeth stepped up to the microphone and told the story of the GPS Robin Hood fundraiser to the thousands in attendance and surprised Mortensen with the large contribution to endow a school in Afghanistan for five years. A standing ovation celebrated the work of her committee and the generosity of the GPS “family.”
According to Mortensen, educating a girl in a country such as Afghanistan “reduces the infant mortality rate, stabilizes population growth, and raises literacy rates,” transforming the country. The GPS Robin Hood committee certainly transformed the way the traditional campus event raises money for local and national charitable organizations. Selling fair trade crafts and engaging parent, grandparents, and alumnae in the week-long event, the committee not only met their original goal but exceeded it by $10,000.