Evanston Teen Launches Fundraising Platform For Girls' Education

EVANSTON, IL - From Educate Girls Everywhere: When 15-year-old Brynn Aaronson recently visited Belize, she was struck by more than the country’s pristine beaches and ancient Mayan ruins. She learned that while over 90 percent of Belizean girls countrywide attend primary school, only about half go on to high school. That shocking statistic led her to form Educate Girls Everywhere, a student-run platform with a mission to raise awareness and financial support of non-profit organizations that work to educate girls around the world.

Educate Girls Everywhere just launched its first campaign, a monthlong online fundraising effort called Change Her World. Profits will benefit the Campaign For Female Education (CamFed), an international non-profit organization, and, specifically, CamFed’s work in Zambia, where girls experience high rates of exclusion from education because of extreme poverty. Zambia is ranked 13th out of 15 African countries for literacy and numeracy by the Southern African Consortium for Measuring Education Quality.

A dedicated web destination, www.educategirlseverywhere.org, offers visitors nationwide the opportunity through May 6, 2019, to buy Limited Edition Change Her World-themed sweatshirts, T-shirts, tank tops, and laptop stickers.

“Only when I saw firsthand how many girls in Belize were not getting educated past primary school did I realize how lucky I am to have the constant opportunity to learn here in the United States,” said Aaronson, a sophomore at Evanston Township High School. “The girls I met – all they wanted was to be able to learn. Their dream was to get an education. To become a doctor, or a teacher. To work in their community to make a difference for the people they love. Their dream felt unreachable. I wanted to help.”

After developing a service project that raised enough funds to send two Belizean girls to high school, which is not free in Belize, Aaronson knew she eventually wanted to make a difference on a broader scale.

More than 130 million girls worldwide lack access to quality schooling, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), a figure believed to be vastly underestimated due to many countries’ lack of data.

Aaronson hopes Change Her World will generate at least $5,000 for CamFed Zambia.

“Everyone deserves a chance to become the person she wants to be,” she said. “I hope people of all ages are inspired to give a girl in another country a chance to change her world through education.”

Visit www.educategirlseverywhere.org to help make a lasting impact in the life of a Zambian girl. Change Her World products, which are available for purchase to customers in the contiguous continental United States, will go into production after the campaign ends on May 6th, 2019, with expected delivery to customers before June 10th.