Hollywood Popular Artists

Nov 14th 2012, 19:58

When the girl power special "Half the Sky" aired on PBS in October, it got a lot of people thinking about global women's rights. Olivia Wilde, who traveled to Kenya for the special, recently joined a high school screening of "Half the Sky" -- and helped raise $2,430 toward girls' education!

Olivia, who  is currently shooting a movie called "The Third Person," Tweeted:

"@half: Two 11th grade students raised $2,430 at their #HalftheSky screening (w/help from @oliviawilde)! bit.ly/ZoPWAj" NICE!

— olivia wilde (@oliviawilde) November 13, 2012

Lizzy Hibbard and Carmel Bendit-Shtull, who are eleventh graders at Manhattan's Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, put together the screening. They also invited Olivia to join them and she quickly agreed to attend.

At the screening, Olivia said, "Become activists in your own right. Volunteer. If you can, travel. We are all artists. Let's use our storytelling powers to help out these organizations. And, think big."

Lizzy and Carmel wanted to educate people on the worldwide situation women are in, and they also had a more specific goal: raising money for a school in Uganda. They're involved with Girls Learn International, a group that works to ensure all girls are able to get an education. Lizzy and Carmel are trying to raise  $10,000 for Uganda's St. Rido Junior School, and they earned $2,430 at their screening. HYFR.

They have a really great thing set up with Girls Learn International. Their school is paired up with St. Rido Junior School and they talk with teachers and students regularly to see how things are going. Amaze right? Your middle or high school can do the same! Through Girls Learn International, you can pair up with a school in the developing world. Like Olivia said, you can become an activist in your own right!

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