On Friday, November 30, Villa Maria Academy hosted the first ever “Melodies for Malala” open mic night. This event was in honor of Malala, a Pakistani girl who was shot because she spoke up for women’s education rights.

Villa senior, Katie Yeagley, hosted the event. When asked what her motives were in regards to coming up with the idea, Katie responded, “Well basically our principal made an announcement about the shooting of Malala and that if any of us had ideas about what we could do to respond to the problem, then to let her know; so I thought of having an open mic night coffee house where all of our proceeds would support girls in need of an education. At an all-girls school where we are all so privileged, I feel it’s our responsibility to do something for those who were not blessed with the same opportunities.”

All proceeds from the event were donated to the “Because I am a Girl” foundation, which promotes universal education for women. The coffee house theme was able to happen thanks to baked goods prepared by students, faculty, and parents, the free time given by Villa students to decorate, and a very generous donation of free coffee from Starbucks Coffee.

This fundraiser included performances by Malvern students John Monday, Alex Tran, Sean Irvine, Chad Rafferty, Matt Magargee, Brendan Paparillo, and Peter Schiavone, students from Villa Maria and Devon Preparatory School. But students were not the only ones inspired to help raise enthusiasm for this worthy cause; Villa’s own Sister Danielle got up on stage alongside Christine Czyzewski, one of Villa’s students from the junior class, to perform the song “For Good” from Broadway’s musical, Wicked.

At the end of the night, along with all the generous donations, Villa was able to raise $2,070.00 for the “Because I am a Girl” foundation. Katie says that hopefully there will be a similar event for another cause soon!