Exeter, NH (May 8, 2008)—Phillips Exeter Academy junior Cassandra Moulton of Rye, NH, and the Academy’s Exeter Social Service Organization (ESSO) Art Club will host a fundraiser this Friday, May 9, in the Mayer Art Center. The exhibit, which will be held on the second floor from 7- 9 p.m., is located on Tan Lane. Moulton’s work will be on display and available for sale. The public is invited.

During a community service trip this past summer to Tanzania, East Africa, with Rustic Pathways, Moulton was one of 18 high school students who spent two weeks volunteering at the Nkoakirika Primary School in the Poli Village. Rustic Pathways (http://www.rusticpathways.com/) is an organization that offers unique travel experiences to high school students to participate in community service and safari adventure.

Besides spending much of her time refurbishing the school; sandpapering and painting walls; cementing floors and installing windows; Moulton also played games with many of the 430 students, aged 6-16, taught the students English and learned the local language, Kiswahili. She photographed many of the trip’s activities; depicting what she saw and experienced.

“Although we made amazing progress, there is still so much at the school that needs to be improved. It lacks so many basic items, such as chalk, pens and pencils, and books. The students only have one outfit to last them for months; the bathroom is a small hut that has become dilapidated and needs major renovations; and the school’s roof is cracked and had begun to cave in when we left last summer,” Moulton says.  

Proceeds will benefit the Nkoakirika Primary School, exclusively to be used this summer to continue renovations with a new group of volunteer students who will travel once again to the Poli Village.

A complete list of upcoming events is available on the Phillips Exeter Academy public events line at (603) 777-4309 and on our website at http://www.exeter.edu/. To learn more about ESSO, call (603) 777-3584 or visit http://www.exeter.edu/student_life/85_527.aspx. For more information about upcoming exhibits, visit the PEA arts’ events page. For directions, call (603) 777-4330.

Phillips Exeter Academy is a coeducational, independent preparatory school that was founded in 1781 and originated the system of instruction known as Harkness teaching in 1931. In the spirit of its charter to foster both goodness and knowledge, a Phillips Exeter Academy education will now be free to any admitted student whose family income is $75,000 or less. Committed to educational excellence, the school meets all demonstrated financial aid needs of its admitted students, making the Academy effectively “need blind.” The diverse student body comes from a wide variety of geographic, economic, racial and religious backgrounds approximately from 45 states, the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands and 23 foreign countries.