Colter’s 5th graders presented Mortenson with a symbolic $2,000 check for a previous donation students made to the nonprofit with funds from the 5th grade’s annual fall apple sale. An individual student gave Mortenson an additional check for $200 from his grandmother, who had read Three Cups of Tea and wanted to contribute to Mortenson’s cause. Two students spoke about the class’s reasons for contributing to the organization, saying: “We felt the best way to change the world is for kids to help kids.”

Mr. Mortenson asked students to think for a moment about things that we have in America that children in other countries around the world might not have. iPods, clean water, and schools were a few items mentioned. When he asked what other countries have that Americans might not have, students chimed in with the it’s-almost-spring-break inspired”warm weather,” and a more serious presence in many children’s lives; war.

Mr. Mortenson showed students a DVD narrated by his daughter, which explained a child-centered fund-raising effort called “Pennies for Peace.” She describes places “where a penny can buy a pencil, and enough pennies can build a school;” rural Pakistan and Afghanistan. Mortenson has started 55 schools in these areas, and his presence in our school was a quiet reminder to be globally conscious, and to take advantage of the benefits of education that we enjoy so freely in America.