Kresge Nuptials Interlochen has played an important part in another aspect of Beth Bigler’s life. This June, Beth will marry a fellow four-year Arts Academy graduate, Richard Baughman (Academy 96-00), who was a percussion major. Beth and Richard met at the Academy in their freshman year and, according to Beth "have been inseparable ever since." Beth and Richard will exchange their wedding vows in Kresge Auditorium on June 3. While there have been weddings on campus before, this will be the first wedding to take place on the stage at Kresge. Beth and Richard have just moved from New York City to Los Angeles, where Beth will continue to raise money for The Amelia Project. She is also completing an MFA in dramatic writing at Goddard College.

Camp and Academy alumna Beth Bigler dreams of building a farm in Africa - not for herself, but for an extraordinary woman and group of children she met there while studying in Cape Town in 2002. In a township called Mfuleni, Beth came across a woman named Amelia Poswa, and she was deeply moved by the work Amelia was doing to help runaway, abandoned, abused and orphaned children in her town.

Wondering what she could do to help, Beth, then an undergraduate student at NYU’s Film School, decided to put her writing talent to work by helping raise money to aid Amelia and the children she cared for in her modest home. When Beth returned to New York, she created a film that can be viewed online about Mama Amelia and the children in her care.

She also began a series of fundraising initiatives and developed a website (www.theameliaproject.com) that contains pictures of children, the film, future plans and a way to make donations of money and supplies.

Today, Amelia Poswa cares for more than 100 children, ranging in age from one to 20. Helping them has also become an integral part of Beth’s life. Beth is currently working on obtaining official non-profit status for The Amelia Project and has embarked on a fundraising campaign with an initial goal to raise $1 million in the next two years.

Since Beth’s fund-raising efforts began, The Amelia Project has raised enough money to pay for tuition, school supplies and uniforms for all the school-aged children at Amelia’s. In addition, enough money was raised to provide food for six months, raincoats and rain boots for all the children, new blankets for all the beds and to do some repairs to the home’s roof.

Beth, who attended All-State in 1993 and 1994 and graduated from the Academy in 1999, feels that her experience at Interlochen helped to both inspire her to create The Amelia Project and deal with the many challenges she has faced since the effort began.

"Beginning a non-profit organization in a country 10,000 miles away in a completely different culture is very challenging," said Beth. "Interlochen taught me not to give up and the value of completing and succeeding."

She said The Amelia Project faces many obstacles, "but, thanks to Interlochen, I know how to persevere. It is that ability that has sustained me through much of this project." Beth also credits her many wonderful teachers at Interlochen with encouraging her to reflect on not just her art, but important issues facing the broader world community.