On Friday, October 10th, Moorestown Friends School junior Margaux Vellucci performed a piano piece at the United Nations.

The United Nations promotes The International Day of the Girl (IDG), which is a movement focused on promoting the rights of girls all around the world, as well as getting together to “highlight, discuss, celebrate and ultimately advance girls’ lives and opportunities across the globe,” according to the IDG website.

Vellucci was selected by the IDG committee to perform at the 2nd annual Girls Speak Out event. Margaux was given the opportunity to audition to play at this event through the Alice Paul Institute (API) Girls Advisory Council, which is connected to many other women’s organizations throughout the country. Vellucci said the API Girl’s Advisory Council is “a group of teenage girls who get together to talk about girl’s rights and opportunities.” After receiving an email from the API requesting for girls to “submit poems, monologues, and videos of when they most feel empowered as a girl,” Vellucci sent a video of herself playing piano and earned an invitation to play at the UN.

Of her performance of Nocturne in D Minor by Tchaikovsky, Vellucci said, “My performance provided a moment of beauty in an event that was filled with girls’ stories of abuse, struggle for education, and teenage marriage. The music was an uplifting moment of the more positive points in a girl’s life.” Margaux treasured her unique experience to visit the United Nations as an honored guest and see the women from the UN, all accomplished and well-traveled diplomats.

“They witnessed and shared with us some of the challenges of young girls around the world,” Vellucci said. Although Vellucci was not nervous for her performance at the event, she did say she was excited to see everyone come together for this celebration.

At the 2nd Girl’s Speak Out event, the main topic was “Innovating for Girl’s Education.” Many girls and girl-serving organizations came together to celebrate the International Day of the Girl Child, recognized by the United Nations on October 11th. The IDG 2013 sparked 11 Months of Action, where groups that promoted girl’s rights led in ways to help the cause for 11 months of the year.

To learn more or get involved, visit the IDG twitter at @IDG2014 or the website, http://dayofthegirlsummit.org.