Whiz Kid: Ashley Kelley

How awesome is Ashley Kelley?

She's had her picture taken with rock stars Justin Bieber and the Jonas Brothers backstage after seeing their concerts.

Then she got up close and personal with a baby elephant named Sites when she helped build a school for children of the Maasai Mara tribe in Kenya.

Last May, the  third grader flew to Nairobi with her parents and a small group of her mother's co-workers whose company's philanthropic efforts had adopted a village there through Free The Children.

 "We wanted to show Ashley the world outside of New Canaan and Fairfield County," said her dad, Jack Kelley.

For ten days, Ashley worked alongside adults in the village of Oloosiyoi, sometimes in the rain, mixing cement and laying brick.  

"Building was really fun," she said, "because I liked seeing the smiles on the kids' faces."

Ashley was the youngest person to ever go on such a such a trip with Free the Children. The organization has built schools in forty-five countries with its mission of freeing children from poverty, exploitation and the notion they "cannot" change the world. 

Founder, Craig Kielburger called Ashley "an extraordinary young lady," when he to students and their parents at the  in November.

Dozens of young Maasai school children wanted to talk, play and touch her skin and especially her hair because they had never seen an American girl. 

"They reacted kind of like I was different," she said.

Ashley's Hannah Montana t-shirt, with a button that when pressed sang one of her songs, fascinated the kids.

"They chased me to press the button about a million times," she said.

Her video shows while in Kenya, she adopted a 200-lb. orphaned elephant baby, whose mother had been killed by poachers. She was given a goat as a thank-you gift from the village where she built the school and was taught how to use traditional weapons, like a bow and arrow, by a Maasai warrior who had killed seven lions.

She returned to New Canaan, fired up to help others. For her eighth birthday on September 20, she asked her friends to contribute to Free the Children in lieu of giving her presents. $350 was collected and used to buy vaccines for a new medical clinic she visited in Kenya. 

Ashley Kelley is starting a Free the Children club at South School, with the support of Principal Joanne Rocco, to get her classmates involved in helping kids locally and overseas.

She has been featured on News 12 Connecticut and, with her parents, is helping to expand Free the Children clubs into schools across the United States, including and here in New Canaan.

The key to Kelley's awesomeness is her passion to help other kids. She has learned that, as different as people on the other side of the world may be, there's always something alike that they share.

She said she follows South School's three "R's"  -- respect, responsibility and being ready to learn, listen and impact the world.  

Over in Kenya, Maasai kids just may be following the three "R"s in their new school.