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‘The Bachelor’ Sean Lowe to speak Sunday

By Kelly Higginson, For The Miami Student

Former Bachelor star Sean Lowe will be speaking to a sold out crowd at 6 p.m. Sunday in Wilks Theater of Armstrong Student Center.

Lowe's visit is sponsored by The Wells Project, as well as donations from the Christian-affiliated sorority, Kappa Phi, and the women's a cappella group, Treble Makers.

The last few seats were filled less than eight hours after tickets went live.

"That has never happened before, so that was really cool for us to see the growth with the past year," said Jordan Griebner, president of the Wells Project.

It's no surprise: Lowe has been a fan favorite since he came in third place on The Bachelorette in 2012. He was cast as the star of The Bachelor in 2013, and married Catherine Giudici from the show a year later.

Lowe has also been a contestant on ABC's Dancing With the Stars, where he came in sixth place with his partner Peta Murgatroyd.

Proceeds from the event, which will come from the recommended $10 admittance donation, go toward the Wells Project's charity.

The Wells Project is a national nonprofit organization that partners with Living Water International. When the money is collected from each fundraiser, Living Water will use trained and educated people within the host communities to build water wells.

In the past, the Wells Project has invited Christian artists to campus to perform, but Griebner wanted to draw a wider audience with Lowe.

"We know that many people know who Sean Lowe is from the Bachelor, so we thought we would try to reach a different audience to share the message about the water crisis," Griebner said.

Sean Lowe, a Christian himself, will be sharing stories about his faith at the event.

The Wells Project has done multiple campaigns to raise awareness about their cause, including the 10 Days campaign that encourages participants to drink water rather than buying other drinks, and donating the money saved to the Wells Project.

"The whole point is that you are reallocating your money to something that is a better cause," Griebner said. "It could be Starbucks, pop, juice, and the money you spend on those drinks will be donated to help build the water wells."

Junior Natalie Durot has participated in the 10 Days campaign for the past two years. She hopes that Lowe will help spread their mission further.

"I'm really excited that Sean Lowe is coming because I think a lot of girls will want to go see him and hopefully they will hear all about the water crisis and how they can help," Durot said.

According to Griebner, raising awareness is not the only mission for the Wells Project.

"Our second mission is to share our faith with the campus and the world," Griebner said. "We believe that giving clean water to other people is a way of doing that."

First-year Jeffrey Gord joined the Wells Project after hearing about it at Mega Fair. Gord plans the social events and hangouts for the members every week. Throughout the year, members like Gord in the Wells organization will carry 50-pound jerry cans around campus full of water.

"It's a great way to raise awareness because so many people will ask you why you are carrying it and then they learn all about the water crisis," Gord said.

The Miami chapter of The Wells Project has built two wells from the campaign that began just two years ago.

"We've had Miami students physically go and build them," Griebner said. "Two years ago was Guatemala and last year was El Salvador."

At the end of May, four students will head to El Salvador to drill a well for a community, using money donated from Lowe's visit to campus.