Will.i.am Gives To NZ Kids

During a quick stopover in New Zealand to play a private club party for men’s clothing brand Hallensteins, will.i.am made a surprise appearance May 9 at an East Auckland primary school toting a cheque for NZ$100,000 ($83,000).

Through digital literacy charity the Manaiakalani Education Trust, nine schools in impoverished areas can provide information technology to students of mainly Maori and Pasifika descent.

The Black Eyed Peas member told the kids of his own upbringing in the East L.A. projects with his single mother, and urged them to become scientists, mathematicians and engineers to compete in the technological future.

“As the world advances, kids in inner cities are left behind and not even given the tools to compete in the future that we are walking into,” he said.

He revealed he plans to study computer science in September, either at MIT or California Institute of the Arts