Student Paige Dellerman is bringing clean water to poor communities throughout the world, thanks to her bangle. She wears it with pride, and should. How often does a college student get to design a bracelet for the jewelry giant Alex and Ani ?

Her journey to gemology – and philanthropic pursuits – began at East Greenwich High School when she had to come up with a school project her senior year. Instead of baking cookies, she decided to raise money for Living Water, a Texas-based nonprofit that provides clean drinking water to developing countries.

She could have gone door-to-door with a donation jar, but wanted to do something more ambitious – and satisfy her entrepreneurial spirit. On a whim, she fired off an email to the Cranston-based jewelry company: Can I design a bracelet for your Charity by Design line? The response: You bet.

Not only did she create the bangle – a single blue teardrop that looks like a drop of water – she also wrote the “meaning card’’ that comes with it, remembering why she launched the project to begin with. The bracelet, she wrote, exemplifies “compassion.’’

Twenty percent of the sales go to Living Water. So far, more than 200,000 bangles have been sold, raising a walloping $775,000. The 21-year-old junior even visited Guatemala last summer to dig wells in rural villages. The children rewarded her with hugs.

“To give these kids clean water for the first time was one of the best moments of my life,’’ she says. “There are no words to describe it.’’

We can think of a few: The joy of giving back.