The faculty, staff, students and board of directors all send our best wishes to you and your families for the happiest of holidays, health and success in 2022! Thank you for everything you have done to help us this year. The school continues to grow, thrive and make life better for children and families in Mongkol Borei.
Our board member Richard Howell was able to visit the school in early December and spend nearly two weeks on campus. It was a very productive trip and was the first time a board member has been able to visit in person since November 2019.
During that time, he met with principal Dara, vice principal Chenla and operations manager Sa several times and held an all-faculty meeting with a Q&A session. The teams decided that we will continue to hold leadership meetings monthly and all-faculty meetings quarterly.
To celebrate getting together in person and in thanks for the team's efforts in delivering lessons remotely during the pandemic, we met for a faculty dinner in Sisophon.
O
Our cafeteria fund continues to grow!
Our breakfast and lunch program is a lifeline for our students. We serve over 100,000 meals a year, and in order to effectively continue this critical offering, it's time to upgrade our kitchen facilities and build a more permanent structure. We need to raise a total of approximately $75,000 for the one-story version of the building or $132,000 for the two-story version. Thanks to our generous sponsors, we are already very close to our first goal. Thank you to all who have contributed! You can see the condition of the facility in the video link above and learn more by downloading the PDF brochure. We will continue to raise money through May, 2022 and then the board will determine which version we will be able to build. Any extra funds will be applied to purchasing new kitchen equipment, propane stoves, sinks, prep tables and storage units. We plan to start the process in July or August 2022 and we expect it will take six months to complete. During construction we will create a makeshift kitchen and continue to serve meals under the large covered walkway of the large (south) building. Please help us spread the word about this important project! If you would like more information, please drop us an email at giving@cambodiaacademy.org. Thank you to everyone who has generously supported this effort--your contribution will make a significant impact on our students!
Getting to know the high schools in Mongkol Borei
Richard, Dara and Sa visited Hun Sen High School and Mongkol Borei High School, and met with the principals at each location. Our students attend both of these schools, and the purpose of the visits was to get to know each school leader, tour the campuses and explore ways we can more closely work together.
Hun Sen High School has about 1,300 students and Mongkol Borei High School has nearly 2,000 students. Both schools are located on the west side of Highway 5 about 1.5 to 2 kilometers away from The Cambodia Academy.
The annual ninth grade class study trip to Angkor Wat was a big success!
It's become a wonderful tradition of The Cambodia Academy to reward our graduating students with a study trip to Angkor Wat and dinner celebration in Siem Reap. It's a great motivational tool for our students to study hard and pass the final exit exams. No one wants to miss this fun and educational outing!
For most of them, it is their first time to see Angkor Wat complex, which has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Center.
We hired a guide for the Angkor Wat portion of the trip and allowed the students to freely explore some of the other temples on their own. This year, it was Bayon Temple and the beautiful hidden gem of Preah Khan Temple.
Please watch the video above and you'll see how much the kids enjoyed the day, and how important it is to them. Rich said it was a pleasure to be able to go along with them, and he hopes to be able to do this again in future years. The trip is always funded by special donations, and we appreciate all those who made this a reality. Thank you!
Looking forward to 2022
The board of directors wishes everyone the happiest of holidays and sends our deepest thanks for your love and concern for the school and its students. Without you and your generous support, we would not be able to deliver education, nutrition and hope to children who richly deserve our help.
Looking forward to 2022, we are excited about the school's future! Our faculty team is motivated and working well together, the board is engaged, we have some big projects on the horizon, and we expect some significantly increased board time and focus "on the ground" in Cambodia beginning midyear.
We also really hope to have a big gathering of board members and donors next year in Siem Reap and Mongkol Borei, assuming it will be safe to do so, and somewhat easier to travel by that point. Please think about whether you might be able to attend, and we'll provide details on plans in future newsletters.
Thank you again from all of us! We welcome your questions or comments, and if you are thinking about end-of-year giving plans, your contribution will go a very long way to helping our deserving students.
Happy Holidays and Happy New Year 2022!