Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Cambodian teens could be 'pioneers'

Charya Mom

Kuchsa Dy
01/08/2007
By MICHAEL LAFLEUR, Sun Staff
Lowell Sun (Lowell, Mass., USA)

LOWELL -- When he learned that two Cambodian teens had won gold and silver medals at the second annual International Junior Science Olympiad in Indonesia in December 2005, Tooch Van knew he had to do something special for them.

Van, the international student adviser at Middlesex Community College, contacted like-minded thinkers in the city's Cambodian-American community, and they soon reached a consensus: Bring the teens from Cambodia to Lowell.

The idea is to bring the science whizzes to Lowell so they can complete the final two years of their high-school education at Lowell High School, spend two years at Middlesex Community College and complete an undergraduate college degree at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.

Kuchsa Dy "They have done a wonderful job with very limited resources," Van said.

At issue are Kuchsa Dy, 16, and Charya Mom, 15. The difficulties of the 12-hour time difference between Cambodia and Lowell and the lack of phones in the teens' homes made them unavailable for comment for this story.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I Wish they can come here soon, so they can start a new life with good future.
Please help other genius children too. Those children will be good for Khmer Next Generation.
Thanks.

Anonymous said...

It is a good idea to give them such a wonderful opportunity. I hope they can have a better educaiton there in USA.
BUT PLEASE DO NOT STEAL OUR BEST STUDENT TO USA AND ASK THEM TO WORK FOR USA.
Pls convince them to come back and work in Cambodia.

I wish them all the best...

Anonymous said...

With my deepest thank to you Mr. Van for your commitment to help them. They are thr pride of our people since they rise from the poverty.

Anonymous said...

We all should help each other. It does not matter where we live, as long as wer are from Cambodia, we are Khmer. Long live Khmer People !

Anonymous said...

Thanks God there is one Cambodian like you in the US. Thank you & God Bless Tooch Van!!!!!!!