Milton Students Visit Cambodian School

Students from Milton mingle with students from the school they helped to build in Cambodia.

Dec 15, 2008
By Jim Hamill
WNEP-TV (Pennsylvania, USA)

Click here to watch the news video about Milton Students Visiting Cambodian School

High school students from central Pennsylvania are back from Cambodia. The teens saw first hand the school they helped build by raising thousands of dollars for the cause in Northumberland County.

In a little more than four months Milton's Team Cambodia raised more than $30,000. Every penny went to a struggling village in the poor Asian country, creating a place for hundreds of children to learn.

"We did it. It took us four and a half months and we made a huge impact on a small village," senior J.C. Reich said.

Reich and fellow senior Larissa Luu talked about their recent trip to Cambodia and their part in Team Cambodia's major accomplishment; the brand-new school.

"When we saw all the kids there it just made everything so much more worthwhile because they were so happy to just have this little school building," Luu said.

Reich, Luu and about 30 other students devoted practically everything to making the Cambodian school a reality. It was their teacher's idea but the students made it their mission.

Finally last week, a group from Milton went to Cambodia for the school's dedication.

It was, no doubt, a life-changing event for both students from Milton and that tiny village in Cambodia.

"For generations to come, hopefully that school will make a difference in lives of this very, very poor community," teacher Mike Conn said.

Team Cambodia raised thousands of dollars by selling hundreds of t-shirts and students said now that the school in Cambodia has been built, it could not have been done without a lot of support from the local community.

"Thirty-thousand dollars, it was a huge community project. It was a group effort had a large impact for the effort that went into it," Reich added.

Both Reich and Luu hope Team Cambodia's work goes far beyond the three-room school, teaching children in the war-torn country how to help others and, in turn, themselves.

"Walking through the children, they were clapping and applauding. It was basically a heroes' welcome and it was something that will be engrained in my mind forever," Luu added.

With all that money from Team Cambodia the school now has a well for fresh water. It also has solar panels to power computers and internet access so Mr. Conn said his students will be sure to email back and forth.

Team Cambodia tops $30,000 goal

Ryan Wolfe, center, gives a check to Michael Conn for Team Cambodia. Looking on is Tony Snyder, of the Milton Moose. (Photo: Wayne Laepple/The Daily Item)

Teachers, students, community raise money to build school

Milton Area Senior High School social studies teacher Michael Conn was ecstatic as he accepted a check for $335 from Ryan Wolfe.

May 15, 2008
By Wayne Laepple
The Daily Item (Sunbury, Pennsylvania, USA)

MILTON -- Milton Area Senior High School social studies teacher Michael Conn was ecstatic as he accepted a check for $335 from Ryan Wolfe.

That check, presented Tuesday night, brought total donations to Team Cambodia to $30,635, surpassing the $30,000 goal set for the fund drive in December. The money will be used to build and staff a school in Cambodia.

The fund actually went over the top on Friday, when a benefit concert was held in the high school auditorium, but the additional money is welcome nonetheless, Conn said.

The check Wolfe gave to Conn represents the proceeds from "Milton Idol," a contest held at the Jungle, the teen club at the Milton Moose Family Center.

"We raised these funds in four months and 26 days," Conn said. "There were a lot of people who were skeptical that we'd be able to raise this kind of money in Milton."

"I'm proud of the kids, and I'm proud of the community," he continued. "This project has had a galvanizing effect."

Conn said additional money that may come in will be used to offset the cost for several students to make the trip to Cambodia in December, when a delegation from Milton will go to Cambodia to help dedicate the school, which is under construction in a village near the Mekong River. The school will be called the Milton School.

The travel company, American Council for International Studies, has waived a number of fees and charges for students and will include all meals, Conn said. The group will travel to Vietnam and Cambodia for nine days, from Dec. 4-13.

Last summer, Conn visited Cambodia and was moved by the poverty and lack of education in that country. He learned of the Educate Cambodia project and found that many schools were built there with donations from other countries, but only one school had been built with money from the United States.

He decided to try to raise funds in Milton to build a school, and with help of students and teachers throughout the district and contributions from hundreds of people throughout the region, that goal has been met.

Students step up to support Team Cambodia

SUPPORTERS OF EDUCATION OVERSEAS — In the middle, from left, Team Cambodia member junior Krysta Allen, high school history teacher Mike Conn and team president junior Larissa Luu, are surrounded by the kids of Mary DeLong’s first-grade class at Baugher Elementary School. The kids, through fund-raisers and other contributions, raised $1,300 towards the $30,000 goal to build a school for children in Cambodia. It is the largest single donation to date, Conn said, holding an enlarged version of the check. (Photo by Jeff Shaffer)

Fri Feb 15, 2008
By Jeff Shaffer
Standard-Journal (Milton, Pennsylvania, USA)

MILTON — Team Cambodia now knows where the future Milton school will be, and they’re that much closer to meeting their goal thanks to the growing support from the community.

The student group is looking to raise $30,000 to construct a school in Cambodia.

The generosity of the project was highlighted Thursday in Mary DeLong’s first-grade class at Baugher Elementary School.

Through fund-raisers at home, like doing extra chores, giving up dessert or holding a read-a-thon, and at school, like raffles, bake and hot chocolate sales and paying 50 cents to eat in the classroom on Fridays, as well as other contributions, the students managed to raise a tremendous $1,300.

“Kindness is very important to me and we do lots of things in our classroom and around school to show that we care about people,” DeLong said of the fund-raisers. “Project Cambodia was just taking it to a much bigger level.”

In a letter sent to parents announcing the fund-raiser, DeLong shared that she was interested in the activity because she has a niece who was adopted from an orphanage in Cambodia when she was just 9 months old.

“I can’t imagine what her life would have been like if she had not become part of our family,” she said in the letter.

That is why Mike Conn, a Milton High Area School history teacher, and his team want to make a difference in that country. Conn visited Cambodia, a nation torn apart by a ruthless regime and decades of civil war, last summer with his daughter and other educators as part of a southeast Asia tour. He returned with a heavy heart, and with the blessings of the district, began working with students to raise funds and improve educational opportunities in the impoverished country.

Conn recently learned the school will be constructed in the Kampong Cham Province, in southcentral Cambodia. The province runs along the Mekong River and northeast of Phnom Penh, the capital city.

Following the donation the first-graders, who were all sporting “Educate Cambodia” T-shirts provided by retired Milton teachers, administrators and friends, Conn said Team Cambodia has collected $12,000.

“I am proud of each of you, the children you help will have opportunities they otherwise wouldn’t have,” Conn said to the students following the check presentation. “You’ll now know for the rest of your lives that you helped build a school.”

According to Conn, the amount given by the class was $800 larger than any other single donation. It doesn’t include the ongoing T-shirt sales. He added he was very amazed by the amount.

Regardless of the size of the donation, all are important. He told the class contributions have been coming in from across the school district and the Valley. One time he received $2 from an elderly lady that included a note. It read along the line of “I don’t have much to give, but I wanted to be a part of this,” Conn said.
“The progress has been very good, we’re over a third of the way there, and we’re still waiting to hear back from a number of groups,” Conn said.

There are several upcoming activities in support of Team Cambodia’s efforts.

Next Wednesday, the physical education department will hold a volleyball tournament at the high school during Club Period. From 4 to 6 p.m. on March 1, there will be a spaghetti dinner in the high school cafeteria. Tickets are $6 for adults and $3 for children, free for under age 6. They go on sale starting next Tuesday and can be obtained by seeing any high school student council member or contacting Conn or Kellie Brouse at the school, 742-7611.

Other upcoming events include: a penny war competition among the high school students sponsored by the Key Club, a sandwich sale sponsored by the high school student council, and a penny drive at Baugher Elementary School. In the spring the following activities are planned: a dance-a-thon at the middle school, a cut-a-thon at A Cut Above Salon in Lewisburg, and a concert at Milton’s Alumni Field.

Conn and Team Cambodia student president Larissa Luu will be making a presentation on Cambodia and the project at 7 p.m. Wednesday at First Presbyterian Church, Milton.

Jeff Shaffer: 570-742-9671
jeff@standard-journal.com

Students Work to Build School in Cambodia

Feb 7, 2008
By Norm Jones
WNEP TV station (Pennsylvania, USA)

Some students in Northumberland County are on a mission to build a brand new school all the way across the globe. The Milton High School students are asking for your help for Team Cambodia.

They are a group of motivated students trying to make a difference for underprivileged children.

"Just the little children that have gone through so much, and yet they're still pushing through every day. To see how easy we have it here, it's nice to help kids across the world," said Larissa Luu of Team Cambodia. She is president of the fundraiser.

For the past two months, she and her fellow classmates have been raising money to build a new school for Cambodian children, complete with books, desks, computers, even solar panels for electricity.

It was an idea sparked by their teacher, who recently visited the war-torn country.

"Improper diet, some of them suffer from malnutrition, poverty, unsafe water to drink, land mines. What chances do they have? If we can make their lives a little better it seems to me that it's the right thing to do," said teacher Mike Conn.

Out of the $30,000 needed the student have raised $10,000 by selling everything from lollypops and tee-shirts to holding bake sales and spaghetti dinners.

"Well we've been going around to all the clubs, Lions Club is donating $500, Kiwanis Club. We've just been giving presentations and we've been getting a lot of positive responses by going out and doing that," said Amy Brown of Team Cambodia.

The students are driven to succeed by the end of this school year. With only a few months left to go they hope people who see the faces of the needy children will open up their hearts and their wallets and give to a good cause.

"Everyone always wants to help out with something and make a contribution to something. This felt like a really good way to do something good for the world," said Sarah Sheaffer of Team Cambodia.

Donations can be made payable to Team Cambodia, Team Cambodia, Milton High School, 700 Mahoning Street, Milton PA, 17847.