The team from Empowering Youth in Cambodia (EYC) has been distributing scholarship applications and meeting with enthusiastic recent high school graduates who are committed to a university education. EYC has a large pool of students who just graduated high school in their 4 community centers around poor areas of Phnom Penh and hope to help at least 8 enter university. According to Drew McDowell, EYC Country Manager, the first meeting is listening to what kind of work they think they want to do, and helping them choose a major. Next, the local staff can discuss the schools that seem the best for them.
The students come from families whose education was disrupted by war, so their parents really value education and what it brings. The families generally have limited resources for guiding them in their education while the EYC staff have graduated university in the last 5 years and keep abreast of what is happening in higher education in Phnom Penh. EYC has helped over 25 students to attend university, and continues to work with them throughout their university studies with medical and dental care, life skills training, job and internship placement, English and computer training and more. Cambodian universities mostly start in October and the amount of students they will be able to help will depend on what they can raise through the end of September. Make a donation to EYC’s scholarship program.
