In this Blog, we hear from Vantha Koun, who is both our Scholarship Program Manager and the Office Manager. Read more about his role managing the learning opportunities for JWOC scholars.
I
started working in JWOC in 2009. My roles are Office Manager and Scholarship
Program Manger. Talk about Scholarship Program, I really enjoy to be part of it
because it is helping and giving students the great opportunities to extend
their knowledge.
The
program also helps them to succeed in their future goals, like some of them
want to work in a bank as an accountant, teller or loan officer, or a tour
company, hotel and NGO etc. A good example is the two of our scholarship
students who became JWOC program managers. Somit Mat is our Free Classes
Program Manager and Seng Sok is our Clean Water Program Manager. They were both
students supported by JWOC, graduating in 2009 and 2012 respectively.
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| Somit is Free Classes Program Manager and teaches English Language classes. |
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| Seng (in the center) recently facilitated a workshop with his Clean Water team. |
Since
JWOC started in 2005, we have helped 145 scholarship students and currently we
have 69 students studying at Universities in Siem Reap. This year we are going
to give out 15 scholarships for students who can fit with our requirements.
To
receive a scholarship, each student must agree to work with JWOC to give back
to the community. In each week, the students volunteer between 5 and 10 hours
with our programs. This may include teaching classes, collecting loan
repayments, finding new locations for clean water or community liaison activities.
We
don’t just give only scholarships to the students we also provide
careers training like how to search for a job, how to apply for a job, how to
prepare for an interview. We also have other training that is related to skills
training, personal health and safety, first aid training, finances, and
induction to the programs. Recently, we created a Personal Budget workshop with
a JWOC volunteer, Melissa Montgomery, from USA. Melissa and I worked close
together for making the workshop presentation. Melissa also spent around three
days to research and select good information for the presentation. After that
we both ran the workshop together. There were many scholarship students
interested with our training and will try to use it after they leaned.
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| Melissa and Vantha conducted the personal finance workshop together. |
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| During the workshop, they ran an activity that focused on their career goals. |
Recently
I have made the announcement for Scholarship Program for the new academic year
of 2013 – 2014 for all high schools in Siem Reap. I also contacted our partners
with the information for their beneficiaries, and participated in a skills fair.
.JPG) |
| Vantha at the skills fair, introducing the JWOC the scholarship application process to high school students. |
Nita Hor is one of our current scholarship students, studying Accounting and Finance at
Build Bright University. She is in her third year and told us that she is very
happy when JWOC gave her a scholarship. The study at the University is very
important for her, because she can use her knowledge to get a good, well paid
job. Currently she is working as an accountant in a tour company and she
volunteers in JWOC Microfinance Program as a Loan Officer in her free time. She
really enjoys with her volunteer role, because she can get new experiences from
the beneficiaries especially she helps her community.
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| Nita works in the tourism industry and studies finance - she is pictured here at work. |
The
Scholarship Program not just give opportunities to the students to continue
their knowledge but also provide skill training and a way to use their skills
through our program. We also help graduated students to succeed their career goals.
