Cambodia Project plans for May trip

By Adam Troxtell
Published: Thursday, February 3, 2011

The Cambodia Service Learning Project is teaming up with alumni of Holy Child Academy in Sharon, Penn., to create the Sharon Reading Room in Battambang, Cambodia.

Political science department head and associate professor Dr. JoAnn DiGeorgio-Lutz, who teaches the Cambodia Service Learning Project class, is an alumna of Holy Child Academy.

"These are alums I went to school with 40 years ago, many of whom, nowadays, are teachers" she said. "When we went to Holy Child Academy, our school fostered a sense of service, international service, global service. So, even 40 years ago, there was that sort of attention to that kind of humanitarian outreach."

DiGeorgio said she developed the idea when visiting Cambodia back in December. She is on the board of directors at Child Hope Organization (CHO).

"I looked around and thought ‘What is something we could do?'" she said. "The children have no toys, no books, nothing, and I thought about a library, or a reading room. That was something we could work with here with [A&M-Commerce] students and then reach out to my friends and that network."

The name "Sharon Reading Room" was adopted to pay homage to the help DiGeorgio said some of her former schoolmates have provided to CHO, including donating books to the reading room.

"They're helping to contribute in other ways, and we thought to call it the Sharon Reading Room, because many of us would not be who we are today if it weren't for that school experience we had."

DiGeorgio said she also hopes A&M-Commerce students can help by donating books.

"We were going to put out a flier this week, but we didn't put anything out because of the weather," she said. "[We're] asking them to bring in any gently used children's books, ages 4-12. We also have a student in the Cambodia project last year who is a teacher at [Quinlan] Boles, and he has his classes involved in collecting books. He told me they have about 450 books collected so far."

Senior political science major Kaycie Clark said students taking the Cambodia Service Learning Project class will take all donated books to the Sharon Reading Room during their trip to the country in May.

"The plan is to take the books over in May when a small group goes to Cambodia for the trip, but the students are paying out of their pocket to go," Clark Said.

DiGeorgio said she already has four students traveling to Cambodia in May, which is scheduled for May 18. Included in the 17-day trip are visits to the temples in Angkor Wat, the Cheong Ek killing fields and a 3-night stay in Vietnam.