Name: អ៊ុក សុវណ្ណារ៉ា , UK
SOVANNARA (Empire Nara)
Date of birth: May 15, 1991
Place of Birth: Prey Veng,
Cambodia
Host University in the U.S:
Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU), Florida
E-mail: ugrad_cambodia_empire@yahoo.com or suk0366@eagle.fgcu.edu
Born into a modest-background family in a small
rural village in the southern part of Cambodia, Sovannara was as simple as
other country boys in the village, not going to school and having no chance to
enjoy a civilized lifestyle. However, at the age of 5, his father, who
originally came from a neighboring province and who was a high school teacher
of math and physics, took his mom and him to live in his hometown, Kampog Cham
province. They moved there in 1996. Arriving at the new place, he had a chance
to go to school, and that was the starting point of his life, a life which
provided him with education. He
received his Engineer’s degree in Rural Engineering with special emphases on
Water Resource and Rural Infrastructure from the Institute of Technology of
Cambodia, the most prestigious engineering school in Cambodia and where he got
a scholarship, in 2013 and Bachelor’s degree in Education (Teaching English as
a Foreign Language) from the Institute of Foreign Languages (IFL), the premier
public English institution in the country, in 2014. During his undergraduate
study, he was awarded scholarships abroad three years in a row. He went on two
short exchange programs to Japan in his third and fourth years, and a short
exchange program to study in USA through Global UGRAD 2013 in his fifth year at
university. He is currently under the Government-of-Japan-sponsored scholarship (MEXT Scholarship) majoring in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan. In addition, he is a co-founder and a vice president of SMACR, a
scholarly club which gathers together those well-rounded, educated young people
who have been abroad so that they are able to engage and share their experiences
and stories with other fellow youths in Cambodia. He is also a firm believer in
the spirit of volunteerism, and hence soon after returning from the U.S, he has
been actively involved with many socially good activities through the Fulbright
and Undergraduate State Alumni Association of Cambodia (FUSAAC). Please visit
his Blog at www.uksovannara.blogspot.com.
Childhood and Education
Born in May 15, 1991 in Prey
Veng province, near Vietnamese border and about ninety kilometers from Phnom
Penh, the Capital city of Cambodia, I later—at the age of five— moved to
Kampong Cham province where my education thenceforth began. To be perfectly
honest, I didn't like school at that time because I was bullied by those young
kids who self-announced to be the mafia in the school. I would crouch down and
curl up under the table whenever the bell rang signifying it was time to have a
break, so that I could be freed from those thugs; I called them so because they
would punch and scratch me in the face if they had seen me. However, as time
passed by, it went past; everything changed. No one would fight me as I
received good grade in class. I could raise my face up and started to feel more
confident.
My six-year long primary
schooling ended in July 2003, the time when my youngest brother, Sophearith,
was born, and I entered my high school life thereafter—there were no lower and upper
secondary schools there because those two levels of schooling were combined and
conducted in the same compound. My high school life was a bittersweet memories
intertwined. However, it was not unusual owing to the fact that all men on
earth encountered obstacles. Notwithstanding some disappointments, at the end
of the day, I could still thrive to success as I was optimistic to see those
challenges as opportunities to grow.
In 2009, I had to take my high
school exit exam before I could go to university. Fortunately enough, I passed
my examination with a good grade, so I could take an entrance exam at any universities
I preferred. At the conclusion of the year 2009, I was admitted to two universities
simultaneously as an undergraduate, majoring in Engineering and Education in English.
Undoubtedly, college life oscillated between desperation and hope. There were
some times I felt so stressed that I wanted to give up while there were some
other times I was zealous and full of energy to achieve greatness. Often times,
I spent eleven hours every single weekday on school campus, the Institute of
Technology of Cambodia as well as the Institute of Foreign Languages. I barely
had a task-free day because I also had a weekend discussion group and a club to
join, except for Sunday that I had to do laundry. Yet, in one way or more, I like
that hectic life as it enabled me to enjoy the apex of my college life, a life
with a long-run vision and feasible mission, and there was a person behind the
scene, shaping my perspective and encouraging me to have such a clear goal in
life.
In Cambodia, children take,
more or less, their seniors as a role model. It can be a direct or an indirect
influence. One common thing almost all of us, if not all, have undergone is a
question asked by our parents or our elders. “What do you want to be when
growing up?” is a question commonly asked by parents to their children when
their children are young, and this question was also asked by my dad when I was
eight years old. However, as a young boy, I just told him what I had heard of.
“I want to be a governor,” I told him. However, as I grew up and witnessed multiple
different life-challenging events people in my country were facing, together
with knowledge accumulated from daily both-on-and-off-campus life, I found a
way to realize my true passion. I want to be an engineer (infrastructure, water
resource, and environmental engineer), an engineer who plays a pivotal role in
transforming people’s way of life from nature-dependent to practical,
real-world, problem-solving minded and whose purpose is to trace the root of the
environmental, infrastructure, and water-resource related challenges that
affect the livelihood and wellbeing of the people. To put it in another way, I want
a job which could help build a decent society in which people are evenly
treated, regardless of their socioeconomic backgrounds.
I could see the potential
of the role of engineering playing in introducing a positive change to the
country. So far, Cambodian people have been suffering nonstop, aside from
political conflicts that stirred up the country in the past few decades, from
poverty stricken conditions and sanitation problems. Farmers are left to do
farming without having the foggiest idea what it will turn out to be at the end
of the harvest season. They don’t know whether they will have enough water to
irrigate their farms during the hot period, best described as drought if
serious, and whether there will be too much water resulted from rainstorms or
floods. Often times, Cambodian peasants face with this calamity, and this is
amongst factors leading to poverty. Regarding to sanitation issues, the accessibility
to safe drinking water still is limited, especially for people in rural and
remote rural areas, the management of sewage wastewater still is bad and
ineffective, and the disposal of waste into natural environment still is done
without proper treatment and regulation. Without a doubt, choosing rural engineering
as a major is the best choice to fulfill my dream, a dream for a better
Cambodia. I, however, realized that it was not enough to study solely in the
country. I needed to go out of the hut to get more practical knowledge and
techniques used in those more developed countries to introduce to Cambodia for
the country’s development.
Thus, instead of focusing
merely on academic subjects, I industriously sought for any opportunities offered
to open the door to see the outside world.
Consequently, my effort paid off. I have been to a few countries through
various scholarships and sponsorships. The second to most recent scholarship I
got was the Global Undergraduate Exchange Program (Global UGRAD 2013), an
amazing scholarship offered by the U.S Department of State. Global UGRAD
is
a short-term exchange scholarship program which provides a unique
opportunity for undergraduates from all around the world to study in
universities throughout America for one semester or a year. The vision of
this program is to promote international collaboration amongst youths
worldwide who are prospective leaders in their countries, to enable them to
gain new knowledge and skills so that they can apply those upon returning to
their home countries, and to better understand the U.S society and value through
participation in various events during their exposure in the program.
My Decision
Why did I decide to apply for
UGRAD scholarship? Well, if asked, I would response this way: The major
contributory factor, perhaps, in deciding to fill in the application form was CountPareSelf.
I clearly understand you will not be able to look this aberrant word up in any
dictionaries, no matter what. In fact, CountPareSelf is a self-created word
representing three independent words, all of which are Country, Parents,
and Self.
With respect to Country, it is
critically important that youths, including me, take steps forwards to
reinforce and refine our abilities. By embarking on UGRAD journey, I expected
that I would bring back with me innovative ideas, practical skills, and many
other relevant techniques to Cambodia. I perfectly understand that Cambodia is
in dire need of human resource in scientific sectors, particularly engineering,
yet its ability to cultivate highly qualified human resource in those areas
still is very limited; ergo, grasping an opportunity to enroll in one of the
American universities is genuinely crucial. Besides, it is my parents’ wish to
see me grasp an opportunity to broaden access to better education, get in the
real world, learn new life skills, and so on. In the other words, they will be
more than happy if I could get that scholarship. It is one of the ways to bring
them dignity, I thought. Last but not least, to grow personally, academically
and professionally is another compelling factor encouraging me to go for it. I
seriously believed that living on my own in the foreign land, traveling those
glamorous, vibrant cities throughout the U.S rather than staying in the same
place day in day out, making friends with our fellow citizens of the world,
speaking a foreign language every single day, and sitting in classrooms where
famous professors specialized in the subjects lectured would help me grow and
reach my highest potential. More importantly, studying abroad for one or two
semesters would make my CV looks good and attractive and have a lasting impact
on my future profession. Therefore, there was not even a small suspicion of reluctance
to seize this awesome opportunity.
However, any sought-after
things are not easy to obtain. UGRAD is amongst the toughest scholarships
offered in Cambodia; hundreds of applicants are filtered through a narrow-tube
funnel, placing three layers of membranes on the top of it, to obtain only 4 or
5 successful candidates to join the program. Therefore, psychologically, the
state of agitation will directly or indirectly rack your nerve, leading to
discouragement, no matter how confident you are or how excellent your academic
background is. Fortunately, I am blessed to have born into a very supportive
family; my parents are my anchors when troubles or difficulties loom large.
They always buoy me up when I am very disheartened. They give me momentum to
bike up the hill, encouraging me not to give up despite any difficulties faced.
UGRAD Selection Process
In September 2012, my high
school chum, who never questions my ability, sent the application form of UGRAD
scholarship to me through a Facebook message from Portland, Oregon. His name is
Bun Bona. He went to the state in 2009. After receiving the application form, I
filled in all details and submitted it to the local U.S Embassy prior to my
departure to Tokyo for a short study about reconstruction after Japan Great
East Earthquake and Tsunami which struck the eastern Japan on March 11, 2011,
taking thousands of lives and sweeping away people’s properties. A week
following the submission of the application, I received a phone call from my
dad telling me I was shortlisted and was invited for the interview which was to
be held on December 14, 2012. Oh, no! It was already December 12, and I still
physically was in Japan. I was not able to attend the interview on the assigned
date.
Happily, after negotiating with
the embassy, I was allowed to enter the interview room in the morning of
December 20, 2012, ten hours after my return to Cambodia. I felt so exhausted
that I had to sleep upon arriving home. The next morning, I set off for the U.S
embassy for the interview. I did not meet any other candidates, however. The
main reason was that I was the last one—everyone else had already done it. The
interview ended after 20 minutes, and thenceforward I returned home waiting for
the result nervously, checking my e-mail’s inbox twice or thrice a day hoping
the word CONGRATULATIONS to appear.
Surprisingly, as wished, after
some five weeks, I was informed that I had been selected as a successful candidate
of the interview, so I was, ipso facto, obliged to take the English standard
test, TOEFL iBT. I overheard from people in my school discussing
how difficult the test was, especially for us, non-native English users. What’s
rib-ticklingly funnier is that I had only a couple of days’ grace to prepare
for the test, for the date I was informed was only a few days afore the test
day. I was panic but somehow it was exciting. The test day would be the first
time in forever I met all successful applicants of interview for UGRAD 2013.
However, the weird story went on and on. There
were 12 people claiming to be successful candidates of interview for the
program, contrasting to the fact that only 6 people were mentioned in the email
sent out by the U.S Embassy. It seemed great to meet more new people, but that
there were more people than the usual quota of the scholarship grantees annoyed
us—the six persons whose names were in the list—in some ways. None of us knew
who would be safe. ANXIOUS, EVERYONE WAS!
We were in the same boat for virtually
four months after taking the test, sorely awaiting the announcement of the
finalists of the program; we were panic-stricken people within the waiting
period. We were afraid of losing a chance to chase our dream, a dream which had
been closer to reality already. Each and every one of us wanted to get it, but
it was far beyond possibility. Some people needed to step down; we just didn't know who for sure.
In the late afternoon of May
25, 2013, a notification popped up in our email’s inbox. It was a piece of
earth-shattering news, the news which was interpreted differently. It was
either the happiest or the saddest moment, the former for those who got admitted
and the latter for those who were rejected.
I was reluctant to click open
the new mail, fearful that I might be the unlucky one. I contemplated for a
while before deciding to see what was inside.
From: Uy, Akhara,
Subject: UGRAD Result Notification
Date: May 23, 2013
To: Empire Nara <sovannara_itcifl@yahoo.com>
Dear
Sovannara,
I am pleased to inform you that you are now
confirmed as a finalist by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational
and Cultural Affairs. However,
we are still waiting on the U.S. universities and colleges on confirmed
placements. Please be advised that your U.S. university placements and
travel dates will be forthcoming in a couple of weeks.
Thank you,
Uy Akhara
Alumni Coordinator
Public Affairs Section
U.S Embassy Phnom Penh
Tel: +855-23-728-683
Mobile: +855-68-999920
Alumni Coordinator
Public Affairs Section
U.S Embassy Phnom Penh
Tel: +855-23-728-683
Mobile: +855-68-999920
First Step on the New Land
My life journey in the U.S left with me a glorious,
indelible mark. It was an adventure of a lifetime which provided me unique and
invaluable experiences in my life. In only a blink of time, 5 months, I encountered
a lot of experiences, both the pleasant and not-as-pleasant ones, the former dominating
the latter.
My story started at Chicago International Airport. I
arrived in Chicago on January 2, 2014 at around 8 a.m. local time. It was a
very long journey had I ever taken in my life, spending well over thirty hours,
including time for transit at 3 locations: Saigon, Tokyo, and Chicago, prior to
my arrival in the city I resided. Upon arriving in Chicago, I had to check out
my luggage before heading towards Fort Myers, Florida. After having my stuffs
checked out, I started to feel absolutely nervous. The airport was so huge, one
hundred times as big as that in my own country. Everywhere was dominated by
strangers, some were tall, taller than my own people, and some were short,
shorter than me, and the circulation of floating people was almost continuous,
not longer than a few seconds that a place was left unoccupied. The air did
also smell different from that I used to breathe in my own land. Yeah, it
should be so since I was in a different country. It couldn’t be stranger. I
felt my heart beat faster and faster as time passed by, yet I still did not
have any faintest ideas which direction I should go, utterly directionless.
Gazing at the outside view through the absolutely transparent glass, I could
see the falling snow through my bare eyes for the first time in twenty two
years, and the whole land was already covered by white snow, forming several
large, white piles at multiple different locations throughout the city. It
looked nice, but it was evil, showing its openly particular hostility to a
newcomer like me. I came from a tropical area where the weather was hot and
humid, and thus it was not easy to adapt to a new environment in only a twist
of time, especially from a comfortable warm weather to a deadly freezing one.
Overwhelmed, I needed to ask someone for direction.
I did. Next to an automatic door revolving nonstop around its vertical axis
stood a middle-aged security guard, waving his hands as passengers passed by. I
humbly said hello to him, and he smiled at me. He was delightful and friendly,
very friendly. I felt a bit relieved after chit-chatting with him. He told me
which direction I should go, and I finally could get to the waiting room for
boarding. As a result of sleep deprivation—I could not sleep on the plane for
two nights— I felt drowsy and slept on the sofa for a couple hours before boarding.
I finally arrived in Fort Myers at 8:30 p.m.
I was not worried at all, let alone anxious, when
arriving at Southwest Florida International Airport, Fort Myers, owing to the
fact that I had a girl picked me up there. Her name is Lucy. Lucy was my Eagle
Ambassador (at that time). At my university, Florida Gulf Coast University,
there is a program called Eagle I Ambassador organized by the International
Office, in which American-native students or international students who have
been living and studying in the U.S for ages volunteer to help facilitate
international students during their stay in the state. Lucy is a nice, ebullient,
young girl majoring in Political Science. Not only is she kind and friendly,
but also gorgeous. Her boyfriend is Jesso, and he is also in the same college
as mine, U.A Whitaker College of Engineering (WCE), yet his major is Software Engineering.
Both of them helped me a lot during my study there. Once a month, on balmy
summer evenings, I remember, they would drive me to the nicest restaurants
downtown and occasionally to the picturesque seaside resorts.
I arrived at my dorm at around 9 p.m., late in the
evening. Lucy helped me checked in and then drew a map on scrap paper for me so
that I could get to the international student orientation on time. After that
she went back home, and I could sleep after a long, tiring day.
A New Page of My Life in the New Land
I was woken
up by a shaft of sunlight shining through an infinitesimally small opening of
the wall. The light pointed directly to
my left eye for seconds, forcing me to arise early on the first morning. It was
not early, actually. It was 8 a.m. already, yet due to cold weather outside, I
could see no people getting out of their beds. However cold the weather was, I
had to join an orientation organized specially for international students by
the International Office to inform us what we were supposed to interact in a
new academic and social life.
I saw a bunch of unfamiliar faces in the air-conditioning
room. Aflame with exuberance, they were chit-chatting about this and that with
one another. I could tell they came from different corners of the world by just
listening to their various accents. They were all enthusiastic in making new
friends, their faces all ablaze with excitement. Unlike what I had thought
before arriving in the room, I felt very comfortable with such an inclusive
community.
The orientation began with an opening remark by the
Head of International Office, followed by many other school personnel including
the university police officer who came to explain the rules and regulations as
well as to assure us full security within the region. There were also some fun
activities enabling us to get to know one another better and to avoid cultural
conflicts which would be unexpectedly arise during the course of interaction
with people of completely different sociocultural backgrounds, especially the
newly met. At the end of the day, the event produced a most fruitful result,
with everyone animatedly participating in the activities.
The Academic Life Vs Social Life
As mentioned earlier, UGRAD program is not all about
studying. Students are supposed to take classes related to their majors as well
as to expose themselves to the new world, participating in cultural events;
traveling to different natural, historical, and cultural tourism sites;
attending sporting events; volunteering to do socially good activities;
visiting museums; attending workshops, seminars, conferences, and symposiums;
and the like. Thus, life in the U.S provided by the UGRAD program is so rich,
filled with all tastes.
Sitting in a classroom with those students born with
the language, I was overwhelmed by the words they used—mostly it contained
slangs. Frankly, I could not understand what they said for two weeks, except
for the lectures in class in which academic words were used. After the
adaptation period, life seemed easier and more fascinating.
I took four most interesting subjects, all of which
were engineering subjects except for one American Studies class. I adore taking
those courses with those friendly, helpful, knowledgeable, and approachable
professors. My Hydrology and Hydraulics professor is a dual citizen, half German
and half American, my Fundamental of Environmental Engineering professor is a
Korean immigrating to the U.S for the pursuit of his study and got a job there,
my Surveying and Geomatics professor is a Nigerian-native professor, and my
American National Government professor is native American. They were all nice
to me, and I liked the way they treated all of their students.
The pursuit of my study
in the U.S was extremely meaningful for me. With well-structured modules,
specific and realistic educational aims and objectives, well-established and
state-of-art learning facilities, and conducive learning environments, along
with approachable, highly qualified faculties, Florida Gulf Coast University
enabled me to reach my highest potential as a learner. I felt very motivated to
study in such an academic atmosphere. In addition to just sitting in class
listening to lectures, I also participated in laboratory activities and
engineering clubs to sharpen my practical skills and gain full insights into
relationships between engineering and society. I had a chance to perform lab analysis in the
special lab full of exorbitant, high-tech equipment, and to be part of a famous
club named American Society of Civil Engineers. I have also met, talked and
lunched with, through attending a professional conference, many researchers and
scientists in the field of civil, water, hydrology and ecosystem engineering,
several of whom are: (1) Laura Geselbratch, senior scientist, The Nature
Conservancy Florida Chapter, (2) Dr. Nancy Gessman, Sustainability Manager,
Public Works Sustainability Division, City of Fort Lauderdale, (3) Carol
Collier, Executive Director, Delaware River Basin Commission, and (4) Dr. Clyde
Fraisse, Associate Professor and Extension Specialist, University of Florida,
to name a few.
Besides school, I also had
action-packed weekends and plenty of time to explore the land. To travel, we
need money, yet it was not a problem at all. UGRAD program provided us monthly
allowance and cultural enrichment allowance for traveling expense while roaming
around America to disclose unrevealed mysteries and discover the unknown. To
me, I have visited Everglades National Park located in Florida to see
alligators in their natural habitat; traveled several breathtakingly beautiful cities
such as the City of Acadia to see Rodeo, Atlanta city in Georgia, Columbia
district in Washington, DC, the bustling city, New York City (The City That
Never Sleep); visited a few museums namely United States Holocaust Memorial
Museum, National Air and Space Museum, National Museum of Natural History, and
Ringling Brothers Circus Museum; went to compulsive sport games, Ice Hockey and
Basketball; went swimming and kayaking at the alluring Key Lover and Fort Myers
Beach; went rollerblading and dancing downtown and took a road trip; and went hiking
in the tranquil, magnificent, natural trials within the immediate vicinity of
the school complex. On Saturday afternoons, I would lie on the white, made-made
beach behind my dorm with my European friends. Therefore, during my exposure in
the program, I have met thousands of people and made hundreds of friends from a
dozen countries on earth.
In short, the one good
thing about being part of the Global UGRAD family is that we have a golden
chance to enrich our life, to find meanings for it. There is an old saying
which I can’t agree with more and it goes: “Travel. It leaves you speechless,
then turns you into a storyteller.” So if you don’t escape from your comfort
zone, you will not come to realize how the world is exactly like and who you
really are.
An Emergence of new
Inspirations
After being polished in
America for roughly four months, my life is different. I have received a
tremendous learning experience to widen my perspectives and view on the world.
It is immeasurable and will be immensely valuable in transforming me to be
someone I aspire to be. Over the course of four months in the UGRAD program, I
have found two new inspirations, both of which are the Spirit of Volunteerism
and Professionalism. Through volunteering with a couple organizations to do
community services, I was inspired to participate more actively in socially
good activities. Thus, upon my return to Cambodia, I have been participating
actively in various volunteering projects with the Fulbright and Undergraduate
State Alumni Association of Cambodia—FUSAAC is its acronym— as well as
generating our own projects with my friends. Currently, I am a presenter for a
radio program focusing on “Youths and Career at their Best” organized by FUSAAC,
with a strong support from the local U.S Embassy, a guest speaker and a
panelist in different venues, a trainer of English to Cambodian youths, a team
leader and facilitator of several projects including the one at the U.S Embassy,
and a writer, all for informing young people about their role as a cornerstone
of the country by inspiring them to have a clear goal in life and to do what is
considered important in enabling them to cultivate their highest potential.
Also, not long after participating in the annual conference at FGCU and met
several scientists, I was inspired and decided I pursued a higher degree after
graduating from my engineer’s degree. Hence, currently I am waiting to set off
to Japan for my research study, and looking forward to taking entrance exam for
a Master’s degree course in October 2015 after taking an Intensive Japanese
class for six months upon my arrival in Japan.
All of these amazing
experiences would not have been nurtured provided that I dared not dream big to
apply for that scholarship (UGRAD Scholarship). Therefore, as an alumnus of
UGRAD program, I would like to strongly encourage all of you, readers, to grasp
this divine opportunity to crack open the shell to see the light of your future.
Everything is in your hands; clench it or let it go, it’s your choice.
