Alumni Update: Cambodia
Hello, this is Mengly Ky from Cambodia and I am currently a communication officer at Swisscontact based in Cambodia. I was the UGRAD scholarship grantee at Juniata College, Huntington, Pennsylvania back in the Fall of 2018. The afterglow and lessons I learned during that time of my life are forever imprinted in my mind and keep shaping my life journey in three remarkable ways.
First, I observe myself to understand a lot about my personality ever since then. Having spent almost 4 months at the college gives me plenty of breaktime from my messed-up reality to reflect my life journey prior to that. The time did heal me as I am now able to recognize what I like(d), reclaim my life purpose and shape my career prospect and eventually become more open-minded as I moved on with life.
Second, having been exposed to communication study back at the college, I gained insights into communication theoretical framework, which can be reflected largely from my current work. Despite some divergence in the theory and practices, I believe what I learned back at the college did add more foundations for my profession to grow and of course I’m confident that I will keep thinking on these inputs every time I open the new chapter of my professional and academic life.
Moreover, I couldn’t have been more proud with this experience which I constantly share with my juniors and other like-minded peers. I have so far partaken in various alumni sharing sessions on exchange experience through the Fulbright Undergraduate Alumni Association of Cambodia (FUSAAC) and my video project of Peace Media, conducted under the auspices of the U.S. Ambassador’s Youth Council. With the concept of media violence I learned from the college, upon my return I jointly formulated the project of Peace Media with my cohort to engage the Cambodian youths to formulate their ideas to produce the three documentary films on Pressure, Hidden Killer and Trust to illustrate the bad consequences of misinformation and psychology media.
Last but not least, I would like to express my gratitude to the U.S. Embassy in Cambodia, World Learning, and all those involved in making this opportunity possible for me. Without all of them, I would not have been able to gain such insights and momentum for my future tasks.
Mengly Ky, Cambodia, Global UGRAD 2018-2019, Juniata College