Yuman's teaching experience expands personal growth

Photo by Jared Dort/Yuma Sun Adam Flynn spent close to two years teaching English at Royal University in Phnom Peng, Cambodia, as part fellowship program sponsored by Princeton in Asia

via CAAI

January 04, 2011

BY SARAH WOMER - SUN STAFF WRITER

Personal growth takes place when you are able to step out of your comfort zone and pursue the unknown.

That is exactly what Yuma High School alumnus Adam Flynn did when he left town in September of 2008 to live in Cambodia and work as an English and American history teacher at the Royal University of Phnom Penh.

After graduating from Princeton University with a bachelor's degree in history, Flynn applied to work with the Princeton-in-Asia program, which provides graduates with the opportunity to serve the needs of the people of Asia.

Initially he was planning to only stay for a year, but after a brief visit home in the summer of 2009, he later decided to extend his stay in Cambodia until July of 2010.

He explained that he realized he wasn't done with the country yet and there was still more that he wanted to do.

Flynn explained that he decided to enter the program because he wanted to broaden his mind and make an impact in people's lives. Through his time overseas, he said that he grew a tremendous amount and was inspired personally by the experience.

“When traveling, you place yourself in all these sort of strange situations, you learn things about yourself that you wouldn't normally learn otherwise. If you sort of spend your time entirely in your comfort zone, then it's hard to grow,” he said in a previous article of the Yuma Sun.

During his time in Cambodia he found that while the country was gradually improving its women's rights issues and slowly moving toward a democracy, it still had a long way to go in terms of development.

“It was a fascinating place to be for two years,” said Flynn.

He noted that the students that he worked with were from rural areas and at the university on scholarships. Most students, he said, were living on $20 or less a month.

“Every day they pushed and worked,” he said about the majority of his students.

Flynn said that he hopes that he was able to touch the lives of students he worked with so that they would in turn touch the lives of others around them.

“One good day of class could spread out like ripples in a pond and have effects that you may never realize,” he said.

He explained that learning the English language was a huge asset for Cambodians because it would help them advance themselves.

“You will have a lot of people who want to learn, and for them, learning English will significantly better their lives because they have the tourism and they have the businesses. There if you know a scrap of English you have a step up on so many other people,” he said.

While in Cambodia, he realized that there are so many things that Americans take for granted, like having access to toilets and the fact that the police in the United States work at night, where they generally don't in Cambodia.

Unfortunately, during his second year in the area all of his electronics were stolen, including his computer and iPod. Flynn said that the police were no help in recovering the items.

He added that the country had great laws on the books but it was the enforcement and the way the courts interpret the laws that were the problem.

In the future, Flynn plans to move to San Francisco, Calif., to work at an internship with an advertising agency that deals with research, insight and account planning.

He said that his experience studying history in college and learning about another culture will help him to better understand the different ways that people live, think and see things.

“It's a strange new world and I would love to try and figure out what makes it go,” he concluded.

Visit www.princeton.edu/~pia/ for more information on the Princeton-in-Asia program.

Sarah Womer can be reached at swomer@yumasun.com  or 539-6858.