News Advisory: Hawaii High School Students Speak On Changes In Cambodia

For more information, contact:
Karen Knudsen, Director
Office of External Affairs
Phone: Office: (808) 944-7195
Email: KnudsenK@EastWestCenter.org

October 19, 2007

WHO:    Davin Aoyagi and Maria Walczuk, Hawaii High School Students who analyzed the Khmer Rouge War Crimes Tribunal on a recent EWC program in Cambodia

DATE:     Sunday, October 21, 2007

TIME:     2:00 - 4:00 PM

PLACE: EWC Art Gallery, Burns Hall (1601 East-West Road, corner of Dole St. and East-West Rd.)

HONOLULU (Oct 19) – Two Hawai`i high students, Davin Aoyagi (from Mid-Pacific Institute) and Maria Walczuk (from Connections Charter High School, Hilo), will speak about their experiences as participants in the July 2007 "Partnership for Youth: Reporting for Change: Cambodia” program organized through the East-West Center’s AsiaPacificEd Program for Schools. Focusing on the Khmer Rouge War Crimes Tribunal as a case study, the students explored the media’s role in covering internationally significant events and its role in the democratic process. In Phnom Penh, the students worked with Cambodian youth, researching the progress of the Tribunal, and interviewing judicial, governmental, and NGO staff members. 

Dr. Namji Steinemann, director of the East-West Center’s AsiaPacificEd program for Schools, developed the program and traveled with the students to Cambodia.  She will moderate this public talk, which will be held in the East-West Center Art Gallery, Burns Hall (corner of Dole St. and East-West Road), this Sunday, Oct. 21, from 2:00-4:00 p.m. The Hawaii students’ participation was sponsored by Global Youth Center—Hawai`i. 

This presentation is held in conjunction with the on-going EWC art exhibit, “Living Angkor,” which focuses on the continuity of culture found in Angkor and its environs today. For many Cambodians the monuments of Angkor are the continuous link to ancient Khmer culture despite the horrible devastation during the “killing fields” period, 1975-79.

###

The EAST-WEST CENTER is an education and research organization established by the U.S. Congress in 1960 to strengthen relations and understanding among the peoples and nations of Asia, the Pacific, and the United States. The Center contributes to a peaceful, prosperous and just Asia Pacific community by serving as a vigorous hub for cooperative research, education and dialogue on critical issues of common concern to the Asia Pacific region and the United States. Funding for the Center comes from the U.S. government, with additional support provided by private agencies, individuals, foundations, corporations, and the governments of the region.