An Alum Returns Home The Impact of an LAS Education

By Tep Khemarin Chan ’21

I had no idea what to expect when I traveled in 2018 from Cambodia to attend Leysin American School in Switzerland. But over the next three years, I had some of the best times of my life and have LAS to thank. The academic experience and the people I was surrounded by at LAS inspired me to pursue my passion after graduation: combining my artistry with the leadership skills I gained at LAS to bring awareness to Cambodian culture and help communities in need.

During my time at LAS, I was in the International Baccalaureate Programme (IB) and took the Higher Level Visual Arts course. One of my favorite things about taking this particular IB course is that it encouraged me to be curious. I started painting long before coming to LAS, but the arts program helped me advance my skill. The beautiful art studio space in the Belle Époque became my second home where I had complete artistic freedom.

Through the school’s cultural trips, I was exposed to all kinds of art and architecture, like the Alhambra in Spain and the Duomo di Milano in Italy. These trips and my years at LAS inspired and nourished my artistic spirit, strengthening my passion for architecture and art.

I was raised in an Asian culture where speaking up isn’t the norm, and I remember being impressed by how brave my LAS friends were to advocate for what they believed in. I was pleasantly surprised by the cultural differences in our backgrounds, but was also inspired to find my own voice.

LAS provided so many opportunities for me to foster my leadership skills; I served as the Chief Information Officer on the Student Council and as a Savoy dorm ambassador, and I was an active member of the Model United Nations (MUN) club. I’ve always been an introvert and have often been scared to speak up, but being involved in these activities at LAS helped build my confidence, a confidence I have since used to help others.

Shortly after graduating from LAS in June 2021, I moved back to Siem Reap, Cambodia, a stopover before heading to New Zealand for university. Looking for a project and inspired by a close friend I made at LAS (a fantastic writer and artist from Ukraine) I made the decision to write a book. In the six months after graduation, I illustrated, wrote, and translated my book as a one-man team. This project allowed me to use the skills I had just recently acquired at LAS— skills like research (from my Extended Essay), illustration (from my HL Visual Arts class), and even cartoon artistry (from my cultural trip to the Netherlands).

Left: Tep’s skills as an artist were honed during his time at LAS. Top: Within a year of graduation from LAS Tep had published his first book. Above and right: Tep brought his design skills back to Cambodia and created a portable library with over 1,000 books for the local community.

In December 2021, Extraordinary People of Cambodia officially launched in both physical and digital formats. In the following months, the book was distributed to schools, cafés, NGOs, and libraries across Cambodia and received high praise from various institutions, like the EU Delegation to Cambodia. After being featured in numerous magazines and news outlets in Cambodia, the initial run of the book sold out by June 2022.

Shortly after the conclusion of my book project, I dove straight into something new. Throughout my years at LAS there were many student-run fundraising efforts, from organizing the Terry Fox run in Leysin to building a library in Morocco to coordinating an auction to support the Sethule Orphans Trust in Zimbabwe. These projects inspired me to pursue my own fundraising project in Cambodia.

With the help of friends, family, and even some LAS faculty members, I was able to raise $1,000 to design and build a portable library for a school I was volunteering at in Cambodia. I’ve always enjoyed designing but at LAS I learned how to use software to create designs and print in 3D, skills that came in handy for this project.

The portable library has become a study spot for Siem Reap’s impoverished community and has accumulated over 1,000 donated books. Besides being content with how the library turned out, I’m delighted to be able to help others with my design skills.

Given the experiences I had at LAS, the projects I’ve chosen to pursue postgraduation should come as no surprise. At LAS I was able to take advantage of a strong academic program, leadership opportunities, and a spirit of philanthropy that have since combined to inform the direction of my life after Leysin. I am proud to be able to bring the skills and enthusiasm that I gained at LAS back to my home country of Cambodia and be a small part of making the world a better place.