Inauguration of the new ACE Siem Reap Campus
By Richard Waddell, ACE Siem Reap Campus Manager

ACE has been in Siem Reap for over 23 years, and its campus on Street 24 of Wat Bo village was well known to everyone. The school continued to produce excellent results in spite of the building beginning to feel slightly old.  Heavy rains caused flooding and the electrics were not supporting the growing demand for air-conditioning.  It was time to relocate the school and its one thousand students.

A suitable building was found around the corner on High School Road, with all its universities and educational institutions.  The building owner made the changes ACE required and in June 2013, everything was moved into the new premises, furniture, books, staff, students, and a brand new campus manager.  We knew the move was a success because the town’s tuk-tuk drivers very quickly all knew the location of the beautiful ‘new ACE’.

Perhaps it was the gorgeous façade, or the large parking area, or the pristine new classrooms, or the colourful new signage, but student numbers began to increase.  Within a little over one and a half years, enrolments had grown to 1,800.  Everyone was happy with the comfortable classrooms, staffrooms and facilities.

It was time to have the official inauguration of the new building of ACE in Siem Reap.

Guest lists were drawn up, VIPs were invited, the tent and decorations organized, and the big day arrived.  The newspapers read, “On Wednesday, 8 April, 2015, HE Hang Chuon Naron, Minister of Education, Youth and Sport, HE Simon Fellows, Deputy Mission Chief of the Australian Embassy Phnom Penh and HE Kim Bung Song, Siem Reap Provincial Governor opened this contemporary campus which is located at Wat Bo Village in central Siem Reap.”  But those words could hardly describe the excitement we felt showing off our school.  We felt so proud as people walked around looking at what we had achieved with our new facilities.

All too soon it was all over.  The Apsara dancers and musicians went home, the caterers cleaned up and left, and the workers started dismantling the huge tent.  Students arrived for their classes and teachers made their way to teach them. But there was still an afterglow of pride in our school, the ‘new’ ACE of Siem Reap!