Celebrating Creating Maine’s Future—The Campaign for Scholarships
October 29, 2010
Kim Lim, School of Business
Kim Lim of South Portland is the recipient one of USM’s new Presidential Scholarships, created thanks to last year’s Creating Maine’s Future—The Campaign for Scholarships. Kim immigrated from Cambodia with his family in 2008, and by the time he was a senior at South Portland High School he was earning top grades.
He was the speaker at the USM Foundation Annual Dinner on October 28, an event that celebrated the success of USM’s scholarship campaign and attended by other Presidential and Dean’s Scholarship Recipients. During the festivities, President Botman announced that the Campaign’s $850,000 goal was surpassed by $50,000.
You can read Kim Lim’s speech here:
Good evening ladies and gentlemen,
My name is Kim Lim. I am a freshman in the school of Business at the University of Southern Maine, and I’m also one of the recipients for the Presidential Scholarship. I would first like to thank the USM Scholarship Foundation for having me this evening.
Well, This is the first time that I have ever stood on a stage and delivered a speech. I am a bit nervous, but very honored to be able to tell you my story on how this scholarship has benefited my life as a college student.
I would like to start out by saying that I was born in Cambodia, and spent 16 years of my childhood in that delightful tropical country. Then about three years ago, on the 26th of January, 2008, my parents decided to move halfway across the world to the United States. Two days later, I found myself on a plane on an 11-thousand mile journey, before we finally arrived at the Portland Jet Port. As soon as the plane landed, I started to see the perfectly white snow falling down from the sky.
Well, after living in a tropical country with a weather of about 90 degrees year round for 16 years, I believe you can imagine how I would react to this new kind of environment, and my life has not been the same since then. What a beautiful thing the snow is, and it still amazes me to this day, as does the fact that Maine has four very different seasons, whereas in Cambodia it is either hot and dry, or hot and rainy. And what I love most about Maine is her people. The residents are very nice and friendly, and I have met some of the most amazing people who make my life here more convenient and enjoyable.
But, enough about the fun experience I have in Maine. I want to tell you about the main reason that I’m standing here before you all tonight. I believe some of you might have heard some history about the country where I came from, Cambodia. It is a tiny but beautiful nation located in the heart of Southeast Asia. However, and please excuse me for the brief history lesson, but at the dawn of April, 1975, two weeks prior to the end of the Vietnam War, Cambodia was pulled into a bloody civil war under the communist rule led by the Khmer Rouge Regime.
Under this brutal regime, schools were closed. Educated people, professors, and teachers were subjects to harsh punishments, and worst of all, executions. According to the UN report, during the three years, eight months, and 20 days under the Khmer Rouge Regime, roughly two million people were killed, and 90 percent of all the country’s teachers were executed. This bloody civil war has laid a crucial and enduring scar on Cambodia and her population. After the Khmer Rouge regime was driven from power in 1979, the education system had to be recreated from almost nothing. The entire generation of Cambodian children grew up illiterate. Illiteracy had climbed to be more than 40 percent of the total population, and most young people under the age of 14 did not have any basic education.
Among millions of those children who spent their childhoods under this dark and bloody era, there are two individuals who I come to honor and respect the most. They are everything I can ask for, they are two of my most influential and inspiring people, they are indeed, my beloved parents. Under the Khmer Rouge, my parents were forced to give up education at second grade.
They grew up carrying this scar of illiteracy, but the fact that they are uneducated does not prevent them from reaching for a better life. They work hard from empty hands to build a hospitable and loving family for their children. They worked incredibly hard to provide their children with the opportunity to obtain good education that they never had a chance to enjoy. Moreover, they sacrificed everything to put their children on the top one percent of the population who can afford to study abroad. My parents migrated the whole family here to the United States, where they knew nothing about country, the culture, or the language. The only thing they know about this country, is that it is a place where their children can enjoy better education, and will have more opportunities to get a better career than back in Cambodia.
All of these factors make me feel profoundly fortunate to be one of their sons. I have no clue on how to pay them back for all of their sacrifices. The only thing that I can do is to study hard, and try my best to obtain good grades in school. Learning another language, especially English, can be a really challenging obstacle. As you know, college classes are hard enough, without the added struggle of trying to decipher a foreign language! But with the help of some amazing teachers and mentors, I am able to keep good grades in my classes.
Here is where the scholarship fund comes in. Even though, I work several hours a week at a local restaurant while attending full-time classes, and plus some financial support from my parents as well, college tuition is still far from what I can afford. The thought of giving up college came across my mind several times, but I just did not have the gut to disappoint my parents.
Fortunately, thanks to the Presidential scholarship, I can continue to attend classes so that one day I can make my parents proud. I know that with my degree, I can achieve so many wonderful things, and I could not be more grateful for this opportunity that I can assure you, will help change the course of my life. ‘Thank you’ does not seem like enough, but I hope you can appreciate the sincere gratitude in my heart.
As my presentation comes to its conclusion, I really hope that this speech could serve as an inspiration to other students who might think that barriers such as a foreign country, language, or even money, will get in the way of pursuing their dreams. I believe that as long as we don’t give up, and continue to challenge those obstacles with the support and kindness of those who always stand beside us, whatever we dreams of, they will be accomplishable.
Thank you very much, and have a good evening.
