Meet Sotheareak, Former PEPY Scholar & Future Public Speaking Leader!

At PEPY, we believe it is important to keep in touch with our alumni and scholars to follow their personal and professional journeys. We constantly offer them more opportunities to learn and engage with the local community. That being said, we are always even more thrilled to hear when they step up and take on more leadership roles exemplifying our efforts to build up their soft skills and desire to be community leaders.

That is why we would like to highlight one of our exceptional alumni, Sotheareak. He is a PEPY scholarship student from 2017 who has always made us proud!

Recently, he became a member (his title is Vice President Membership) of Siem Reap Toastmasters Club, a soon-to-be official club of Toastmasters International that teaches public speaking and leadership skills through a worldwide network of clubs. We learned from Sotheareak that Toastmasters is headquartered in Colorado and the organization’s membership exceeds 300,000 in more than 149 countries. Since 1924, Toastmasters International has helped people from diverse backgrounds become more confident speakers, communicators, and leaders.

Sotheareak took the initiative to join Toastmasters out of a desire to continue developing and learning. He shared, “It’s important for people who seek to improve their public speaking, communication, and leadership skills. Also, it’s an international standard and uses only English, it will improve your English as well.  You can use your own pathway or type of public speaking that you like.”

Sotheareak challenged himself and shared a topic at the Siem Reap Toastmasters Club. He discussed his backstory, his travel experiences, and his time at PEPY. We are so proud of him and he did an incredible job!

Below, we shared his speech and some of the other Siem Reap Toastmasters members’ speeches. Sotheareak’s speech begins at 1:05:00 but we encourage you to enjoy the entire event!