In the context of building up their community, the REACH Role Models are given the chance to become leaders in the school and are given exciting roles and activities where they are able to learn the soft skills of teamwork, leadership, and compassion.

With a strong focus on gender equality, our REACH Role Models Club aims to teach our students the importance of setting positive examples for their peers both inside and outside of REACH, and that boys and girls are equal.

The club runs for 2 Semesters and gives each student the opportunity to learn new skills by partaking in either of the REACH Repair Shop or the REACH Garden. At the end of each semester, our Role Models swap their elective and gain exposure to both programs over the course of the academic year. As a reward for their dedication and volunteer hours, each month, the Role Models are taken on an educational excursion to gain exposure to the outside world.

Living in such insular communities, the monthly excursions create great hype amongst the students, they are taken to visit partner NGO’s, free parks, and various locations in Siem Reap which open their minds to the opportunities which exist beyond their village.

When the Role Models are not fixing bikes or learning to grow crops in their focused electives, they are also furthering their ethics education – with a monthly collaborative workshop from the Youth Leader. These sessions are focused on topics such as the SDGs, bullying prevention and creative arts.

Following their year in the Role Model Club, graduates of the program are then encouraged to apply to our Youth Pathways Program which is an application-based program, operating every Sunday.