Visitors at the AUPP table at the Cambodia Town Culture Festival in Long Beach on APril 6, 2014.

More Cambodians live in Long Beach, California, than in any other city outside Southeast Asia, and although most Cambodians have been in the city for a relatively short time they have succeeded in building a vibrant and dynamic community. Evidence of this is the Cambodia Town Culture Festival, an annual event dedicated to documenting, preserving, and showcasing Cambodian arts and culture in Long Beach.

The 2014 Festival took place on April 6, and the American University of Phnom Penh (AUPP) was privileged to be able to take part. Over a hundred people stopped by the AUPP table to pick up brochures explaining the University’s mission and to ask questions about its academic programs. Among those asking for information were students from the California State University campuses at Long Beach and Fullerton; they planned to share the information with members of  Khmer clubs at their universities.

Visitors to the AUPP booth at the Festival were particularly impressed with the fact that AUPP offers students who are interested in doing so the opportunity to transfer credits directly to universities in the U.S. after completing a year or two at AUPP in Phnom Penh.