‘Treasure Hunt’ Helps To Raise Funds for New School Facility

Sixty-two teams of students, their parents and teachers from the In­ternational School of Phnom Penh, scoured the streets of the city Sun­day morning by car and tuk-tuk in search of answers to puzzling questions and clues about the city.

Members of the general public were also welcome to participate in the trivia “treasure hunt” hosted by the ISPP to raise money for construction of a new school facility and to bring the community together for a day of fun.

“These kinds of events are not just really about the fundraising,” said Rob Mockrish, director of the school. “It’s about bringing the community together; bringing folks from outside the ISPP family to become more aware of what ISPP is all about,” he said Sunday.

More than 550 local and international students attend the school, which is currently located on two campuses along Noro­dom Boulevard.

Mockrish said plans are already under way to build a new campus that will integrate the elementary and secondary schools onto one “purposeful facility built for about 750 to 800 students” near Monivong Bridge.

While the ISPP has raised enough money for construction of the new school, which is estimated to cost more than $5 million, Mockrish wants to raise supplemental funding for additional construction costs that could re­sult from inflation.

Entrants who chose to drive by car paid $65 to participate and those who traveled by tuk-tuk paid $55. Prizes, such as vouchers to local rest­aurants and spas, were awarded to teams of students, teachers, families and friends.

Leonie Muller, 11, Laura Rehmer, 12, and Susan Whaley, 12, took first prize in the ISPP student category, winning $140 in vouchers.

Other categories, including “best Khmer team,” “best-dressed team” and “least number of people in a team,” received prizes too.

Guy Hutton and his 7-year-old son Oliver, who attends the school, won the award for the least number of people in a team. Their team fulfilled the minimum number of two team members, although they were initially supposed to be a team of eight. The other team members were ill, Hutton said.

Hutton did not know that the team with the least number of people would win an award, but “it was a nice surprise…. As soon as they said we’ve got a category for the smallest team, I thought, ‘OK, that’ll be us,’” he said.

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