US students raise funds to build school in Vietnam

The initiator of the first ever project of this kind, Jillian Blank, together with her classmates, announced last week they would collect the money from car washes, bake sales, volunteering and other fund raising events in the year, starting this month. “We just wanted to help other students like us,” Blank said.

The students, who were inspired by a talk by local Vietnam War veteran John Borman given to teacher Dwayne Voegeli’s global studies class, said they hope the fund would build bridges between American and Vietnamese students and help young children in Vietnam.

They expected their activities would inspire similar efforts in the future.

Borman said nearly o­ne-third of Vietnam’s population is less than 18 years of age, which means the country has a huge need for education.